Just got one of these as a present: BioLite Camp Stove

It is a small wood burning stove with a battery. When you fire it up the battery runs a fan to make the flame burn hotter and more efficiently in the fire chamber. A thermoelectric device uses heat to keep the battery charged. When it is hot enough, you can use it to charge your iphone or other small electronic device from a USB port.

I just recieved it as a present, and fired it up today for the first time. I charged my iphone and made a cup of coffee. I didn't really do a systematic test, but it all seemed to work as advertised. Seems a bit heavy for backpacking, but could be usefull in a disaster situation. After Sandy, I saw articles about people running generators just to charge phones, this seems to make more sense. Heat some water for coffee, tea or soup, and charge your phone at the same time. They have a larger model under testing which would actually allow one to do some real cooking.

I'm hoping that Hikin Jim will really test one out one of these days.