Posted July 20, 2006
Because I’m always trying to come up with new less-is-more approaches to traveling, I recently went in search of a type of product I was only vaguely familiar with: USB cell phone chargers, which allow you to juice up your cell phone straight from the USB port of your laptop (or any computer with a USB port). The best selection I found is the newly expanded line at the venerable tech-component company APC, which offers more than a dozen models for basically every popular cell phone. The beauty of packing one of these slim cables is that you no longer need to bring your usual cell phone charger with its bulky transformer block. And you also don’t need to find another open wall outlet. I use my USB charger not only for traveling, but for keeping my cell phone charged up when I’m sitting in my favorite free wi-fi coffee-shop.
$10-$20 at apc.com