You probably know Tesla as the car company that makes expensive, awesome electric cars actually look like sweet cars instead of weird cardboard boxes with wheels.
But what you may not know is that Tesla founder Elon Musk is a bit of a weird visionary. He founded SpaceX and is working on plans to not only colonize Mars in the near future, but to deliver high-speed internet to those new Mars colonies so that you never miss out on your Game of Thrones binge-watching action. Musk is also behindthe Hyperloop, a futuristic high-speed transportation system that could conceivably take you from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 35 minutes.
But Musk's latest invention could end up having a significant impact on our everyday lives, and he's a lot closer to making it a reality than he is to putting us in touch with our Martian brethren.
It's called the Tesla Powerwall, and it's a battery for your home. It's a rechargeable lithium battery that can connect to solar panels and to the traditional power grid. It will charge itself using solar energy, or it will wait until energy prices are the cheapest and use your regular power outlet to store power for those moments when your power goes out.
It starts at $3,000, so it ain't cheap. But for those of you who cannot fathom the thought of not being able to play online poker because your electricity went out during that horrible rainstorm, the Powerwall might be your saving grace.
What do you think?