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The Washington Post January 21, 2008

IF YOU TAKE A LAPTOP ON A TRIP, you can use that as a charger for other portable devices: Many cell phones, handheld organizers and digital-music players can recharge their internal batteries over a USB connection to a computer. This will take longer than a regular wall charger, but you won't have to carry around a set of look-alike AC adapters. You'll only need a few USB cables, or just one cable if your devices all feature the same mini-USB connector. Just verify that all of your gadgets can replenish their batteries in this fashion before you leave -- and, of course, make sure you don't forget to take the laptop's power adapter with you, either.