Home > Articles > Hardware

Power

Apple provided you with a marshmallow-sized 10-watt power adapter that can top off your batteries toot sweet. It's even super-convenient to travel with. But I've found two different alternative power products that have proven to be worth their weight in your favorite material with a high Value to Weight Ratio.

Targus Premium Laptop Charger

Apple's charger does a great job, it's tiny, and you got it for free with your iPad. So why bother spending about $80 (street price) for this dealie from Targus (www.targus.com)?

targus_qrcode.pngBecause it's geared towards the problems of travel. It's modular. It can power and charge your iPad from any 110V-220V outlet in the world, but you can also swap in an included adapter to charge from your car or airline seat power. The AC power spades rotate a full 90 degrees, which means that you can sneak it into any available outlet...like the one remaining port on a shared power strip that only still available because nobody can squeeze their own power bricks in there.

The business end of the charger splits in two. You can charge any two devices at once from this same adapter. And I do mean "any": you snap on a power tip for the devices you own. Traveling with an iPad and an iPhone? iPad and a Blackberry? iPad and a camera? Snap on the right two tips and you've got the problem solved, minus the bulk of multiple chargers.

New Trent IMP1000 External Battery

An external battery pack falls firmly in the "You'll never need one...until the one time you wish you had it."

The iPad packs ten hours of battery life. That's clearly enough to last you through a whole day without needing a recharge, right? Right. You make a good point. I salute your intellect and savvy...and I'm not just saying that because you've bought my book.

(Edited to add: actually, I know for a fact that you haven't bought it yet, because this sample chapter is intended for free distribution. But I can tell that you're the sort of kind, thoughtful person who can be counted on when this book becomes available for pre-order.)

But it's not hard to come up with scenarios in which those 10 hours can be stretched thin. I live in Boston and often fly to the west coast. 90 minutes in a crowded airport waiting area where I can't find an outlet plus a six-hour flight can easily put me in San Francisco at 1:00 p.m. with an afternoon's worth of business ahead of me and a battery at 50 percent.

And that's not a worst-case scenario. I might have forgotten to top off the battery before I went to bed. My flight might get delayed. Once every couple of years, I truly am in a Seriously Ill-Considered mode of transit and I'm away from outlets for 20 hours.

In all of those situations, and just in general principle, it's a relief to know that I filled up a box of spare electrons before I left the house. I'm old enough to have traveled with laptops that only ran for two hours on battery. If there was any chance that I needed to use it after I landed, I couldn't watch movies or do anything fun with it on the flight. I will die, or kill, before I am dragged back to those barbaric times.

I won't.

Shhhhhh.

I. Simply. Won't.

Which is why I often carry an external battery pack when I travel. It's a safety net and a free pass to go ahead and spend hours gaming, reading, viewing, and otherwise piddling away my iPad's stored charge with full Gatsby-like abandon. Many companies make these things: it's a simple gadget, just a stack of batteries in a semi-attractive case. It'll power or charge any device that you can plug into its USB port.

newtrent_qrcode.pngThe iPad is a special kind of beast that draws a lot more power than a smartphone. You need a charger that's rated for it. New Trent's IMP1000 (www.newtrent.com) can pump out 11000 mAh of power is up to the task: it can fully recharge the iPad from zero, or double the running time of your iPad's battery if you just leave it plugged in.

image-2.png

New Trent's IM-P100 power pack provides extra juice to your iPad when recharging from a power source isn't available.

And remember: it'll revive any device that can charge via USB. I like the New Trent because it's affordable ($80 street), compact, and easy to use. It means that when a storm cancels all outbound flights, you won't have to go from passenger to passenger in the terminal, begging for thirty minutes on their outlet like some sort of damned animal.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020