World | Charging your mobile phone while you speak?

Charging your mobile phone while you speak?

LONDON - For mobile phone users, a flat battery or a lost charger are among the frustrations of modern life. Now, new research promises a way to recharge phones using nothing but the power of the human voice. Electrical engineers have developed a new technique for turning sound into electricity, allowing a mobile to be powered up while its user holds a conversation. The technology would also be able to harness background noise and even music to charge a phone while it is not in use. However, there could be a downside to the innovation, if it gives people a new reason to shout into their phones as they attempt to squeeze in every extra bit of power they can. Dr Sang Woo Kim, who has been developing the design at the institute of nanotechnology at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea, said: "The sound that always exists in our everyday life and environments has been...

Full article: http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC110509-0000513/Chargi...