Inventor says his battery booster is like ‘Viagra for cellphones’

When your cellphone's battery strength drops lower and lower, how can you get it to go back up?

Use the Viagra for cellphones.

That's the humorous way Steve Witz describes his newest invention, MyBlueBoost -- a small, portable battery pack for cellphones, iPods and other devic es.

The "Viagra for cellphones" description came while brainstorming with his wife, Pam, about how to market his product.

"It's a catchy phrase," she said. "Everyone gets it."

Witz only uses the reference when speaking. His website, myblueboost.com, doesn't use the phrase. Instead, it uses the less lawsuit-spawning, "Smart products for smarter people."

Witz has been interested in how things work ever since he was a child. He got his ham radio license when he was in fifth grade. He made money by repairing people's radios and TV sets while in junior high.

Witz did his undergraduate work in the 1970s at the University of Utah and went on to earn an engineering degree from Virginia Tech.

"It's called the MIT of the South," he said.

His career has seen him working on the U.S. missile program, and he's been on the leading edge of digital phone advancements.

He began his own business, Witz Computing, 15 years ago. His innovations support the technical needs of Broadway plays, including "Phantom of the Opera," "Wicked," "The Lion King" and "Jersey Boys."

His inventions automatically translate the actor's words into whatever language the attendee wants, using a PDA system. There also is a system for the hearing-impaired that gives subtitles and one for the sight-impaired that provides a running description of the show. All are done in real time, he said, working off the director's stage cues.

"Well, it's really off the lighting cues," he said, correcting himself. "Because an actor's not going to talk unless there's a light on him."

With that technology running smoothly, Witz turned his attention to a solution for poor battery life of cellphones and smart pads. His own smartphone has to be recharged each night.

"You go into a college library, and everybody's searching for an outlet these days," he said.

MyBlueBoost was born. The device works off the same circuitry as the Broadway play equipment.

The business is run out of the couple's Summerlin home, and the device is sold only online. He's relying on word of mouth and a tiny QR code to help get the word out. The QR code sticker, like a bar code, can instantly take a smartphone to myblueboost.com simply by snapping a picture of it.

Delia Oliveri of New York City purchased one and told of a road trip from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.

"I kept watching the battery on my iPhone go down and down," she said.

She dug into her travel bag, pulled out Witz's battery charger and plugged it into her phone.

"It's saved my sanity many times," she said.

Betsy Werley is 74 and calls herself a "great-grandmother techie." She took the devic e with her on a recent trip to Washington, D.C., and used it to recharge her iPhone. It's also an easy way to charge her camcorder, she said.

"It came in really handy," she said of MyBlueBoost. "Now, I always carry it in my purse."

Why do today's devices run down batteries so fast?

"There's more power in today's smart phone than in a mainframe computer from when I was in college," Witz said.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.