As handheld mobile devices become a more common household sight, we are beginning to find the act of charging them a bit of a hassle. You have to bring your chargers along with you wherever you go, and even at home, multi-plugs are becoming an eye sore at the end of every busy day. What if there are cooler, more eco-friendly ways to keep your smartphone battery alive?

We take a look at the unconventional ways you can now charge your smartphone with. Some of these chargers let you use the hours you put into your gym work, and various renewable energy resources to do the charging.

While some do away with wired charging, others take it a step further to package the charging abilities into the laptop bag, the purse, running shoes and even a soccer ball. Here are 30 out of the ordinary ways you can now charge your smartphones.

Recommended Reading: 10 Tips To Conserve Your Smartphone Battery

Eco-Friendly Chargers

Hand Turbine Smartphone Charger. Charge your smartphone with a cool hand turbine, and it comes with a AM/FM weather alert radio too. Perfect for outdoor use. [$55.46]

CampStove. Away from the electricity grid when out for camping? Charge your smartphone with this thermoelectric device as it turns heat to electricity. [$129.95]

Epiphany onE Puck. Whether you’re having hot or cold drinks, you can enjoy them while charging your smartphone with this sleek portable gadget. Visit its Kickstarter page here. [$115.00]

Electree. This ‘bonsai’ is not just for house decoration, but also to recharge your smartphone using light. [$455.93]

PowerTrekk. A mobile charger that provides a 2-in-1 solution: a portable battery pack and fuel cell. It’s perfect for travelling or even in emergency situations as it only requires water to work. [$299.00]

PowerPot. Start a fire, fill PowerPot up and as the water begins to boil, it converts heat into electricity to charge your phone. [$149.00]

Solar Sunflower. Put it near your window while working and enjoying free energy courtesy of the Sun. [$79.00]

BikeCharge. Install this dynamo system to your bike and let your cycling charge up your phone! [$99.99]

Mini Kin Wind Powered Charger. Go renewable sources, go! Lets have Wind do their part too. [$4.53]

HYmini. An all-in-one power generator which stores energy from a wall plug, renewable DC input, wind power and sunlight. [$49.99]

Solarmonkey Adventurer. Here’s an award-winning solar charger, fit for adventurers. [$111.05]

Ray Solar Charger. Perfect use for travels as it can capture the maximum amount of sunlight while stuck on a window to charge up your smartphone. [$39.99]

WakaWaka Power. A pocket sized solar charger for your smartphone, which comes with 40 hours of reading light. [$79.00]

Soccket. Play soccer and store energy during game play. After the game, use the ball to connect and charge up your USB devices. [$99.00]

Window Solar Charger. The sleekest window solar charger we’ve ever seen, so far. [$65.08]

More:

Energizer Dual Inductive Charger. Wireless charging for all Qi-enabled devices (there’s a charging case you can get for your smartphone to enable this) with large charging zones. [$89.00]

Energi+ Backpack. Sleek backpack with a charging system inside for all your device-charging needs. [$169 - $189]

Everpurse. For those who have the habit of keeping their phones in their purse, this is the best charger you will ever need. [$189.00 - $600.00]

PowerKiss. Sick of wired chargers around your home? Try this wire-free charging devices. [The Ring: $29.00 | The Heart: $307.00]

Phorce. A smart bag that can charge up to 3 USB devices simultaneously. [$119.00]

POP. A portable energy solution that charges multiple devices at the same time. [$99.00 - $179.00]

TYLT VU Wireless Charger. Another Qi compatible wireless charger for smartphones with a 45-degree angle platform so you can read your screen easily while charging. [Coming Soon]

Nokia Wireless Charging Pillow by Fatboy. Perfect wireless charging pillow to place your Nokia Lumia. [$79.99]

BrightBox. Perfect solution for restaurant or pub owners to help charge their customers’ phones. Users need a card to open the chamber so it’s 100% secure. [$2 - $3 Per Transaction]

Concept Chargers

Thermoelectric Converter. Developed by Fujilim, which can convert body heat from our hands to electricity using lightweight film sticks.

