batteries
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Nokia admits some N73 batteries have put on a little weight
Nokia's fessed up to the fact that "a limited number" BP-6M batteries used in the N73 have, over time, swollen up -- apparently in some cases to about three-times their original size. The worst of these cases have resulted in handsets with a battery cover that won't close at the back -- rendering the phone totally not cool. It's a fairly common lithium-ion battery occurence after a few years, but don't worry -- it's not dangerous, just annoying. Look at this way: at least the batteries aren't exploding.
Energizer's Rechargeable Solar Charger gets detailed, pictured
You don't usually equate CES with big time Energizer introductions, but this year is going to be different. While our fingers are still crossed that a 50-foot drum-toting bunny is seen storming around in the Vegas heat, we do know that said outfit will be bringing along its minty fresh Zinc Air Prismatic batteries, not to mention the newly unveiled Rechargeable Solar Charger. The above pictured device will boast a USB port to power an assortment of devices, and it can also be charged from an AC outlet if you just can't seem to locate the sun. Better still, its weatherproof nature should make it suitable for argonauts, and it'll only run $49.99 with a pair of rechargeable cells when it lands next summer.
Some Dell Mini 9s said to be shipping with smaller batteries
It's not clear exactly how widespread the problem is, but it looks like at least some Dell Mini 9s are shipping with smaller batteries than they should be -- a situation that, you may remember, also plagued some Eee PCs a little ways back. According to jkkmobile, while the all the batteries are labeled a 32Wh, 4 cell batteries, a quick software test of their own Mini 9 revealed that the battery was in fact only 24Wh, which certainly cuts into the promised four-hour runtime a bit. Apparently, the folks on the MyDellMini forums were able to surmise that batteries with labels beginning in "CN" are the proper 32Wh models, while those that begin with "KR" are the smaller ones. Of course, there's no way to check that until you actually get one in your hands, so we're hoping Dell steps in to clear things up a bit.[Via jkkmobile]Update: It looks like MyDellMini forum member that initially reported this issue has since run a few more tests and discovered that the two batteries aren't as different as it seems at first, and likely not different enough to worry about. That's further backed up by some rundown tests, which actually showed the supposedly smaller KR battery lasting a bit longer than the CN one.
Sony lays off 16,000; will close factories
Sony announced today it plans to lay off 16,000 workers, close a handful of factories and reduce electronics investment by a third, as their comeback effort falls apart. Sony is both Apple's competitor in the mobile phone market and their partner for computer components, including batteries. "Five or six" factories will be closed, with only one named so far: Sony Dax Technology Center, in France. Several other factories in Japan will be closed, and one other abroad, according to the IDG News Service. 8,000 full-time employees will be laid off, along with another 8,000 temps and contractors. Those 16,000 people represent about nine percent of their workforce. Forbes.com's announcement of the layoffs attributed some of Sony's loss of revenue to Apple's dominance in the music player market, a torch Sony once carried. Sony hopes the moves will save them a billion dollars going into its next fiscal year, which starts in April.
Energizer to debut new, longer-lived Zinc Air Prismatic battery at CES 2009
Energizer's set to unleash a new battery -- dubbed the Zinc Air Prismatic -- at CES in January, which they say will offer three times the juice of similar alkaline and lithium-ion batteries. Promising more runtime for smaller devices, they'll also supposedly be the same size as current, comparable batteries. It's a little vague right now, and we don't have any specifics on life times for specific examples of devices, but it all sure sounds great. We take exciting claims of battery power with a grain of salt, especially from the companies that make them, so we'll just have to wait and see. Then again, we're inclined to take companies with mascots that look like they've marched out of a hallucinogenic nightmare at their word. Conundrum.
Korean geniuses invent lithium batteries with eight times the juice
Oh, what wondrous things come from the land of Korea -- dancing emotional robot humanoids, oxygen-emitting robot plants, and multiple 24-hour StarCraft channels. It's all good, and we dig robotics and televised gaming, but this latest invention could be our favorite if it pans out. Professor Cho Jae-Phil and his team at Hanyang University have replaced the graphite in lithium batteries with a certain kind of silicon, which we're told can store eight times the power. No word on what the batteries have actually been used for yet, but it stands to reason they could eventually make it to consumer electronics. Now you see why we're willing to say this might be better than 24-hour StarCraft. Say it with us: 48-hour StarCraft.
Recalled: 35,000 volatile Sony batteries in Dell / HP / Toshiba laptops
Ruh roh. We're really, really hoping this isn't just the first of another long string of laptop battery recalls, but the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with a slew of other outfits, has just announced a voluntary recall of around 35,000 Sony laptop batteries. As you'd expect, the Li-ions in question "can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers," and there have already been 19 reports of overheating including 17 reports of flames / fire and two reports of consumers getting mildly burnt. For the full list (and it's pretty long) of affected laptop models from HP / HP Compaq, Toshiba and Dell, be sure to give the read link some serious attention. Oh, and stop using that battery pronto if yours is one of the afflicted.
