“I got my hands on the Voltaic Systems backpack. I have treated it with complete disrespect. This backpack is a high-tech, solar-powered wonder, specifically designed for moneyed electronics geeks. So my first product-testing step was to loan it to a female teenager.

Its clumsy plastic shock buckle snapped closed on her delicate thumb and drew blood. She immediately declared it a “guy thing.”

She was right. The pack’s taut, narrow chest strap is unsuited to female chests. The belly belt is actively hazardous to the fingers. The bag is also blacker than a Gothic ninja, with but two small strips of reflective orange safety striping.

The teen reported, however, that her backpack was an instant boy magnet. Male strangers begged her for product information, sometimes in entire groups. The bag’s well-padded, lightweight and big enough for a horde of textbooks, so if one doesn’t mind dropping well over 200 bucks, it’ll make a statement any highschooler will envy.”

Full article: Johnny AppleLEED: Bruce Sterling’s Review of the Voltaic Solar Backpack