laptop battery news

Researchers at Stanford University are working to take the same battery technology they developed for ink and paper to produce a battery that could be worn in everyday clothing. The research team, headed by Yi Cui, noticed a strong and growing interest in lightweight, flexible, and wearable electronics and decided to develop a new type of battery that would fulfill the ever-increasing technological demands of today’s world.

With an extremely simple “dipping and drying” process using single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) ink, we produced highly conductive textiles with conductivity of 125 S cm−1 and sheet resistance less than 1 Ω/sq. Such conductive textiles show outstanding flexibility and stretchability and demonstrate strong adhesion between the SWNTs and the textiles of interest. Supercapacitors made from these conductive textiles show high areal capacitance, up to 0.48F/cm2, and high specific energy. We demonstrate the loading of pseudocapacitor materials into these conductive textiles that leads to a 24-fold increase of the areal capacitance of the device. These highly conductive textiles can provide new design opportunities for wearable electronics and energy storage applications. -Yi Cui (Nano Letters)

While there is still a lot of work to be done before the clothing-battery becomes a reality and is made commercially available, we are closer than ever before to the day when recharging the battery for your iPhone or laptop can take place from the very clothing you put on your body. “The ideal wearable power would incorporate textile as a component,” the researchers wrote. “The fabrication process is simple and scalable, similar to those widely used for dyeing fibers and fabrics in the textile industry.”

“If we want to reduce our dependence on oil, put Americans back to work and reassert our manufacturing sector as one of the greatest in the world, we must produce the advanced, efficient vehicles of the future.” – President Obama

Recipients of $49 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, the hybrid and EV battery systems supplier Celgard has announced that it plans to expand capacity at its existing Charlotte, North Carolina facility and build a new manufacturing site in Concord, North Carolina.

The federal grant money comes from President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which saw roughly $2.4 billion dollars go to the development and production of advanced battery systems throughout the country. Celgard will use the funds to implement its lithium-ion battery separator capacity expansion in two phases. In the first phase, Celgard will add capacity at its existing Charlotte, North Carolina facility. In the second phase, Celgard plans to build the aforementioned facility in Concord. Expansion of the Charlotte facility will start immediately. Construction of the new facility in Concord is expected to begin the second half of this year.

“We are thankful for the support we have received from the U.S. Department of Energy, the North Carolina congressional delegation, and the state and local governments. We look forward to championing federal and local efforts to promote a greener economy,” said Mitch Pulwer, Vice President and General Manager of Celgard. “This funding enables us to accelerate our investments in production capacity and create jobs here in North Carolina as we prepare to meet the increasing demand of the Electric Drive Vehicle market.”

The two projects are expected to add about 200 new jobs to the advanced battery sector.

In what’s been a growing trend of alliances between automobile makers and electronics manufacturers, Panasonic and Tesla Motors have recently announced a deal in which both companies will work together to develop and produce next-generation battery cells for electric vehicles. With hybrid and all-electric vehicles becoming more common by the day, auto manufacturers worldwide are turning to electronics specialists in hopes of developing batteries that will set them apart from the competition.

“Combining Tesla’s rigorous cell testing and understanding of EV requirements with Panasonic’s cutting-edge battery technology will result in custom cells optimized for use in EVs,” said Tesla CTO JB Straubel.

Tesla will be using Panasonic’s nickel-based lithium-ion battery cells in the battery packs of its new EVs, citing their their high capacity, light weight, durability and long life as contributing factors.

There truly is nothing that Coca-Cola cannot do, including serving as the power source for a new type of Nokia cell phone. We’ve seen batteries being powered by urine, and now we have a Coke-powered battery giving a cell phone the juic..soda necessary to properly function.

“Bio battery is an ecologically friendly energy generates electricity from carbohydrates (currently sugar) and utilizes enzymes as the catalyst. By using bio battery as the power source of the phone, it only needs a pack of sugary drink and it generates water and oxygen while the battery dies out. Bio battery has the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge than conventional lithium batteries and it could be fully biodegradable.  (Dezeen.com)

The conceptual design for Nokia’s Coca Cola-powered cell phone was done by the Chinese designer Daizi Zheng. There’s currently no word on when, or even if these unique cell phones will ever make their way to the public.

It’s much easier than most people expect to upgrade laptop memory, and most people with a bit of technical knowledge can easily do it on their own. For those who can’t, or don’t feel comfortable opening their computer, almost every town has a host of small computer technical support people who can help for a modest fee. With a wide range of online suppliers of memory, it’s much easier and cheaper to upgrade laptop memory now than it has ever been before.

The first step to upgrading is to determine what sort of memory you need for your laptop, and how much you’ll want. Memory has different features, and the wrong memory will be incompatible with a computer. You need to make sure it has the correct number of pins to fit your computer, and you’ll want to get memory with a speed your laptop can take advantage of.

