Forget my previous post about fuel cell technology coming to mobile phones by 2008. Students at the Department of Industrial Design at the Indian Institute of Technology have designed a portable turbine that generates sufficient electricity to charge a mobile phone. The device would be ideal for people travelling on trains: just hold it out of the window you've got instant power.

In areas where electricity is a scarcity and where there is a constant wind source, it could also be used to power a radio or to run lights.

The device will cost 200 Rupees, or $4.59.

25 Feb 2005