I Have the Power! Do you?

Have you ever had your computer, tablet or cell phone lose power in the middle of the day?

In the campy 80's cartoon He-Man, when the young prince Adam needed power, he would raise his sword and call out out - "By the Power Grayskull, I have the power" - and zzzzzap!  He had all sorts of power!!

If only life were that easy.

One of the biggest hardware based complaints that I get from my students and teachers is that their device - phone, tablet, computer - has lost power and needs to be charged.  This of course means tethering the device to a wall socket and inevitably, there are not enough wall sockets available when you need it the most.  Ever been in the airport with a dying device?  How about the school hallway at lunch? It is like a spider web!

Well, I am happy to say that I don't have that problem.  Why you may ask?  Well, I carry a battery backup with me!

For under $70.00, I have a couple of days worth of power in my backpack - and the cool thing is that it is about the size of thick iPhone 6.

Now, there are different external battery chargers based on what you are going to charge.  If it is an Asus PHI PC (like I run for my main tablet/laptop) then you need 9V @ 2A.  If it is your average i-device then it is 5V @ 2A.  For these devices, there is an easy fix.  My favorite (and highest rated by users) is the Anker. It will charge just about anything short of a big laptop.  

If you are fortunate enough to own a battery guzzling Mac (that uses, of course, a proprietary charging system) there are external Batteries such as Battery Box for about $159.00

PC more your style? For these laptops there is a much wider selection.  A tried and true unit is the Turcom Ultra that fits just about any PC laptop and its price comes in at about $115.00

Bottom line:  Make sure that your 1:1 program has some way of powering the units at all times.  If you don't, you may find yourself in the dark!

Yossie

Yossie Frankel
Director - Consortium for Information and Academic Technologies
Member Schools:
Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy - yfrankel@hillelhebrew.org
Oakland Hebrew Day School - y.frankel@ohds.org
Shalhevet High School - y.frankel@shalhevet.org
Yeshivat Yavneh - www.yha.org
Arete Preparatory Academy - yfrankel@areteprep.org

Midreshet Emunah V'Omanut - Jerusalem - yfrankel@emunahvomanut.org
Checkout my blog @ technorebbe.blogspot.com
Twitter @yossiefrankel
YouTube Channel: YossieFrankelChannel
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yossiefrankel