Charge Your Phone On A Soofa Solar Powered Bench

Don’t you hate it when your charge runs out of your phone whilst you are out of your house?  I know I have been caught out a few times and let me tell you, it’s really annoying!

You could always shell out some money and purchase a battery case for your handset; but if you are away from a charging point all day and you use your handset for labor intensive (therefore battery-draining) applications, you are still going to run out of juice sooner or later.

I wouldn’t worry about it too much, especially if you are a visiting a Boston-area park in the near future. You will soon be able to sit, relax and charge your mobile device, whilst taking in the scenery.

The Soofa could become a regular sight.

These clever information points are called ‘Soofas’ and are basically solar-powered benches. The Soofa will also broadcast location-based information such as temperature and air pollution levels through a website.   The high-tech bench was first piloted back in 2013 and has since been upgraded to now include a larger seating area and the capacity for two phones to be charged simultaneously via a USB port.

Changing Environments CEO and Soofa co-inventor Sandra Richter says in a statement.” Soofa is the first step into smart urban furniture…The possibilities to update the city for the mobile generation are endless and long overdue.”

The company is a startup which came out of MIT Media Lab, a research laboratory that is known for unique innovations such as shapeshifting furniture. According to Yahoo Tech, each Soofa costs an estimated $3,000 and will come with a 25-year guarantee from Changing Environments.

In the future, Soofas may feature inductive charging stations similar to those being deployed in Starbucks coffe houses.

[Image via freepatriot]

SOURCE: http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/1/5859778/soofa-mobile-charging-stations