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PowerSkin
Can you ever have too many mobile chargers? Well, yes, 37 is too many. But a measly one or two? That might not be enough to cover your travel bases. If you don’t have a charger in every pocket, backpack, handbag, glove box, briefcase and so on, you’re insufficiently prepared for modern life, people!
While you’re mulling that over, mull this: For a limited time, PowerSkin is offering the Pop’n mobile charger for one cent when you use coupon code penny at checkout. It’s available in your choice of four colors, and you can choose between Android- and Apple-compatible connectors.
Whoa! A mobile charger for a penny! What’s the catch? The catch, of course, is shipping, which costs $9.99. (You didn’t really think a single piece of copper was going to land this at your door, did you?) It’s just a clever bit of marketing, because what you’re really getting here is a Pop’n for $10 shipped.
But that’s still a good deal. The Pop’n is cool because it’s designed to piggyback on your phone, with suction cups that schlurp it onto the rear and then pop loose when you’re done recharging. Despite its very slim profile, the Pop’n stows a 2,000mAh battery — enough to give you many extra hours of run time.
A couple things to note. First, although the tip-selector menu specifically calls out iPhone 5/5C/5S, the Pop’n should work fine with iPhone 6 models as well. Second, although the charger purports to stick to any smooth-surface phone case, your case may not have sufficient room at the bottom for the Pop’n connector to plug in all the way. My feeling is this actually won’t work with most cases.
That said, I really like the sleek looks and clever design. Most mobile chargers make it awkward to actually use your phone while connected, but the Pop’n just climbs aboard and lets you continue chatting, tapping and so on without getting in the way.
And for $10 out the door? Solid.
Andrew Grantham
Bonus deal: Amazon is doing that thing again. For a limited time, you can get a boatload of Kindle Fire apps absolutely free. Games, music, productivity, photography — there’s a little something for everyone. Highlights include Telltale Games’ Game of Thrones (regularly $4.99), Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 ($3.99) and Xtralogic Remote Desktop Client ($14.99). Don’t have a Fire phone or tablet? Just install the Amazon Appstore app on your Android device.
Bonus deal No. 2: If you saw yesterday’s Moto 360 smartwatch deal and found the $169.99 price tag still just a little too high, maybe this will push you over the edge: Today only, and while supplies last, Woot has the refurbished Moto 360 smartwatch for $129.99, plus $5 for shipping. It’s available in your choice of black or stone gray (gotta say, the latter is the sharper of the two), and it includes a one-year Motorola warranty. Oh, and if you saw yesterday’s deal and jumped on it, well, Amazon is usually pretty good about order cancellations/returns.
Bonus deal No. 3: This Kickstarter project is a little outside my usual wheelhouse, and it’ll never get fully funded, but I felt I had to mention it: The Podcycle is a clever little gizmo designed to help you recycle used Keurig K-cups. It’s not even halfway to its funding goal and has just over a day left, but I backed it because I feel seriously guilty about sending so many pods into landfills. Plus, the developer’s promo video is pretty hilarious, so extra points for that.
