Today, you have to worry about charging your phone, tablet, laptop, wireless access point, Bluetooth headset, and more. Tomorrow, maybe you’ll just have to worry about charging your backpack instead.
A Colorado company called Co.alition started raising funds on Kickstarter on Tuesday for that idea, a gadget backpack called Colfax. The foam-padded product comes in two models, a standard one for a laptop, tablet, and phone, and the Colfax PHD (power hard drive) that adds a 500GB hard drive for access to files even if there’s no Internet connection handy. The drive can be reached by USB 3 or Wi-Fi connections.
The product is indicative of just how reliant many of us have become on our electronic gadgets — and how much of a problem it can be if they run out of battery power.
The company is trying to raise $80,000 to fund the project. Those who donate $199 will get a Colfax, and those who donate $375 will get the Colfax PHD — as long as the Kickstarter project meets its financial goals so it can start production at its planned Vietnamese site. The products are set to sell for $349 and $495 in regular retail versions.
The backpacks come with a lithium polymer battery, but when you’re near an outlet, you can plug the backpack in and it will charge your devices directly using a pass-through system.