iPhone Portable Solar Power

I’ve been thinking about getting a solar charger for my iPhone for multi day backpacking trips. I just picked up the one below from REI for about $100. There were cheaper ones, but this one had the most power. Out of the box the battery pack brought my iPhone 4S from 60% to 78% in about 10 minutes then was out of juice. I’ll charge it fully with the solar charger then see how it does. In good sunlight it says 6 hours expected full charge. One full charge was supposed to charge my iPhone two times so that’s great. A full charge on a hike lasts me about a day stopping to take pictures once in a while and checking some email if I get a few bars.

…. Lighter and more compact Guide 10 Plus Mobile Kit powerful enough to charge an iPad™

GOAL ZERO, a leading innovator of portable solar power systems, today announced the introduction of the GOAL ZERO Guide 10 Plus rechargeable power pack and the Guide 10 Plus Mobile Kit at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market.

Similar to the original Guide 10 released in January, the new Guide 10 Plus acts as a 2-in-1 charger that powers handheld electronics, such as iPods™ and smartphones, via USB output and charges up to four AA or AAA rechargeable batteries in three to four hours. The distinctive new twist of the Guide 10 Plus is that it now also features a 1-Amp output that will give life to an iPad™ for up to five additional hours, while charging cell phones and smart phones twice as fast as the original version.

The GOAL ZERO Guide 10 Plus power pack is designed to work in conjunction with the new Nomad 3.5, a 3.5-watt mono-crystalline solar panel delivered in foldable fabric housing. Weighing in at only 8 oz., the Nomad 3.5 is lighter than many of the electronics that it has the ability to charge, and when folded up, it’s about the size of a small paperback book. The Nomad 3.5 charges a cell phone in two to four hours directly via its USB port and fully charges the Guide 10 Plus in four hours of full sunlight …

http://www.goalzero.com/blog/2011/08/04/guide10plus/

EU banned GMO honey?

What happened with this story from September 2011?

The European Union’s highest court on Tuesday ruled that honey which contains trace amounts of pollen from genetically modified (GM) corn must be labelled as GM produce and undergo full safety authorisation before it can be sold as food.
In what green groups are calling a “groundbreaking” ruling, the decision could force the EU to strengthen its already near-zero tolerance policy on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Bavarian beekeepers, some 500m from a test field for a modified maize crop developed by Monsanto – one of only two GM crops authorised as safe to be cultivated in Europe – claimed their honey had been “contaminated” by pollen from the plant.
The European court of justice found in their favour, a ruling that should offer grounds for the beekeepers to claim compensation in a German court.
But the court’s finding also potentially threatens recent EU legislation, introduced in July this year, that permits traces of GMOs in animal feed without a safety review.
Mute Schimpf, food campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe, said that the ruling “would confirm that existing laws allowing traces of unauthorised GM contamination are insufficient and would need revising.”
French Green MEP José Bové, an ex-farmer well-known for his destruction of a McDonald’s franchise in the south of France and the uprooting of GM crops in Brazil, said that the only protection farmers can have is for a complete ban on GMOs in Europe. “Beekeepers are powerless to prevent the contamination of their honey by GM pollen, as farmers are for their crops, and thus powerless to prevent the tainting of the foodstuffs they produce and the integrity of their product.
“The only sure way to prevent this is by precluding the cultivation of GMOs.”…
http://m.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/07/europe-honey-gm?cat=environment&type=article