Thin When Empty (aren’t we all?)

A neat little concept gadget for you all today. And I mean little.

Hungry Batteries are an idea from designer Mac Funamizu. They’re a definitive way to work out if your batteries are flater than flat, or if swapping them round a bit will eek out any extra juice. As the battery get used, it gets skinnier. When it’s at it’s thinnest, it’s time to recharge it back up to proper size. Makes it easier to tell when your batteries are charged too if, like mine, your recharger doesn’t have a light indicator to tell you you’re done

The thin idea is also great for those battery housings which require superhuman dexterity or thumbs of the Hulk to remove the battery in the first place!

Unfortunately the designer doesn’t have much more than the idea – their prediction for building materials is simply ‘I guess some kinda foam / sponge will do’. And technically it wouldn’t work because batteries don’t actually use up any contents, they just use up the electrons. But it’s a nice idea if there’s a way to do it properly without overly sacrificing power content. You can check them out over at Yanko Design.