lilliputians

Two weeks of smartphone charging in your pocket

Retailer Brookstone will sell a portable fuel cell able to charge smartphones a dozen times before running out.

Fuel cell maker Lilliputian Systems today announced that Brookstone will be the first retailer to carry its portable USB power source, which will be sold under Brookstone's brand. The fuel cell device is about the size of a thick smartphone, and the lighter fluid-filled cartridges are about the same size as a cigarette lighter.

It's a big step forward both for Lilliputian Systems, a 10-year-old spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and for portable fuel cell technology in general. … Read more

Intel plugs into portable fuel cell maker Lilliputian

Fuel cell company Lilliputian Systems today announced an investment and manufacturing deal with Intel, a step toward bringing a handheld fuel cell charger for gadgets to market.

Intel Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in Wilmington, Mass.-based Lilliputian and will produce silicon wafers for its first planned fuel cell. The portable fuel cell, about the size of a deck of cards and powered by butane cartridges, can charge small electronics, such as smartphones, through a USB connection.

By the end of this year, Lilliputian plans to announce partners which will distribute the portable fuel cell charger, called the USB … Read more

Lilliputian readies fuel-cell gadget charger

Lilliputian Systems, a company developing butane-fueled energy storage for consumer electronics, said on Thursday that it has raised $28 million in additional funding.

The company, which was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also announced that Analog Devices' co-founder Ray Stata has joined its board and that it named Michael Umana chief financial officer.

Since its founding seven years ago, Lilluptian Systems has been quiet about its product development but has revealed a few more details in the past few weeks. Its financial backers, which include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Atlas Ventures, and Rockport Capital, have put … Read more

Yes, it's possible for a phone to be too small

Talk about diminishing returns. The "Xun Chi 138" claims to be the world's smallest phone at 2.64 inches long and weighing less than 2 ounces. And if OhGizmo's list of its features is anywhere near true, it's a marvel of modern engineering: "It features a VGA camera with video recording & Webcam, a video player, photo editor, MP3 player w/EQ settings, voice recorder, 121 MB of memory, a 260,000-color touch screen, multimedia messaging, WAP browser, GPRS, calendar with multiple alarms, handwriting recognition, vibrating alert, games, calculator and unit converter!"

But … Read more

The Cube Mini: When small is too small

This may sound heretical, but we don't think smaller is always better for gadgets. Especially if it means needing a magnifying glass to use them.

Take, for example, the Digital Cube Mini just released on the Korean market. It does what you want it to do: play videos, live TV, and music, as well as display photos and support e-books, according to Ubergizmo. And it's portable, that's for sure, measuring about 3 by 2 inches and a little more than a half-inch thick.

But is that a good thing? The cube's diminutive stature means that its … Read more