According to a Reuters report, analog chip maker National Semiconductor is developing technology to charge cell phones in an instant by plugging the phone into a wall oulet and voila! it's charged.

Want this in an instant? Sorry, you have to wait -- seems it's a year away, even with what the company calls "a pretty aggressive R&D campaign."

The end game is for Nat Semi, which gets more than a third of its revenue from wireless, to sell the technology to existing phone charger suppliers rather than go into the phone charger business.

Is this a green move? Really more a matter of convenience rather than an energy saver.