Talking on your cell phone, uh, oh, batteries going dead -- no worries, just pick up that can of pop laying there, shake it, and if there's some left -- just pour it in the phone!

Sound sort of crazy? Well Chinese designer Daizhi Zheng says he's finally perfected his "sweet drinks" mobile device.

The cell phone works by turning sugar-based liquid into special enzymes as catalysts. Not as far out as one might think when you consider we do similar things with traditional car batteries and water.

The big news here comes in the form of eliminating lithium batteries that we all now use in many handheld devices. Not only are the lithium batteries expensive to make, but also when disposed of you have problems with that stuff leaching back into ground water.

If his invention proves to do what he says, it could be real breakthrough.

Along those same lines, actually without lines, is the wireless recharger. The innovative device would allow mobile units to be recharged without plugging them in. Basically, receptors within the unit access the charger from anywhere. You do not need wires. Again, special adapters, plugins and end caps, not to mention the copper conducting wire, all cost money to manufacture.

Environmentally speaking, you don't need a boatload of raw materials to start with so you didn't have to tear something up to extract them. Then, when whatever you were using has outlived its usefulness, you don't have to consider filling a landfill with them and risking more leaching issues.

Sometimes less is more and less is actually better.