This iPhone MagSafe wireless charging bank also doubles as a stand for your smartphone!

It looks like we’ve come full circle with the camel-hump battery case that Apple released for the iPhone back in 2015. However, the CLIP, by Adaptation Design Studio takes a once-ridiculed form factor and puts it to good use by making it relevant and sensible.

The CLIP is a wireless power bank designed to snap onto the back of your phone either using MagSafe (for newer iPhone models) or using an adhesive clip (for older iPhones and Android devices). In doing so, the device aligns with the smartphone’s wireless charging coil, allowing it to charge the phone’s battery on the fly, without any cables. However, the CLIP doesn’t just add an extra external battery to the back of your phone, it also adds a kickstand that can be used in both landscape and portable formats. A metal component (shaped sort of like a carabiner clip) wraps around the power-bank and can be opened out to let you prop your phone vertically or horizontally while it’s charging. Now that’s a mighty clever use of the MagSafe feature if you ask me. In fact, if you could extend the size of the power-bank and add slots to dock/charge your AirPods, this would be absolutely perfect.

Designer: Adaptation Design Studio for Hitachi-LG Data Storage.

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Hitachi’s EMIEW3 Robot Helps Travellers at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport

If you find yourself at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and get lost, just keep an eye out for Hitachi’s EMIEW3 robot, who is more than happy to help. This adorable talking robot will keep you on track so you can get to your flight.

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Until the 14th, Hitachi will be testing its EMIEW3 humanoid robot in the airport’s passenger terminal. EMIEW3 will direct visitors to an information display and answer questions in both English and Japanese. Sure, that doesn’t sound all that impressive, but it is all leading up to something bigger. In December, the robot is will return to the airport as a guide. That’s when visitors will be able to ask for directions to the currency exchange counter for instance, and EMIEW3 will physically lead them there. The robot can speak in multiple languages, and can drive itself at the same speed as humans.

It’s like being in Star Wars and having a robot companion. It’s not that sophisticated yet, but still it’s a cool thing to encounter while traveling.

[via TechCrunch via Engadget]

Adorable robots help travellers at Tokyo’s Haneda airport

Getting lost in an international airport is never fun -- but if you're lost in Japan's Haneda this month, you'll at least be able get help from an adorable talking robot. From now until the 14th, Hitachi is testing its EMIEW3 humanoid robot in the ai...