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Solar-panel sunglasses recharge your iPhone in the evening

Slap some solar panels on your Ray-Bans and soak up some juice for your iPhone 5.

Tim Hornyak
Crave freelancer Tim Hornyak is the author of "Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots." He has been writing about Japanese culture and technology for a decade. E-mail Tim.
Tim Hornyak
Ray-Ban Shama Shades
Could these Ray-Ban Shama Shades be a portable power pack? Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET

This may have been suggested before, but if not it's a great idea that's been sitting on our noses all this time.

Designer Sayalee Kaluskar has turned a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses into an iPhone charging device by adding solar panels to them.

The Ray-Ban Shama Shades are part of a student project at Miami Ad School--San Francisco.

The shades have a small solar panel on each arm, and that's apparently enough to charge an iPhone 5 when the sun goes down.

We've seen solar panels on wearable gear like Ralph Lauren backpacks, and we've also seen a recent Apple application for a patent on a system to outfit mobile devices with their own solar power converters.

It seems people are keen on tapping solar energy on the go, provided they can harness enough of it to be useful.

Would you wear these Ray-Bans if they could juice your phone? Check out the concept video below.

(Via PSFK)