Consumer watchdog

In New York one of the largest cellphone network providers, AT&T, is installing solar powered charging stations for cellphones and tablet computers throughout the city. If you’re passing through New York and your cellphone runs low on power you connect it at one of these stations and, entirely for free, you can top up on power.

These charging stations use solar powered batteries so they work during daytime but also store excess charge in battery packs which means they can still charge you up during the middle of the night. The state of solar technology is so good these days that they only actually need a couple of hours of sunshine per day to operate.