Reinforce Charging Cable Joints with Paracord

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The end of your laptop or phone charging cable can take a lot of stress when you bend it to plug it in to give your gear some juice. We've shown you how to reinforce it with Sugru, but if you want something more durable, attractive, and multipurpose, try some paracord instead.

Sugru is great if your cord is already damaged or exposed, but if you just want to protect your charger for the long haul, Instructables user hawcrofta shows us that a little paracord braid around the end does the trick nicely—you don't have to use enough to cover the entire cable (unless you want to, which is a great way to reinforce the whole thing), but just a little braid at the flexible end will help keep it from fraying or taking too much bending stress over time.

All you need to do this is some paracode, a knife to cut the paracord with, and something to melt the paracord into place when you're finished—hawcrofta used a plain old Zippo lighter to do the trick. Hit the link below for the full walkthrough—the results look good, and bonus: You'll never lose your charging cable again—you'll always be able to tell which one is yours.

Paracord Cord Reinforcement | Instructables

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Galaxy S5 wireless charging cover now available for preorder

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is on its way, but before it arrives, you might want to pick up a few accessories for your new handset. With this in mind, soon-to-be Galaxy S5 owners will be happy to know that the official wireless charging cover is now available for pre-order.

The cover’s status is currently listed as “back-ordered”, with no word on exactly when it will start shipping, though we wouldn’t be too surprised if it arrives within a week or two, to coincide with the GS5’s launch. While it would have be nice if Samsung would have included a wireless charging cover by default with the Galaxy S5, at least it’s not terribly expensive at $29.99.

For those that don’t mind going the unofficial route, it probably won’t be much longer before a cheaper 3rd party solution shows up on Amazon and other e-retailers. It’s important to note that Samsung is only including the wireless cover, so you’ll need to either pay an additional $60 for the the official Samsung-branded wireless pad, or you can pick up any Qi-charging compatible pad for anywhere from $20 – $50 depending on the retailer.

For those interested in picking up the official wireless charging cover, you can get your hands on it directly from Samsung in your choice of black or white.

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Toshiba announces fast charging wireless integrated circuit

Jacob Donley 2014-04-01T08:00:00Z7 hours ago

Jacob Donley

I'm not a developer or anything like that. I'm a consumer, just like you. I like to give my thoughts on Android products from the non-technical side. Yes, I do provide some of the technical specs and such, but really, I just want to give you the best news possible.

Toshiba announced a new integrated circuit that will allow wireless chargers to finally charge devices as fast as their wired counterparts. The chip is said to be compatible with the Qi standard.

Toshiba announces circuit for faster wireless charging. / © Toshiba

The Toshiba chip named, TC7763WBG, will finally give future wireless charging devices the ability to charge supported phones just as fast as if they were plugged in via cable. The chip touts a maximum of 5 watts of output and 95% power conversion efficiency. That’s some great numbers.

With wireless chargers having the ability to keep up with the standard wired chargers, users can do away with the hassle of having cords getting in the way. It very well could be the type of tech that could bring wireless chargers into the forefront. While there are various wireless charger manufacturers on various standards, such as the Qi standard. The new Toshiba chip will definitely give devices on the Qi standard the edge they may need to take over.

The Nexus brand of phones, like the Nexus 5, and tablets, like the Nexus 7, currently has the option for wireless charging. As more devices are released, we are seeing many offer this type of charging in addition to the wired port. With the rise of cloud storage and streaming music, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see the wire charging port disappear entirely.

With Samsung, Nexus devices and now Toshiba's chip supporting it, wireless charging should soon become an industry standard.  © Samsung

The wireless charging device market is rising in popularity. Tech improvements such as the Toshiba chip are making it even easier for consumers to switch over to this new technology. There are usually more demands than results when technology makes its debut to the market, and Toshiba may have just resolved some consumers worries about wireless charging.

Do you use wireless chargers? If so, how well do they charge? Would a wireless charger that charges as fast as a cable bring you over to the wireless side? 

Via: SlashGear Source: Business Wire

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Moto 360 rumored to come with an OLED display and wireless charging

Motorola has been rather forthcoming with details about its new Moto 360 smartwatch. We already know about the device’s splash resistance, the orientation free design for southpaws, and Android 4.3 compatibility requirements. Now, an unspecified source as divulged a few more details about the device.

Speaking with G for Gamers, an unnamed leaker, who supposedly has a “flawless track record when it comes down to Motorola”, said that the Moto 360 will come with an OLED display, Sapphire Glass to protect the display from damage, as well as magnetic induction wireless charging.

We hadn’t heard anything about the 360’s display up until this point, but considering that Motorola highlighted battery life as key concern, an OLED displays makes a lot of sense. The display can dim and turn off individual pixels which helps save on energy consumption, compared with LCD where the backlight is always on. The choice of a Sapphire Glass protective layer is an interesting one, as other smartwatch developers have so far opted for the same Gorilla Glass screens used to protect their smartphone displays. However, Sapphire is a material often used in premium watch products, another reason why the Moto 360 might stand out above the rest.

Magnetic induction charging isn’t exactly a shocker either, Motorola already has some smartphone experience with the Qi induction charging standard. We’d already speculated that the Moto 360 would use some form of wireless charging due to the absence of a USB port, after all, what else could it possibly be?

I can’t help by wonder what impact all these components will have on the Moto 360’s price tag, as there’s a lot of high-end tech going into the device. If it turns out that the Moto 360 is priced right at the top of the market, would you be prepared to a pay a little more for a really high-end smartwatch?

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