Real-world McGyver
YouTube user SpiritPlumber put up a video showing how to make an impromptu cellphone charger from off-the-shelf components available in a Radio Shack (think Maplins in the UK). The impressive thing is that these were not bench assembled, but built on-the-fly in the electronics store a la the US fictional TV show McGyver of the 1980s.
More details including the charger schematic here. Radio Shack should give these people a role doing social media for them. They shouldn’t be scared of a sudden maker streak cannibalising their existing accessory sales because consumers will still by convenience and time poverty. But the idea of being self reliant is what fills the garages of suburbia with components and tools – which will be the wider effect of the ‘maker’ meme.