Wouldn’t it be great to have device of any kind that required no batteries and just used ‘You’ power? By that I mean of course that you could crank something to generate a little power. It’d be great exercise as well as energy conservative. Not your energy of course, but Mom Natures. Well Microsoft may not be ready to show it off as a consumer retailed device just yet but their labs down in Cambridge, England have created a media remote control called "Peppermill" that just might be the ticket. This simple remote control uses the user’s motions to generate energy. That means all you have to do to switch channels is twist your hand about a bit to use it. "Human-powered user interaction" is what this tech is called and it’s quite fitting.

The odd name is simply because it looks like a pepper grinder, there’s no whacky story behind it. The idea of this technology is to apply it to larger fields so for now Peppermill is still a prototype. Personally, lazy individuals, such as myself, could do with a little wrist exercise now and then, might be the only kind we get.

[Techflash]