During the past 50 years we have put a man on the moon, we turned sand into something that forms the heart of your computer and we have turned the Internet from a defense network into what is undoubtedly the most important business tool ever.

What we have not managed to do however, is make a battery that can power a normal laptop for more than 5 or 6 hours. The average notebook is 3000 times more powerful than the first one, but the battery still only lasts 1 hour longer. Moore’s law clearly doesn’t apply to battery life…

Sadly the future depicted by Doc Brown in the back of his DeLorean has not come true yet, so we still depend on old fashioned stored energy to power our products. This is where I will try and help you out.

Over my years of travel I have put together a kit that contains all the parts you’ll need to power almost any gadget and keep them charged without depending on power outlets.

On an average trip most of you will carry a notebook, cell phone (or smartphone/PDA), an iPod and possibly a separate Blackberry from the office. Assuming the boss put you in the back of the plane for that 14 hour flight to Singapore you have 3 options; sleep, work or watch the latest Rob Schneider flick on the screen up in row 16.

About 5 hours into the flight your laptop will be dead, 2 hours later your iPod stops playing and by then you are probably going insane. So, grab your APC power pack and plug it into the laptop, then plug your iPod into the mobile power pack and keep working/rocking. That is the essence of the TravelTechTalk power kit.

The TravelTechTalk power kit in all its glory!

Do not be scared. The photo you see here may look like a tangled mess of wires, plugs and splitters, but it actually contains everything you need to power a laptop, Blackberry, smartphone, iPod, Gameboy and virtually any other gadget you could possibly drag along.

We’ll take a brief look at each part of the package.

 APC UPB60 external power pack

The APC UPB60 is a 65Wh external lithium-ion battery pack. It connects to your laptop with one of the many power tips included. You simply charge it with your normal laptop power supply. On average I can get 2 extra full charges out of it for my Dell XPS M1210. This translates to around 6 extra hours. Usage is as simple as selecting the correct voltage on the selection knob and plugging in the cables. On the front you’ll also find 5 LED lights that indicate the charging status. the UPB60 costs $165 (MSRP) but can regularly be found for around half that.

Product link

APC UPB10 mobile power pack

Next up is another APC product; the mobile power pack. Much smaller than the UPB60, this power pack is made to recharge USB devices like the iPod or your cellphone. The UPB10 recharges off USB. This unit also has an LED bar showing the charging status. In day to day usage I can fully charge my HTC smartphone and my 160Gb iPod before I have to recharge the power pack. Considering the small size of the power pack, that is an impressive result. Expect to pay around $60 for the UPB10. Since I purchased my APC unit, several other vendors have started to make similar devices. Fry’s electronics carries one for just $30 with the same specifications.

Product link

iGo juice70 Notebook power adapter

The "heart" of my kit is the "Mobility Electronics Juice70 notebook adapter with iGo Dualpower accessory". Don’t let the ridiculously long name fool you; it’s actually very easy to use. It consists of the main power brick, a notebook/dualpower cable and either an AC cable or DC/Empower cable to feed it.

Operation is simple; plug in the AC or DC/Empower cable on one side, then the notebook cable on the other. The notebook cable ends with a connector that takes any of the iGo notebook tips. These "tips" have the correct plug for your model laptop and tell the charger what kind of voltage it requires. There is no fiddling with knobs or settings; it just works.

Halfway down the cable is a second port; the dualpower port. This port allows you to piggyback off the notebook power cable and power devices with lower demands than your laptop (mp3 players, mobile phones etc.). This is where it can get complicated, because you actually have the option of charging not one, but three dualpower accessories. By purchasing the Dualpower splitter and additional Dualpower cables you can charge your laptop, your iPod, your phone and your gameboy at the same time.

By the time you have plugged everything in you’ll be surrounded by cables…

It may seem like a lot of stuff, but if you realize that this one adapter is powering 4 things at the same time, and that you are able to keep all the dedicated chargers at home, you’ll start to love your iGo charger.

Assortment of iGo tips; In my package I have tips for most mobile phone brands, several Mini-USB tips, 9 different notebook tips, iPod tips and a tip for the Gameboy. The Juice70 costs $119 (MSRP) and comes with 8 different laptop tips and one Dualpower adapter. Additional tips are around $10.

Manufacturer link

Targus Accessory Bag

Remember the first picture (the one that scared you)? All these parts fit in my Targus accessories bag. Sadly, this model (the TAP100) is no longer made by Targus, but some vendors do seem to still have a few in stock. At just under $15 it’s the perfect way to carry all my gear.

Total weight of the kit is a bit over 4 lbs. But when you consider that I have enough power to work for at least 9 hours without an outlet you will understand why I don’t worry about carrying it around wherever I go.