We’ve seen our share of solar powered devices, but nothing so hideous and blatantly dorky as the solar powered necktie. It will not only collect solar power, but it also singles you out as a geek. You can thank a group of braniacs at Iowa State University for creating it. It’s made from newly developed solar fabrics. The solar panels are tiny and laid out in a grid that at least makes it look somewhat like any other tacky tie.

It even sports a pocket sewn into the back so your device can suck precious juice like a parasite that no one can see. This technology can only end with a living symbiote tie that strangles you dead, thereby making it look like you’ve committed suicide. Then they’ll take over the world. No one will know. It will just seem like unusually high suicides. Let’s just stop wearing them now, can we? They’re silly.

Air conditioners are not usually solar powered because they use so much power you would need a large surface area of solar panels to keep it going. What’s interesting here is that the GreenCore 10200 solves this problem by using a battery pack that it recharges continuously throughout the day. (It can also be charged directly from the wall)

The GreenCore comes with a configuration that will not be enough power to run the air conditioner completely on it’s own, but what it will do is save you some serious money on your next power bill by doing it’s part and it can be combined with other solar panels to supply its complete power needs. The technology looks pretty promising and can be used in a variety of ways.

This one was conceived as a green and portable commuter transport. What we have here is a fold-up bike that runs on solar power obviously. The name says it all. Power is stored in a battery that you can use at night, and you can even power your other gadgets, like your iPod.

It looks kinda cool in bike form, but when you fold it up it resembles an alien egg that appears to be sending signals to it’s home world. In fact it’s not sending signals, but it’s pointed upward so that it can track the sun’s movements in order to maximize the power it’s sucking down. Even so, it’s still creepy. One day it might get it in it’s head that you belong in that egg so it will keep you there as it points toward the sun, warming you in your egg, so that you can hatch out as a new lifeform.

The iPhone 3G does a whole lot more than its predecessor, and that means that the battery is going to drain much faster. All of those cool new apps will also suck up the juice. The iPhone 3G Solar Charging Case will offer some protection for your iPhone 3G and also has a built-in solar panel that will collect the sun’s rays and turn them into electricity.

Power is stored in a 1,500mAh battery that will give your phone a full charge. Recharge time is about 3 hours. It may not be the most beautiful of iPhone cases, but it’s a good option for those who are thinking green with their gadgets. The price is $54, while the sun’s rays are free.

I know for a fact that several nerds just crapped themselves looking at the picture above. This monstrosity is a PC Case Mod designed around the Matrix Regenerator. Some specs: Pentium 4 3.2, MSI 875P Neo Mainboard, a Solarism 17″ LCD Monitor LM1730, 1 GB Corsair CMX512 3200LL, Crucial Radeon 9800 Pro 256, and more.

It’s really a highly detailed work of art. From the creator “The Matrix: Regenerator project is the second in a series of two case mods based on The Matrix movies. The first project, The Matrix: Rebirth 8.0 was a recreation of the scene where machines are breeding humans for their electric power. Regenerator will show the second stage in that breeding process, where adult humans are plugged in to their power plants, dreaming their dream within the Matrix and providing power for the machines.”

Buffalo introduced their new BSKBW01SB solar powered wireless keyboard. It features a small and adjustable solar panel just above the number pad so you can better capture the sun’s sweet nectar. Maybe there’s only one tiny ray hitting your cubicle, if you get the right angle, you have power baby!

It also runs on batteries just in case you live in Alaska. It’s got 17 hot keys, does it’s thing in the 2.4 Ghz frequency and will give you a range of 10 meters. The keyboard will go on sale in Japan by mid July at a price of $135. You may be saving power, but not money.

The supply is expected to be plentiful, nevertheless a line has already begun outside of Apple’s Fifth Avenue retail store to buy iPhone 3G a week before its release. These people are serious and have their supplies for camping. Wouldn’t it be nicer to stay at home with your families?

Part of the line is occupied by some activists known as “Waiting for Apples” who are hoping to set a Guinness World Record and spread the word about sustainable agriculture. They brought their own solar-power generator, yoga mats, a compost bin full of worms, and probably other hippie essentials. Personally, I can’t think of a better way to spend a week then sitting on my ass next to these guys. Yeah, that would just be awesome…

If there is one universal thing cell phone users can agree on it is longer battery life for their devices. We have seen all sorts of methods to prolong the run time of our cell phones from add on batteries to solar chargers.