Orange Power Wellies. Like to walk around or shop the whole day long? With Orange Power Wellies, you can convert heat from your feet into an electrical current and use it for charging.

InStep NanoPower. Walk or run to produce energy source for your smartphone. Time to put all that running in the gym to good use for your phone.

Orange Power Pump. Another green energy generator which is powered by foot air pumps.

Cube Magic. A conceptual charger by Zheng Weixi. Play the cube and it converts the movements to energy juice for smartphones.

Gotwind Dance Charger. Dance or exercise, and get your smartphone charged via muscle power.

Bootstrap has gained a lot popularity among web designers and developers, in this site BuiltWithBootstrap you can see that there are many sites that have adopted Bootstrap as the foundation of their website or webapps.

In our previous post we walked through some UI Components in Bootstrap. This time, in this post we are going to explore, Bootstrap Plugins.

As we mentioned before, Bootstrap comes with a number of custom jQuery plugins that work seamlessly with each other. So, we don’t have to rely on third-party plugins which may have script clashes.

In this post we are going to explore the following plugin that attracts me most: Modal Window.

Setup the document

Before we can run these plugins, make sure that all the necessary files have been included in our document, as follows:

  <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/bootstrap.css">  <script src="js/jquery.js" type="text/javascript"></script>	  <script src="js/bootstrap.js" type="text/javascript"></script>  

Since it is a jQuery plugin, don’t forget to also include the jQuery library, otherwise it won’t work. If all is set, we are good to go.

The Modal Window

Using Modal is the better method to get attention from users versus using pop-up windows which could be blocked by the browsers. Let’s see the following example:

The modal window in Bootstrap is simply defined as modal class. We can add several sections in it, like the content and the header, each can be contained with a div and respectively assigned with these classes modal-body and modal-header.

  <div id="modal" class="modal">  	<div class="modal-header">  		<h2>Lorem Ipsum</h2>  	</div>	  	<div class="modal-body">  		<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec placerat sem ipsum, ut faucibus nulla.   		Nullam mattis volutpat dolor, eu porta magna facilisis ut. In ultricies, purus sed pellentesque mollis, nibh   		tortor semper elit, eget rutrum purus nulla id quam.</p>  	</div>  </div>  

We haven’t done any fancy stuff here. Thus, this markup will give only the following result in the browser.

Assign the Trigger

Furthermore, let’s say we want this modal window to only show with a click as the trigger, we need to do the following. First, we add hide class in the div to hide the modal window, like so:

  <div id="modal" class="modal hide">  	<div class="modal-header">  		<h2>Lorem Ipsum</h2>  	</div>	  	<div class="modal-body">  		<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.   		Donec placerat sem ipsum, ut faucibus nulla. Nullam mattis volutpat  		dolor, eu porta magna facilisis ut. In ultricies, purus sed pellentesque   		mollis, nibh tortor semper elit, eget rutrum purus nulla id quam.</p>  	</div>  </div>  

Then, anywhere on the Web page, we add a button link.

  <a href="#modal" role="button" class="btn" data-toggle="modal">Click Me</a>   

Notice the data- attribute in the button, it’s a new attribute added in HTML5 specification, and in this case we use this attribute to target our modal window.

Lastly, to activate the modal, place this jQuery line.

  $('#modal').modal();  

Go back to the browser and refresh. You should see the modal window now hidden and we have the button in there. Now, when we click on the button, the modal window will pop up instanteneously.

The Close Button

There is a constraint though. How do we hide the modal window?. To do so, we need to put a button element inside the modal window header:

  <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">&times;</button>  

In this button we also added a data- attribute that pointed to the modal window. That’s it, all other things like the class and the function have been taken care of and once we click on this button, the window should be hidden.

Fade Effect

Now, let’s make the modal window fancier. In this case, we are going to add the fade effect. To do so, we simply add fade class in in the div, as follows.

