If you're a Vodafone prepaid customer, topping up your account each month just got a whole lot easier, with Voda introducing PayPal mobile recharge capabilities. Once you've got a PayPal account, you can recharge your prepaid account directly through the Vodafone Live! portal on your phone. In a bizarre twist, Australia is actually the second country in the world to offer mobile recharging via PayPal after Italy...I know it's not a big thing to get before the rest of the world, but you take what you can get when you're on the arse end of global technology releases like we are...

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We've featured a couple of Wiimote charging solutions before, but here's one that's gotten around the pesky problem of charging without metal contacts--annoying if you actually use those Wiimote jackets. Teknocreations' InCharge allows you to dock up to two 'motes, silicon and all, to grab 25 hours of gameplay juice. How? Magic (i mean, inductive charging)! InCharge retails for $US34.99. [IGN via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

In similar form to solutions we've seen from Nyko, Energizer has announced Power & Play recharging kits for the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3. The Wii system (pictured) runs for $US40 and includes batteries and replacement doors for two Wiimotes. The 360 and PS3 Power & Play aren't quite the same bargain, consisting only of a recharging base for $US30, but hey, Microsoft and Sony have already provided fairly elegant battery solutions for gamers. Read on for full details.

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Duracell's latest NiMH rechargeable batteries have two neat features. One, they hold power for up to 365 days without use, and two, they come pre-charged, so you won't have to juice them up before plopping them into your camera. The first is great so your batteries are always ready for use even if you haven't touched them for a while, and the second is great so your batteries are ready for use when leaving the store. Too bad these are $12.99 for a four-pack. [PRNewswire via Coolest Gadgets]

AU: I have to note here that Sanyo's Eneloop batteries have been doing the pre-charged / hold power rechargeable thing for over a year now. Good to have some competition in the category, though, because those Eneloops aren't the cheapest batteries in town! -SB

We're no strangers to charging stations, having reviewed a couple before, but these Gomadic charging stations seem to be a little different. Instead of hiding a power strip inside the station, as we saw in the Kangaroom units, Gomadic has only one AC connection to the wall.

How do they do it?

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If you hate wires as much as I do, you'll find this DIY interesting. It's the brainchild of Bob Loblaw, a user (and fantastic lawyer) over at Instructables who created his own wire-wrangler/charger for his Motorola RAZR. The steps are pretty straightforward if you've got the time to build your own accessories (although oddly enough, it requires a shotgun cleaner). Otherwise you can do like I do and use a small cord/rubberband to tie up loose wire. Any other suggestions to get rid of wires, feel free to drop 'em in comments. – Louis Ramirez

Cellphone Charger Wire Wrangler & Dock [Instructables via Gearfuse]

The Aduki Ni (is Ni plural?) is a lamp shaped like a bean. Other than its similarity to certain components of chili, why are we so excited?

1. The bean is metallic. (metallic is cool.)
2. The bean is weatherproof. (perfect for cocktail parties we never throw but always intend to)
3. The bean changes colors. (yes, it's 2000 freakin' 7 and we still like things to change colors)

Glowing for 6-8 hours at a time, the rechargeable Aduki Ni is the perfect home accessory for the raver searching for the simpler life. $60

Hit the jump for a video.

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We covered the Energizer USB charger before, but we've got some new details on how it interacts with the software.

Energizer has two widgets, one for Macs and one for Windows, that let you monitor the charge as it's happening—in real time. It's like a mini-episode of 24 happening in your own machine, except instead of bombs getting found, you're making sure you have enough batteries for your Wiimote. Price is still $14. – Jason Chen

Energizer Duo [Energizer via Everything USB]

Sick of the cable clutter surrounding your gadget charging area? This is a fairly simple way to eliminate the cord clutter. Just pick up a couple of wooden blocks like seen above or any other apparatus that can be attached to the wall and have cords wrapped around. Wrap the cords creating a shelf and plug'er in. As long as you aren't trying to charge and hold a brick, the weaved cords should hold the device easily. –Travis Hudson

Battery Shelf [MAKE]

A hot tip from Mr Curly pointed us to a great site that does batteries galore for the Aussie market.

Rezap does battery converters like the ones mentioned earlier, but at a cheaper price (scarily plastic, but $5.50 for 2xC and 2xD adapters). There is also a universal recharger station for $79.95, which claims recharging of Titanium, Alkaline, RAM, Ni-Cd, and Ni-MH batteries. Is that for real? How does that even work? Power aficionados, start your engines.

USB and phone adapter battery charges are here too. Definitely worth a squiz. -Seamus Byrne