MIT working up microbatteries to power implantable medical sensors
In the never-ending quest to make even the smallest devices on Earth a touch smaller, a talented team of MIT engineers have developed a method for creating and installing microbatteries, which could eventually power a plethora of diminutive devices including "labs-on-a-chip and implantable medical sensors." It's bruited that this is the first time in which "microcontact printing has been used to fabricate and position microbattery electrodes and the first use of virus-based assembly in such a process," and while you'd likely have to be a colleague to even digest that, the take away is that these gurus are one step closer to generating battery-powered Scrubbing Bubbles. And your shower could use 'em.[Via PCMag]
Oncore Power wants to charge every MacBook battery all of the time
If you find yourself burning through your MacBook or iBook batteries at an alarming rate, perhaps you require a charging solution that's, shall we say... more robust. That's where Oncore Power's psychotic 6-bay charging station comes into play. Never again will you have to suffer the indignation of a powerless laptop with the company's all-in-one solution to charge every brick in your arsenal at once. The device will juice up three batteries at once, letting you stagger the two bays of three slots so you're always one stylish wrist snap away from sweet, sweet power. Sure, it costs $395 (and presumably more for the version with included batteries), but you can't put a price on peace of mind, can you? Oh, wait. You can. It's $395.[Via Macworld]
Microwave process could cut cost of lithium-ion batteries
While there's plenty of folks out there focused on making lithium-ion batteries safer and longer-lasting, there's also thankfully some dedicated to making 'em cheaper, which is especially welcome when we're talking about the expensive batteries powering cars. Among those in the latter camp is University of Texas at Austin professor Arumugam Manthiram, who has devised a method of using microwaves to heat a concoction of commercially available chemicals, which ultimately results in the Rorschach test of rod-shaped particles of lithium iron phosphate pictured above. While the use of lithium iron phosphate instead of the more commonly used lithium cobalt oxide apparently cuts back on the total amount of energy the batteries can store, it is apparently particularly well-suited to delivering large bursts of power, which should make the batteries ideal for use in hybrid vehicles. What's more, while the actual cost of the materials may not be much cheaper than other solutions, the sheer speed at which Manthiram's process works could allow for higher production rates from the same amount of equipment, which should result in cheaper batteries by the time they roll off the assembly line.[Via Daily Tech]
Tesla to supply Mercedes-Benz with lithium-ion batteries?
Man, Tesla's been busy today -- in addition to the announcement of the Model S and Elon Musk's promise of a sub-$30K electric car in four years, word on the street is that the company's inked a deal with Daimler AG to supply it with lithium-ion batteries for upcoming electric cars. Daimler's CEO has said the company was open to leasing battery tech to get out an electric Smart by 2010 and it's rumored that the German marque is looking to ditch gas entirely by 2015, so going to Tesla, which has been working on battery tech for some time, isn't a totally out there proposition. Just a rumor for now -- given Tesla's generally-prickly relationships with others, we'd wait for an official announcement before getting too excited about a Roadster-powered SLR, but it's certainly intriguing.
Nyko ships Charge Base 360, first 200 come from 1986
It's about time 360 owners get some rechargeable Nyko love via the Charge Base 360, which is shipping to stores at a $34.99 clip. So why should you care? This charger / controller storage solution comes with two NiMH drop-in (i.e. shaped for your 360 controller) rechargeable batteries that promise to make your gaming downtime a lot less extant. Nyko says a single charge will provide "up to" 25 hours of play time while charge time takes about 2 hours per controller. If you act quickly, you could get one of the limited 80s coffee table-friendly Black & Gold-colored units which go on sale June 2.[Via IGN]
Laptop battery shortage should end by Q3
After a fire at LG Chem, li-on batteries have been hard to come by for companies like Asus and Quanta. But fear not, laptop lovers, because it looks like the battery plant is getting things back in order. According to Sung Fu-hsang at Simplo -- a battery manufacturer that relies on LG Chem -- the li-on supply will return to normal by Q3 2008. So how bad is the current shortage? Asus CEO Jerry Shen noted that his company could have sold a lot more than 5 million Eee PCs were it not for the problem.
