NEC's counterfeit cellphone battery blocker

NEC's new system which can detect the use of counterfeit batteries in cellphones and digital cameras and deny their use might help prevent teenage girls' asses from catching on fire, but it'll also give manufacturers the ability to charge even more for their already overpriced replacement batteries. Supposedly one major Japanese digital camera maker is already on tap to use this next year.

UPDATE: We just got a hot tip that Sony is planning to add something like this to their laptops, and that if the laptop detects a non-Sony battery it will simplyrefuse to work and prompt the user to insert an original one.