These things run on methanol (wood alcohol, the stuff in windshield wiper fluid) which is cheap to make. Having a small bottle around to squirt in a little fuel as needed is attractive, you could run your laptop/UMPC/camera/ray gun/adult toy/GPS/other small device almost continuously without turning it off to change a battery.
Also, every battery maker on earth is researching how to make extremely efficient batteries. Battery technology is driven by overcoming problems with chemistry, not by making transistors smaller. A much bigger hurdle to surmount.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
These things run on methanol (wood alcohol, the stuff in windshield wiper fluid) which is cheap to make. Having a small bottle around to squirt in a little fuel as needed is attractive, you could run your laptop/UMPC/camera/ray gun/adult toy/GPS/other small device almost continuously without turning it off to change a battery.
Also, every battery maker on earth is researching how to make extremely efficient batteries. Battery technology is driven by overcoming problems with chemistry, not by making transistors smaller. A much bigger hurdle to surmount.