  <div id="modal" class="modal hide fade">  	<div class="modal-header">  		<button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">&times;</button>  		<h2>Lorem Ipsum</h2>  	</div>	  	<div class="modal-body">  		<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.   		Donec placerat sem ipsum, ut faucibus nulla. Nullam mattis volutpat  		dolor, eu porta magna facilisis ut. In ultricies, purus sed pellentesque   		mollis, nibh tortor semper elit, eget rutrum purus nulla id quam.</p>  	</div>  </div>  

Now, instead of showing up instantly, the modal window will slide down and fade in, then when close the window it will do the opposite, slide up and fade out. Most of these effect is done through the CSS3 new properties.

Bonus Tip

The Modal window plugin in Bootstrap is easy to implement. But, can we use it for other than the Bootstrap framework? Fortunately, Bootstrap has provided an option to download only necessary parts of Bootstrap. So, if you need only this plugin for your non-Bootstrap website, here is what you can do:

In Bootstrap website, go to Customization page. In this page, uncheck all the options and select only the following:

• Buttons style under Base CSS.
• Modals under JS Components.
• Modal under jQuery plugins.

That way, our files will not be bloated with other library codes that are not necessary.

Whenever we stare up at the sky and into space, we will see… absolutely nothing. It’s a dark blanket across the sky with rare twinkling dots, in a huge span of nothingness. Let’s face it, we depend more on space telescopes and adventurous photographers who go to isolated spots around the world to capture the splendours of our night sky.

Whether you’re in it for the colorful view of galaxies and nebulae, or if you are a fan of constellations and horoscopes, there is no stopping us from gawking at the beauty of stars forming and dying. So, this week’s Wallpaper Wednesday, we celebrate the space and the galaxy wallpapers that litter the Web and our fascination with space travel, and beyond.

Read Also: 60+ Absolutely Stunning Space And Planet Wallpapers

Lonely Death Star. Available in the following size(s): 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1280×960, 1366×768, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600. Download zip.

Binary. Available in the following size(s): 1280×800, 2399×1152, 2048×1279. Download zip.

Galaxy IV. Available in the following size(s): 640×960, 960×800, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440, 2560×1600. Download zip.

Galaxy Practice. Available in 1600×1200.

Space Travel 2. Available in 2560×1600. Download zip.

Shiny Space. Available in 3600×3545. Download zip.

Galaxy VII. Available in the following size(s): 640×960, 1024×1024, 1440×900, 1920×1200, 2560×1440, 2560×1600. Download zip.

Nebula 2. Available in the following size(s): 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600. Download zip.

Andromeda Wallpaper HD. Available in the following size(s): 1280×800, 4000×2500. Download zip.

The Sombrero Galaxy. Available in 3146×1770.

Light Of Billions. Available in the following size(s): 1280×1024, 1400×900, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1920×1200. Download rar.

Distant. Available in the following size(s): 640×960, 1024×1024, 1440×900, 1920×1080, 1920×1200. Download zip.

Andromeda Is Gone. Available in 3200×2000. Download zip.

Galaxy NGC 3190. Available in the following size(s): 640×960, 2560×1600, 640×1136, 2048×2048, 3200×2000. Download zip.

Reach. Available in the following size(s): 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1600. Download rar.

Robal. Available in the following size(s): 1024×640, 1024×768, 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200. Download rar.

Back To Space. Available in the following size(s): 320×480, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200. Download zip.

Night & Day. Available in 640×960, 1024×768, 1920×1080 and 4 different version. Download zip.

4273 Lyncis. Available in various sizes. Download rar.

Luminous. Available in 1600×1200.

Ethereal Oscillate. Available in the following size(s): 1024×768,1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1920×1200, 2560×1200. Download rar.

Thousand Years. Available in the following size(s): 1440×900, 1680×1050.

Andromeda Galaxy. Available in the following size(s): 3936×2214, 3948×2467. Download zip.

Harvest. Available in 2300×1300.