POC’s Omne Eternal bike helmet has a self-charging light onboard

Like childhood pets, beloved national treasures, and, well, all living things, the problem with normal batteries is that they die. If only there was some sort of natural energy source in the sky that we could harness to power things. Rather than strapping a massive solar panel to your bonce, POC’s Omne Eternal (€250) skid lid is covered in a new-fashioned material called Powerfoyle. It works a bit like the way plants turn light into energy, but rather than making the helmet grow flowers it powers the built-in rear light. Powerfoyle works with both artificial and natural light, so as long as the helmet is left out for at least an hour to do its thing you won’t get a dead battery just because the sun’s spent all day behind a cloud. There’s no power button, the light comes on automatically when you strap it on and the onboard sensor detects that conditions are gloomy enough, plus it switches itself off a few seconds after you remove it. It even works if you’re wearing a hood or hat underneath. POC recommends replacing the helmet after a maximum of five years, at which point you should send it to live on a farm in the countryside where it’ll be happy. You know, like Snuffles did when you were a kid.