Apple and Sony settle with Japanese battery burn victims
Remember that Japanese couple who sued Apple and Sony over one of those famous burning batteries? Well it looks like the companies have decided to settle, and will pay the fire-damaged pair a total of ¥1.3 million (or around $13,000). Of course, this is a bit less than the absurdly low $16,700 the two were asking, but percentage-wise they didn't make out too badly. During the trial, Apple Japan apparently accepted responsibility for the incident but couldn't justify settling out of court due to a request for "excessive compensation," while Sony maintained its distance by suggesting a link between the battery and burns wasn't clear. We're sure the guy who made the trip to the hospital thinks otherwise.[Thanks, Jackie]
Fraunhofer takes a stab at non-exploding lithium-ion batteries
It's hardly the only one working on making lithium-ion batteries a little less likely to blow up in your face, but the prolific folks at Fraunhofer Institute seem to think that they've come up with a solid contender for your future laptop or cellphone, and they're now set to take the wraps off it at the Hannover Messe conference later this month. The key to their solution, it seems, is the use of a non-flammable polymer electrolyte instead of the liquid electrolyte now commonly used in lithium-ion batteries. While that switch cuts down on the explosiveness, it also introduced a fair number of challenges, not the least of which is the fact that polymer becomes less conductive as it gets more solid. Fraunhofer's apparently made some significant progress on that front, however, and while they're still not completely satisfied with the conductivity, they say the batteries could be ready for commercial use in three to five years. They also, not surprisingly, see no end to the uses for 'em, saying that they could not only wind up in laptops and cellphones, but power tools, lawnmowers, and potentially even cars.[Thanks, Mademoiselle Y]
Researchers improve Li-on battery life, increase capacity 30 percent
Although's Moore's Law continues to race along, battery tech hasn't nearly kept up pace -- so we're excited by developments like the one just announced by Argonne National Labs, which has managed to increase Li-on capacity by 30 percent while making the batteries safer and longer-lasting. The secret ingredients in Argonne's new juice box are a new composite battery material that's partially electrically inactive and manganese oxide-based electrodes in place of the traditional cobalt oxide. Argonne says it's already licensed the tech to Japanese manufacturer Toda Kogyo, which has the capability to produce 30 million laptop batteries a year, but the lab is still working on improving charging rates -- while it's adequate for laptops and cellphones, the battery will need to discharge at least three times faster to work in a car. No word on when we might see these start shipping, but you can bet "manganese battery" is being added to our dream machine spec list right... now.[Via ExtremeTech]
Toyota already looking beyond lithium-ion batteries
If you can believe it (and we think you can), Toyota is already hard at work on a new battery system to replace its lithium-ion units currently slated for use in upcoming models. According to a report in Automotive News Europe, the company is hoping to adopt a more advanced battery for its hybrid vehicles in about 12 years as part of its Global Vision 2020 plan. The automaker won't say what technology it plans on moving towards, though it has suggested that air-zinc batteries could be a possible solution for maintaining its dominance in the hybrid vehicle market. In June the company will launch a new division dedicated to developing technologies for future cell power, while its lithium-ion vehicles will hit the roads around 2010.[Via Autoblog]
LG halts sale of Z1-AE007 laptop, suspects defective battery
It's not like LG hasn't had issues with its batteries before, and even after confirming that they were unquestionably safe just last week, the firm has suddenly removed its Z1-AE007 from the market after suspecting that faulty batteries may be included. Reportedly, one of said models "caught fire" in Seoul and presumably startled the graduate student who owned it, but a company spokesperson stopped short of proclaiming that a recall was in order. Furthermore, the individual noted that "the matter should be consulted with the battery maker," essentially shoving every ounce of blame as far as humanly possible away from LG.[Via FarEastGizmos]
Now this looks like a nice recharge dock
Up until the death of what we hoped would be the accessory to end all accessories, there hasn't been much in the way of docks or storage solutions for the person with 4 Wiimotes. Now, thanks to the React Recharge Dock, we can charge up four Wiimotes simultaneously and still keep the clean aesthetic of the Wii. With a fitting color scheme and its space-saving design, React's rechargeable solution for your Wiimote needs is not only shaping up to be the best solution for those who want a rechargeable pack for their Wiimotes that matches their Wii, but also about the most expensive choice for gamers. This accessory demands a hefty $50 entrance fee before you can enjoy it. However, the pack does include four 550 mAh batteries for your Wiimotes, so in the end, it just might not be such a bad deal after all.What do you all think?[Via Joystiq]
Hotswap laptop batteries let you keep the juice flowing
Sure, most laptops let you swap out a battery while the machine's asleep, but sometimes you need things to stay running while you switch out powerpacks -- which is where inventor Ric Richardson's hotswap batteries come into play. In addition to their traditional contacts, the cells have a small extension that plugs into your machine's power jack, allowing you to take out the dead battery and plug in the new one without having to shut down. It's a deceptively simple idea, but Richardson's got a patent on it, and he says he's talking to various companies like HP and Lenovo about using it in consumer laptops. We're definitely intrigued -- but here's hoping there's a good way to stow that cable afterwards.
