If there's a better way to do things, the Japanese seem to always find them. This time, they came up with an emergency battery for the iPod and the regular Japanese mobile phone. With digital broadcast such as 1Seg keeping everyone glued to their mobile gadgets, no wonder the battery runs out before the last iTunes download is played. And we haven't even mentioned Bluetooth and Wi-fi squeezing out the juices of your lithium pack!

Princeton Japan found a heroic solution to this problem with the PMB-BP18. Weighing just 75 grams, the external battery can be attached via the USB port so you can recharge your iPod and phone. It also comes with its own viewer dock that you can adjust for better viewing angle. PMB-BP18 sells in Japan at ¥ j4,980 (around US$ 42).

Which way is North? Princeton scientists say they have evidence that today's North Pole could have been originally located along the equatorial line. What's more interesting is that the planetary somersault may have been caused by an erupting supervolcano. Either that, or a mountain range so large that it created an imbalance in the Earth's rotation. To illustrate the major shift in the Earth's axis, the scientists ask one to imagine Alaska at the equator. This theory is not new and has been around for 140 years, but the evidence is most definitely new...

The magnetic grains discovered by scientists in layers of rock sediment on the ocean floor are like entries in Earth’s diary. When rock particles sink to the ocean floor to form layers of new sediment, tiny magnetic grains align with the magnetic lines of the Earth. As the rock hardens it becomes a reliable record of where Earth’s magnetic field was pointing at the time of the rock’s formation. If dramatic geological event did take place, the magnetic grains will have an different orientation than present day rock formation.

Known as the True Polar Wander, the theory suggests that if an object of sufficient weight  formed far from the equator, the planet’s rotation would gradually pull the heavy object away from the axis which the Earth spins around. If the supervolcano or some massive formation caused the Earth's spin to become imbalanced, the planet would tilt and rotate until the  extra weight was relocated to a point along the equator. Incidentally, polar wander is not the same as continental drift.

“The sediments we have recovered from Norway offer the first good evidence that a true polar wander event happened about 800 million years ago,” said Adam Maloof, an assistant professor of geosciences. “If we can find good corroborating evidence from other parts of the world as well, we will have a very good idea that our planet is capable of this sort of dramatic change.”

In case were you wondering if Earth will do another somersault, Maloof says probably not. "The Earth’s surface is pretty well balanced today.”

Let's just take his word for it for now...

Here's another one of those nifty little gadgets that adds even more functionality to your portable devices. Japanese manufacturer Princeton announced an Ultra High Frequency (UHF) transmitter aimed at iPod Video users. The PCK-UAV Video Transmitter works like an FM transmitter but for TV signals.

The device will display videos from iPod Videos or portable DVD players on your Car TV/GPS devices. You'll need a video cable to connect the iPod to the PCK-UAV transmitter. You can also connect other video source to the transmitter, so if you don't have an iPod, a portable video player will work just fine. Of course, this nifty device is useful only when you can't connect your iPod to a TV or a larger screen.

It's one of those things we can do without, but we welcome the innovation nonetheless.

No word yet on pricing and availability.

One of the many Japanese electronics manufacturers, Princeton, has came up with a contraption called the PTV-WWTV7 Wi-Fi. From the looks of it, nothing seems to be outstanding about the small thing, but the company claims that this thingamjig is waterproof (if you ever buy one, do a little experiment on it then tell us, ha ha!).

The monitor is said to be encased in a JIS waterproof case, so it is entirely possible if you want to station this in your kitchen or bathroom. But there's the catch, for you to be able to enjoy this one, you'd have to attach it to the wireless antenna "to enjoy the television".

No word if the wireless antenna is also waterproof though. Anyways, this one going to be retailed come late June 2006 and maybe this time, it is better for this not to reach foreign shores and just be sold exclusively in Japan.