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Must-Have Monday: Keep your devices charged with a cold glass of beer

If you’re one of many people who need a piping hot cup of coffee to get you going in the morning, or a cold drink to wind down at the end of a long day, you’re certainly not alone. And one company thinks they have an invention that will let your drink do double duty – it’ll also charge up your phone.

The Epiphany onE Puck is a project on Kickstarter by Epiphany Labs that takes your hot or cold beverage and converts the heat disparity into power by using a Stirling engine. Unlike an engine like you’d find in a car, the Stirling engine is a closed-circuit thermodynamic system that converts heat energy into power – in this case, electricity to power your cell phone.

The premise for the device is simple: place your hot beverage on the red side, or cold beverage on the blue side, and plug in your device via the USB plug in the side of the coaster (which means you’re not limited to charging your phone; you can charge anything that uses a USB cord to charge). The hotter or colder the beverage, the faster your device will charge.

While the product is still in its very early stages , the Kickstarter campaign for the product has cleared its goal of $100,000 and still has almost two weeks to go. As CNET points out, there’s only a working prototype at this point, and Epiphany Labs hasn’t given an exact amount of time that it takes to actually charge a device. The company does say thought that it can produce 5 watts of power, which is the same as a standard smartphone charger.

Who would love it: Business people, students, teachers, or anyone else who often find themselves away from a plug but with a hot or cold beverage in hand. Could also be very useful for camping trips, where you’ve got a cooler of beers but no plugs to be seen.

How much it costs: You can purchase one through the Kickstarter campaign for $115 USD, which will also get you a t-shirt and a window sticker. For another $20, you can get it with custom engraving.

Where to get it: Currently only available through the Kickstarter campaign. If you want to wait and see the finished product, keep an eye on the Epiphany Labs website epiphanylaboratories.com.

Must-Have Monday is a feature on Yahoo! Canada News' Right Click blog, where we share a cool gadget each week. We're not paid to endorse any of these — it's just stuff we'd probably buy if someone handed us a pile of money.

Have a suggestion for next week? Contact us on Twitter at @yrightclick.

Visit ca.news.yahoo.com to read a different feature every day.