Problem: You're boarding an airplane, dashing onto a bus, or hiking off the grid and your cell battery conks out or your iPod runs out of juice. Solution: Reach for your Solio – a cool new portable solar-powered charger that can collect the energy of the sun and transfer it directly into your hand-held devices.

Compatible with major brands of mobile phones, PDAs, digital cameras, and music and game players, the Solio has three photovoltaic strips that fan out like a flower to expand surface area when soaking up the sun. When folded up, the charger fits in the palm of your hand.

It's brimming with “gee-whiz” potential for technophiles and eco-geeks alike, converting sunrays directly into a valuable commodity: “When charging a cell phone directly from the sun, 60 minutes of sunlight will provide approximately 10 minutes of talk time and four hours of standby time,” boasts the web site. You can also find hip solar-powered backpacks and messenger bags at Voltaic Systems.

Photo credit: Solio