Nothing ruins a flight faster than running out of power for your personal in-flight entertainment, and having to spend two hours listening to the elderly woman in the row behind you loudly discussing her medical issues with the person next to her. In stomach-churning detail.

You can avoid this by traveling with a charger, like the Inflight Power Cable.

Since there are no outlets or power jacks on a typical plane, the palm-sized, 3-ounce Inflight captures the small amount of audio energy that's delivered via the seat audio jack and coverts it to usable power. According to Inflight, the louder the music, the more power it provides. They recommend Mariachi bands at maximum volume. And I'm not making that up. They've also supplied the airlines a "charging tone" channel which generates the most power, so check with the flight attendant to see if their airline provides it. (It's also FCC certified and doesn't emit radio noise, so it's safe to charge your stuff below 10,000 feet.)

The internal trickle charger powers up in about 3-5 minutes, or you can use the included AA batteries to provide instant power if you just can't wait that long. Plug your device's cable into the USB port, or use the charging tips that come with some models. The Inflight can then recharge, or provide continuous power, for your iPod, cellphone, PSP... whatever small electronic device you have that can run on USB power. (I wouldn't try to run your laptop from it.)

And if some of your gear is fully loaded but your cell phone is dead, you can plug the Inflight into your iPod, for example, and use it to power your cell. Making it an essential to have on-hand for emergencies. Especially if you consider extreme boredom on a flight to be an emergency.

Starts at $34.99
www.inflightpower.com