The SunBlazer is a pretty interesting product and combines two things that most cell phone users might need. The SunBlazer is a holster for your cell phone that also has a solar charger built-in to keep your phone powered up.

It’s a beautiful summer day. You want nothing more then to play your Wii and enjoy the outdoors. But you can’t do both. Or can you? Now you can, thanks to this solar powered Wii station.

Whether it’s some exercise with Wii fit or a kick-ass round of Mario Kart, you’ll be having fun in the sun. It’s basically little more then a wooden case that houses the Wii, a high definition display, a solar power panel, and a battery, so I’m sure it’s entirely worth the $1,431 build cost.

The solarDAB is what I would call retro-ugly. Meaning that it reminds me of some of the uglier aspects of yesterday’s gadgets…today. Ugly it may be, but it is the world’s first solar-powered DAB radio, from Roberts. It sports a top-mounted solar panel along with an indicator on the display that shows you the strength of the solar level being absorbed.

With the rechargeable batteries fully sun kissed, you’ll have tunes for an amazing 27 hours. Looks like they have a variety of colors to choose from for $158. Ugly, yes. But 27 hours of music is pretty awesome.

We all know it’s coming. That future Mad Max apocalyptic world where the only things that matter are gas for getting around the wasteland and water to survive. Are you going to be one of the helpless or one of the new kings? If you have water, you have power. I won’t even get into the zombies. The point is with this Klimatec Base 1 AirWater Machine you have power.

It extracts gallons of water right out of the air. It will give you a whopping five gallons of fresh H2O every 24 hours. It even cleans the extracted water with a carbon filter, runs it through an ultraviolet light chamber to kill bacteria, and then serves it up to you hot or cold. It offers a solar power option too, but you’ll need powerful solar cells, since it requires 480W to operate. No price info yet.

In a joint project, the University of Leicester and Doritos have been working together to create and broadcast the first commercial aimed squarely at aliens. You know, because they might be looking for a different kinda chip after all several millenia of the same old junk.

Maverick Professor and crazy as a bag of chips, Darren Wright says that “everything is going as planned” and that it’s sure to be “an historical moment for it is the first time that we will broadcast a message to the space, far beyond our Solar System.” The target seems to be alien consumers located about 42 light years from the Earth, in an area that’s virgin territory for Cool Ranch and the mystery flavor gimmick known as “The Quest”. I’m sure they’re itching to corner the market in that sector of space before everyone from Coke to Pringles starts sending their own spam.

Here’s another great concept phone. Aside from being a slider, the Intuit is a new approach as far as design. It takes after the iPhone as far as having a touch screen and even has a second screen for user input. It also sports a 5 megapixel camera with built in editing software, a touch keypad with tactile feedback, and even a chemical-based solar skin that will charge the battery when exposed to the sun’s rays. I don’t know about you, but I was taught to never leave my phone in the hot sun. Anyway, it certainly looks pleasing. Is it intuitive or not? Hell if I know. If it ever gets released, I guess we’ll find out.

As far as solar devices go, Thanko’s DAP actually looks pretty nice. I’ve seen much worse. In the front it looks like any other device with a 1.8-inch 220 x 176 resolution display, 4GB of internal storage space and a miniSD expansion slot.

But in the back is where you’ll find the solar panel that doubles as a stand for the unit. Just stand the whole thing up as shown and let it soak up the sun. It can also be charged via USB. No word on a price or release date, so who knows if we’ll ever see it in the U.S.

Is Apple getting into solar power? It looks that way. According to Tradethenews.com, the company filed a patent involving placing solar cells on portable devices. This means that Apple’s iPhone or other devices could have photovoltaic cells stacked underneath LCD touch screens, which maximizes the area available for harnessing and soaking up the power of the sun.

According to the filing, performance info in regard to the performance of a device’s solar cells could be displayed on the main screen next to battery power, which makes sense. It could also appear on top of the actual cells, which could be displaying the Apple logo. Imagine less charging of devices. Then one day no charging at all. Nice.