A number of online stores exist that can help you determine what memory will fit your laptop, where you’ll simply type in the model of your computer, and be shown your various options. You will also find out the maximum amount of memory that your computer can support. This is useful, because you don’t want to order more memory than your computer can handle, as it will simply be a waste.

Once you’ve ordered memory and it arrives, you can either take your laptop into a store, or else try to perform the installation yourself. Most stores will charge around $50 US Dollars (USD) to upgrade laptop memory, but this may be slightly more or less depending on the store. Some stores will require you purchase the memory through them in order for them to perform the memory, and although this may cost more, you should look at whether they include free installation and if this offsets the increased cost.

If you decide to upgrade on your own, you’ll need to find instructions on how to open your computer to install the memory. The instruction manual that came with your computer should have a special section devoted to helping you perform an upgrade. Most commonly, you will remove the battery and unplug the computer, and then open a memory cover. The memory cover is sometimes under the battery bay, and sometimes is simply on the back of the computer. Some laptops may require you to lift the keyboard and actually move components around in order to get to the memory, and in this case it may be easier to hire a professional to perform the installation.

Many people find when they try to upgrade laptop memory on their own that the memory doesn’t show up when they boot the computer. Often this is because insufficient force was exerted when situating the memory in its slots. It requires a surprising amount of evenly-distributed force to get the memory to lock in correctly, and anything less will make the memory seem as though it is in place, but in fact the connection has not been fully made. If this happens, re-open the computer, remove the memory, and try placing it in with a bit more slow, steady force. If this still doesn’t work, you may need to find a professional to upgrade laptop memory for you, or it may be that you have the wrong type of memory, and you should double-check that the type of memory you have is compatible with your computer.

Who wouldn’t want a laptop battery that’s safer, longer-lasting, and environment-friendly? I know I do. And I know all laptop users would like to get a boost on the battery life of their current laptops, and maybe something that doesn’t go off in flames when you’re not looking. A start-up company called Boston-Power is aiming to provide the answer for this essential need with their Sonata laptop battery, which will come out later this year.

Founded by a 40-year old frustrated opera singer named Christina Lampe-Onnerud, Boston-Power is set to change the way laptop batteries are used for the benefit of all laptop users across the world. They are going to do it with Sonata, a new kind of laptop battery that Lampe-Onnerud has been working on for at least a couple of years now. It offers longer overall battery life, a fast-charge feature enabling it to go from zero to 80% in just half an hour of charging, not to mention it will be less prone to exploding, unlike current generation batteries. The Sonata is slated for an official release of around Q3 2008, and John Wozniak has confirmed that HP has been doing some testing with it (They’ll be among the first to issue laptops with the much-hyped Sonata batteries).

If and when the Sonata goes mainstream, expect longer-lasting, safer, and more environment-friendly laptops. There’s going to be a premium on its price, so if you’re an early adopter, which thankfully, I’m not, be prepared for some sticker shock.

Keeping your gadgets charged up while you are on the go always seems to be a constant struggle, but thanks to a little gadget from LaptopBatteryExpress your notebook or netbook (or just about any other gadget) will be able to keep a charge a little longer.

The gadget is simply called the “Universal External Laptop Battery” and is noted as being able to offer you up to an additional four hours of battery life.  The external battery ships with a variety of seven adapter tips that should work for most notebooks (except Apple).  In terms of specs, the battery is 6600mAh, measures in at 9 x 4.9 x 0.59-inches and weighs 1.7-pounds.  Also in addition to the seven included adapter tips the battery also has a USB port that will let you plug in (and charge) smaller gadgets such as a Zune, iPod, or iPhone.

All things considered this could be a nice item for any road warrior to keep in their gear bag.  Of course, this power does come with a price tag and it is not cheap—$179.99.  But on the flip side, I suppose paying $179.99 for this battery would be cheaper than buying multiple external batteries for multiple devices.

If you’re not using the internet on your Blackberry, there’s no sense in using its precious battery life to keep the WiFi antenna powered up. Such is the logic behind SmartWiFi for BlackBerry, a recently released Blackberry application that remembers the WiFi locations you use and saves battery life by turning off WiFi when it’s not needed.

By combining cell tower and WiFi hotspot information, WiFi is turned off when not needed and turned back on when needed. Because WiFi is one of the biggest consumers of battery power (especially when searching for WiFi networks) this has a tremendous effect on your battery life. At just $5, SmartWifi could potentially be very useful for Blackberry owners looking to squeeze more out of what many consider to be a sub-par battery life.

With a new year came new regulations for the recycling of batteries in the United Kingdom. The ambitious directive will “affect any business that uses, produces, supplies, or disposes of batteries, as well as any business that manufactures or designs battery-powered products”, and comes with the goal of minimizing the negative impacts of batteries and accumulators on the environment and also harmonizing requirements for the smooth functioning of the internal market.

