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OREM — Finding a place to charge while traveling can be a lucky feat, especially if you have more than one device.
Recognizing that locating even one open outlet can be challenging enough, an Orem-based company designed a backpack that doubles as a portable charging station. The MOS Pack organizes cords and lets people charge all of their devices at once while still in the bag — only requiring one outlet.
"There are so many components that typically need charging, and there wasn't a super convenient way to do it, so we went to the drawing board and just started designing backpacks, and slowly over time we were able to come to a solution that actually helps the problem," said designer Carter Zufelt.
Consumers seem to have responded to the MOS Pack well, with the product's Kickstarter campaign raising over $53,300 so far. Its original goal was $15,000.
The backpack features the MOS Reach, which is a simplified extension cord that has one wall socket adapter and two USB ports. With converters people can charge even more devices, but Zufelt said the backpack was designed with the "main three" in mind: laptops, tablets and phones. There are padded pockets designed for each of those electronics inside the bag.
Zufelt said he has enjoyed using the backpack himself.
"(Before) I would kind of plan out charging so I would do one at a time, but now with this I can do all of them at once, and it speeds up (the process) so much," he said. "It's just so nice to have that all in one central location."
The Kickstarter ends Jan. 4. Eventually the MOS team hopes to release more bags geared toward charging on the go, like shoulder bags and purses.
"We want this initial bag to be a launch point for our future bags," Zufelt said. "The end vision would be to have a full line of charging bags."
MOS already sells other tech accessories like specialty USB cables and smartphone stands through its website.
