There are dozens of great, affordable power banks in Newegg and Amazon and if you have extra disposable income you can get one to charge your numerous portable devices when you're at the coffee shop, airport, restaurant or hotel room. You can also purchase a USB hub though there are limitations to using a USB hub for charging devices (remember that a hub can only make use of voltage running through the primary USB cable even if it was designed to charge multiple devices).
Some people leave their laptops or hybrid portables at home when traveling, believing that most places have some power plug designed for their iPads and Android tablets (definitely not true). For those who still have their netbooks or can't afford portable battery packs, you can install Linux and use the netbook to charge numerous devices at the same time. Sure, it has "only" 3 USB ports, but unless your netbook was designed with USB ports that limit charging, all 3 USB ports can be used for your mobile devices.
Although Donald Bell from CNET recently called the netbook a "failed fad" I purchased an excellent Toshiba NB520 early this year (which actually had the sleep/charge feature if you're running Windows). With openSUSE installed, I can connect my Sony PRS-600 ereader /Sony NEX-3NL ILC, 4th generation iPod and Nokia E63 for charging and managing files simultaneously. Having one charging source comes in handy if your hotel room/cafe has only one socket or you brought only one universal power plug adapter. Plus, I can back up photos from my Sony NEX-3NL when my SD card is full or I become paranoid about losing them.
Note: Although my Toshiba NB520 can charge my 5th gen iPod and iPad 2, I'm still running iOS6 for the iPad 2. A future article will discuss using Linux and an iOS 7 iPad 2.
Hybrids are great and I'll probably end up buying a Microsoft Surface a few years from now but they currently have only 1 USB 3.0 port (which isn't the best for charging). The Macbook Air has 2 plus a Thunderbolt port but I'd rather have Linux managing my devices than iTunes or OSX when on the go. A desktop replacement or a thin-and-light may have more USB ports but you lose out on weight and portability.
So the next time you look at that netbook sadly, think about installing Linux and using it to charge your devices.
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