Why you shoudnt've bought an iPhone...

For battery issues I carry round a Proporta.com battery pack. Charges my phone and Creative Zen 30gig mp3 player (also my tomtom 1 if im in a crap car with no 12 volt supply).
Its a ipod mini sized Lithium ion battery that's charged thro USB and can charge anything that has a usb slot or thro a phone adaptor.

 

What the.....what car doesnt have a 12volt output or a cigarette lighter?

Those things have been there for ages, hell! I havent seen a car without one of those in my entire life.

Speaking of rechargers, I wonder if it could be possible to make a portable generator using one of those small alcohol engines from professional RC cars.

The theorical energy yield you could get from that is awesome! plus theres no toxic/enviromental consecuences since alcohol/ethanol is almost harmless (except of couse you're dumb enough to set it on fire...)

 

I can't see the power output of an alcohol based engine being up to generating much power but give it a go. You want one of these:

http://www.espressomilkcooler.com/thermoelectric_generator___stationary_generator___teg_.htm

 

Fiat Panda 1.2 petrol doesn't - well the crap one I had didn't.

 

Those who live outside America (esp the Cities) use this wonderful new fangled Public Transport, in some countries like Japan and Hong Kong it works very well. Not sure how the Bus driver would react if I asked 'Can I plug my recharger into your cigarette lighter I need to recharge my MP3 player'

At minimum if I go say for a hike or a long jog, I normally carry as little as possible. My wallet, MP3 player, PDA (with handy maps, thanks Sony for at least attempting to sell the Palm in Japan, no thanks Palm for taking too long to upgrade the Palm OS) and keys. I rather carry (or even not) a AAA battery rather then another bulky plastic device to charge up an MP3 player.

Regards the Palm Zire, I bought mine second hand and I've not changed the battery and I still get a weeks use out of it, using it for about 30 to 40 minutes a day. Just make sure you turn off Blue Tooth, as that does drain ye olde battery.

 

Well the vehicle I drive on weekends has no cigarette lighter at all.

The solio I was talking about is nice though, because it has a built in rechargable battery that can be solar or AC charged. You can then charge or run your devices off of this battery even when there is no sun to be had for power. Oh and you can bypass the battery altogether and just solar charge your device while leaving the battery in reserve for later.

 

Those looks like thermocouple dude, and making energy out of those is like squeezing water from a rock...

I meant these RC cars that run on alcohol instead of gas, using ICEs instead of electric ones.