“The primary intention is to divert batteries away from landfill, to avoid metals such as cadmium and mercury in those batteries from getting into the environment,” said Bob Mead, the Environment Agency’s project manager. “For portable batteries, the current rate of collection and recycling are pretty low, the government estimates it at around 3%. The directive requires us to get that up to a minimum of 25% by 2012 and 45% by 2016. The retailers themselves are required to do nothing more than provide a point where one of these collection bins can be placed,” he said. “They have no responsibilities themselves in treating or recycling the batteries they collect. They merely have to phone up one of the compliance schemes and say: ‘I’ve got some batteries so come and take them away from me.’’

With this being such wide-sweeping legislation, it’s a good idea for anyone in the U.K. that uses, sells, or manufactures batteries (everyone?) to become familiar with what the legislation contains. To see the details and gather more information on the new battery recyling directive

Despite all these hurdles, Boston Consulting still predicts that 26 percent of new cars sold in 2020 in the major developed markets (China, Japan, the U.S., and Western Europe) — 14 million vehicles in total — will have electric or hybrid powertrains. Hybrids will be the biggest part of that mix at 11 million. Only 1.5 million will be fully electric, the company said. Meanwhile, the electric battery market will reach $25 billion. “The burgeoning market will be about triple the size of today’s entire lithium-ion laptop batteries market for consumer applications such as laptop computers and cell phones,” says Mosquet.

In terms of usability, input devices become all the more crucial in a business laptop. Those who have never navigated using a trackpoint don’t know what they’re missing. On the Dell Latitude E5400, once you get used to controlling the cursor with your index finger and the touchpad keys with your thumb, it is crippling to shift back to a traditional touchpad. Apart from that, the Latitude E5400’s keyboard was well laid out, with full-sized keys and minimum flex. However, the traditional touchpad lacks palm detection, and led to berserk mouse movements whenever my palm encroached on the area while typing.

Lenovo offers a full portfolio of service and support offerings to protect the ThinkPad X100e and the data on it and also to give IT departments the technical support they need. To keep business productivity high and to protect from unexpected repair costs, ThinkPad Protection cover repairs resulting from accidents, drops and spills. ThinkPlus Priority Support provides 24×7 business-class technical support for IT professionals responsible for maintaining these PCs. Lenovo Hard Disk Drive Retention lets customers keep their hard drive in case of damage or failure, ensuring that their data remains safely in their hands.

What you’re seeing is a hybrid screen that can switch between e-ink and a regular old color LCD mode (like your laptop) with a mere button-push. That means you’re reading e-paper documents in bright sunlight one minute, using virtually no laptop battery power and then — bam! — you’re surfing the Web in a full, backlit, color Android browser the next. The Adam is powered by Nvidia’s speedy, economical Tegra 2 chip and a screen big enough to handle a sizable on-screen keyboard.

Also, this time history is at least on Microsoft’s side. The device demonstrated by Ballmer run on Windows 7 and hence is multitouch enabled. Back in 2002, however, the operating system was Windows XP, which was not touch-enabled. In other words, you were left switching between a keyboard and a stylus, tapping, skating and scratching your way around the interface.

HP representatives were all quick to point out that this prototype may never see the light of day, but it should serve as an indication of what form factor HP thinks will work best for the smartbook category.

Don’t believe me? People are already doing this on their Apple  iPod and iPhones, and if video content and your favorite TV shows cost the same but are on a nice big, bright screen, well, sounds like a win to me.Give it wireless access and a full Web browser (as the iPhone has) and you can tap into streaming radio stations, queue up podcasts or pop over to Netflix or Hulu to watch streaming video content too.

If you think about the media you use and access on a daily basis, I bet that I’ve just touched on them all, from music to TV shows, photo sharing to movie sharing. All in a small, highly portable device that’s reasonably priced?

Although Independence began initial sea trials in early July and has been underway numerous times — at speeds of up to 46 knots — those voyages were crewed by civilian mariners hired by Austal USA. The ship’s two Navy crews — Blue and Gold — are eager to take the ship to sea, said Cmdr. Curt Renshaw, commanding officer of the Blue Crew, but much of the ship’s equipment still needs to be certified for operation and sailors will then need to be qualified, meaning the ship likely won’t get underway manned by a Navy crew until late February or, more likely, March.

Weighing just 1.4kg, the Acer  Aspire is light enough to carry around all day. Bear in mind that it doesn’t have an optical drive, though. The base feels fairly sturdy, although the lid flexes under pressure more than we’d like. Thankfully, the underside didn’t become unbearably hot, even when churning through our demanding applications benchmarks, so it’s comfortable to use on your lap.