Stardate 20010927.1346 (On Screen): Occasionally a product comes out which sounds good but is probably useless in practice. Motorola has developed a device for cell phones which contains a cranked generator. If the phone battery runs down completely, a user can crank a built-in generator on this device for somewhat less than a minute and then connect it to their phone and draw enough power from it to let the phone operate for a few minutes, or so it is claimed. Just how useful is this, really? The scenario this is needed for would be someone whose car breaks down on a lonely road and discovers that their cell phone battery is dead. Is that really all that common? I'm a bit skeptical about getting six minutes of phone operation out of 45 seconds of hand cranking. Of course, if the road is busy then you raise your hood and wait for a cop to stop. If you're walking, you find a phone booth or go into a restaurant or store. (Anyway, who'd want to carry this gizmo with them when they're walking?) It just seems as if it satisfies a very small need. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where a product hits at just the right time. What with the disaster of two weeks ago, some people are (at least temporarily) beginning to view a cell phone as essential safety equipment, which leads to the obvious fear "But what if the battery is run down?" I suspect we're looking at one of those devices that are most often bought for people by other people ("Makes a great gift!!!").
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