UltraCell's UC25 / XX25 two-day laptop fuel cell
By Ryan Block 
posted Mar 8th 2006 9:57AM
posted Mar 8th 2006 9:57AM
We've been hearing the siren's call for fuel-cell laptops for what already seems like too many years
now, but we'll admit nothing whets our appetite like the promise of two day run time, which is exactly what UltraCell
claims they're showing off in their UC25. It's only a pre-production model designed for military purposes right now,
but UltraCell apparently had it going on at IDF in SF this week, and hopes to commercialize their products by the
second half of this year. Hot, as always, but until we've got them powering our respective Vaios, 
Thats awesome!
If the military version is going to get 2 days, then the civi version should get 4 days at 10% of the cost! :D
I don't get it... Do I fill it up with water or hyrdrogen to power it, or do I still have to charge it like a normal battery. What about memory effects, will it slowly degrade over time like the iPod batteries? I must say, though, the idea of a 2 day run time is pretty drool-inducing... now just get it powering my iPod STAT!
anyone know how big that is? could do with some comparison pics...
actually they run off methanol not water or hydrogen.....this is gonna be cool! NEC was dead on though.....at the end of 2003 they said in 2 years we will have fuel cells than can go 40 hours+
The product information page lists the dimensions as:
9"x6"x1.6" and weighing in at .6 lbs
and it looks to be powered by methanol
steve, get on that
:-D
...well i guess that was a stupid comment...he probably has them in the ibooks already and shipping in a week...lol
..but seriously, get on that (touchscreen UMPC/ipda w/ 40+ hours would b nice)
Althought this is a good start, laptops are not of a huge amount of use unless they are connected to a network. The throw away batteries mentioned in the article are not for the laptops, which use propietary batteries (doesn't yours?) but for the radios used to connect them to networks. If you have hard-wired network connections, you have power. If you are hauling batteries around in your backpack, it is not for the laptop, but for the large radio also in the backpack.
I've heard these things have been ready for a long time now.. The problem is you are not allowed to bring compressed gas of anykind on an airplane. The fact that a large percent of people bring their laptops on flights and expect to be able to use them there makes this not really marketable at the moment..
I don't understand how they are going to allow you to bring it on an airplane ....
I wonder how much explosive capacity this thing holds.. cuz wasnt there pretty good facial damage from exploding knock off phone batteries... I would think this thing would do a whole lot of damage.
That site says the fuel cell will power a laptop for 2 working days. Does anyone know how long it will last at the weekend?