You need a panel with at least 14W to charge a tablet, the are a lot of them out there, but, they get VERY mixed reviews. I have only used larger or smaller panels so can’t vouch for any of these so please do some research before buying.
Here are a sample that fit the speck – click on the image for the ebay link for each
The is no guaranty that a naked USB power lead out of a solar panel will charge your device, to increase the chance of this working you need to buy a USB battery with pass-through. This is just an example, check the speck carefully very few USB battery’s do pass-through charging
This setup would work fine for a large smart phone or any USB powered device. Feel free to ask questions in the comments and feedback real life experience here please.
It seems this phone has issues with the adapter cable, so hold on any purchase for the moment.
UPDATE2
We couldent get the moto G to work with the adapter cable, we trayed every way for a few weeks. So tryed the nexus 5 that had simuler issues but finaly worked useing a 3ed party camera app.
For a cheap first citizen journalism phone/camera I would recommend the 2014 version of the Moto G
As technology keeps updating, I haven’t tested these just based on reviews, please message me with your direct experience.
You could try something like this to stabilise the mobile as they are small and light so and hard to hold steady. You will have to reach and buy this yourself, report back if you find a good one.
Journalists often don’t fully understand what journalism actually is, especially trainees and people just starting out. For many enthusiastic newcomers, journalism looks like heroic individualism: finding the story, telling the truth, exposing injustice. And yes, that is part of journalism. But it’s only a part.
What often gets missed is that news is not just a collection of individual stories, it is a flow. As Dave Winer says, news is a river, and the stories journalists produce are the water that fills it.
Why does this matter? Because if we think of news as isolated items – one-off stories, individual scoops – we overlook the real power media has in shaping society. But when we understand news as a continuous flow of information moving through culture day after day, year after year, we begin to see its deeper influence. Just as a river, given enough time, can carve through mountains, the ongoing flow of news shapes worldviews, defines common sense, and even produces the next generation of journalists themselves.
Many fledgling journalists focus entirely on producing stories while overlooking how editorial structures, aggregation, repetition, and framing shape the overall flow. This blind spot helps explain both the failures of contemporary peer-to-peer journalism and the enduring strength of traditional media institutions.
The power of journalism is not only in the water – the individual stories – but in shaping the riverbed through which that water flows. Traditional journalism binds the river through wages, hierarchy, and institutional agendas. Editorial control channels the flow in deliberate directions. In contrast, contemporary internet-era journalism has the potential to build rivers through cooperation, federation, and collective aggregation – but this requires conscious design and understanding.
The real challenge today is helping young and aspiring journalists recognise this distinction. Instead of being drawn solely toward the money, prestige, and hierarchy of traditional media, they need to understand how to build independent flows of information: creating their own rivers of news that are sustainable, truthful, and socially grounded.
When journalists learn to shape the flow rather than just add drops of water, they begin to understand what journalism truly is, not just storytelling, but the ongoing construction of shared reality.
‘An antidote to everything that’s wrong with mainstream television news’ George Monbiot
‘ sizzling with cheeky radicalism It’s radical, it’s not for profit, and it’s damned good’ New Internationalist
Undercurrents News Network
A compilation of cutting edge animations, documentaries, comedy, subverts and music videos from the best radical producers from around the globe. The best of the grassroots film makers handpicked for you by Undercurrents.
Wild Horses of Newbury An inspiring tale of how two horses put their bodies in front of the chainsaws during the disastrous roadbuilding scheme. Produced by Mark Carroll and Undercurrents.
When the Smoke Clearz From the Guerrilla News Network crew in USA – a music video highlighting the dark forces behind hip hop. 3 mins
The Meatrix Welcome to the real world of intensive animal farming. A spoof on the Matrix blockbuster series, it’s fast becoming a cult across the web.By Flash animators free range graphics. 3.5 mins
Hercubush A BangZoomTV spoof remix of the 60s Hercules series 4mins The lengths one man will go to for a well-oiled torso!
Whose News? Fed up of news spin? Undercurrents presents the funny unspun truth behind the peacemovement, women’s empowerment, protest shopping and bald policemen. Includes an interview with Oscar-winning actor Martin Sheen about anti-war activism.15 mins
Consumption “Keep on buying so much I don’t need…” A rapid-paced music explosion from underground music maestro Toby Slater.3 mins
Occupation EnMasse Films present a stunning ‘reality’ documentary about how Harvard students defeated the world’s oldest corporation and gained a living wage for low-paid workers 30 mins
Read My Lips Bush and Blair – that special relationship uncovered in a hilarious musical send up. Watch as Tony sings into George’s eyes – guaranteed to break the ice at any screening! 2.5 mins
Woomera Breakout Ska TV’s incredible story of how hundreds of activists broke down the fences to release Iraqi and Afghanistani refugees from Australia’s worst asylum seeker detention centre. 7 minsplus contributions from:
Mark Thomas (activist comedian)
Ben Affleck (Academy Award winning actor)
Martin Sheen (award winning actor from Apocalyse Now)
A river that needs crossing political and tech blogs – On the political side, there is arrogance and ignorance, on the geek side there is naivety and over- complexity
My videos are on these two youtube channels visionontv3,832,876 views and undercurrents 22,689,976 views
Am working out how to put in an upgraded battery bank for my boat in the space left by removing the air cylinders. (I also need the weight for ballast)
Am looking at installing 2 or 3 of these in the space opened up under my floor (need to be low hight)
Then running 5m of this cable black and red through the centre section of the boat (it is 7.2 long over all)
Connecting it to the battery’s with these
Then putting junction boxes at both ends and feeder lines off to plugs, lighting ect.
Then running the solar charging cable to the battery’s.
(Can use existing one, but need new charge controller soon)
Adding a second alternator in place of the water pump to bulk charge this battery bank.
(need alternator and mounting bracket)
UPDATE
Bought 2x 250amh banner battery’s doing installation under the floor (making the battery box now)
This is the first part of the order I put in:
Thank you for placing an order with us for the following items:
1
Product code: P01038 Part Number: MFB1-1
“Mega & Midi Fuse Power Distribution Box” Price: £20.87
1
Product code: P01023 Part Number: CM35R
“Extra Flexible Tinned Copper PVC Battery Cable – 35mm² 240A” Colour: Red, Length: By the metre Price: £7.49
1
Product code: P01024 Part Number: CM35B
“Extra Flexible Tinned Copper PVC Battery Cable – 35mm² 240A” Colour: Black, Length: By the metre Price: £7.38
A river that needs crossing political and tech blogs – On the political side, there is arrogance and ignorance, on the geek side there is naivety and over- complexity
My videos are on these two youtube channels visionontv3,832,876 views and undercurrents 22,689,976 views
This is an archive report from a creative action against GM crops in the UK. Back in the day of fighting GM crops – a clear victory for direct action. Is an early video report you can tell from the too long text and to short time to read it and the use of copyright music limiting its distribution.
