Back in the day, you could impress your friends by having a handcrafted beautifully lacquered oak rocking chair. However, times are changing, and now folks are more impressed with technical gadgets than handcrafted goods.
The iRock combines both the allure of a rocking chair with technology to impress your friends. Currently in development by Zurich’s Micasa Lab, this is a rocking chair that uses the motion of rocking back and forth to charge your iPad. As long as you keep on a-rockin' you can use your iPad infinitely without having to stop to let it charge. Smart stuff, eh? Power Felt
However, the iRock is not the only energy-creating gadget that is ready to drop onto the market. Take SolePower, for example. This Kickstarter project uses shoe insoles to harvest the personal kinetic energy that people generate from walking throughout the day. This energy is stored to an attached battery, which can be connected to a smartphone or other gadgets. Imagine having the power to charge your dying cell phone after you car breaks down all from the power you generate from walking?
A similar people-powered device is the Green Erg, created by Dr Cedrick Ngalande. This device attaches to the back of a person's clothes and a dynamo is turned through rolling contact on the floor while the user is moving. The invention then uses the energy to plug in laptops or cell phones.
If expending all that energy from rocking or walking feels a bit too much like hard work, instead try putting your body heat to work. Power Felt is a thermo-electric material wristwatch that is powered not by a battery, but by the heat of your own body.