July 7, 2005 Power Pack Phone? Check. PDA? iPod? Digital camera? Check. Check. Check. When your checklist gets this long it's time to give your cargos a break and drop your load into a Voltaic solar bag. If Mother Nature and Thomas Edison had a love child, this would be it. These sacks use the sun's energy to generate up to 4 watts — enough juice for a small device. A battery pack inside stores power too, so you can grab some rays now and save 'em for later. But if the sight of solar panels inspires dreams of writing your screenplay out on the boat, wake up. The panels are too small to power up a laptop. Stick with a hand-held and plug it in to one of ten standard adaptors. Have you got the car charger for your cell? That'll work too. There's a socket in the bag just like the one in your car (We'd light our cigarettes off it, but we've already lost the little lighter knobby). Here in the land of all-sun-all-the-time, you'd think we'd see more solar panels. Guess it's time to add that to the checklist. Voltaic bags retail for $229 and are available at: Flight 001 8235 West 3rd Street (at South Harper Ave.) Los Angeles, CA 90048 Tel: 323.966.0001