Digital Home Thoughts: Horizon Launches Cheap, Pocket-sized, Fuel Cell

"Today is a day that you will probably tell your grandchildren about - the day they released the first affordable, pocket-sized fuel cell for personal usage. As with flying cars, personal jet packs and a usable voice recognition computer interface, the promise of a safe, affordable, personal power plant was entering the realm of perpetual vaporware. Now it's finally here! Whatsmore, at US$100, the Horizon MiniPak might well prove to be the "disruptive" technology the press release claims it to be. By producing electricity from hydrogen at the point of use and offering effectively unlimited run-time for personal electronics, it will almost certainly be the public's first experience of the coming Hydrogen Economy."

The Horizon MiniPak seems like a nice solution if you always need to recharge your devices on the go. It also sounds pretty environmentally friendly, at least from the fuel cell perspective. Given that it converts hydrogen into some "dry, non-toxic and non-pressurized material" it seems like you could charge this up, throw it in your car, and be sure to have some power ready whenever you got stuck. Horizon mentions getting the price down to $30 once mass production starts. At that price and if it holds onto the hydrogen for a long time, I could definitely see myself throwing a couple of these at various spots where I might need to recharge my phone.