PolyFuel Cell Power For Laptops

Fuel Cell technology is fascinating as it has potential to provide around 10 times more power than a Lithium Ion battery. Not only can it power it for a fair few hours, the fuel can also be topped up and power to the laptop be supplied on demand. This prevents the need of several hours of charging before a long journey.

PolyFuel are a company based in California who have created a new prototype which converts methanol fuel to electricity. The fuel cell is about the size of a deck of cards and can supply power to a trial Lenovo T40 ThinkPad. Fuel Cell technology is one thing that I cannot wait to see built standard in to laptops. Hopefully PolyFuel have taken it one step closer.

Chinese Phone ZJ268 Having 666 days of standby

After making 1 year stand-by phone solomobi returns with yet another dubious discovery from China. How does 666 days of standby tickle your noxious, soul-eating fancy? This dual-SIM, GSM900 / DCS1800 candybar with 3.0-inch display is said to achieve that milestone with the help of a 32,800mAh "super battery." Yours now for $128 and the blood of one fetal goat. We've got the phone on order and will get back to you in 616 665 666 two years with the results... right. Picture of the 87 x 51 x 10-mm / 0.12-kg lithium battery and the devil's own credit card after the break. Check the product here: Solomobi

Power saving Turbo Battery Technology in MSI new "Anion" Laptop

It looks like MSI has some big plans for CeBIT, if the company's latest news is any indication. The computer-maker is gearing up for two innovative new laptops, both of which are part of its ECOlution "green" line of systems. The first model will bizarrely feature a high concentration of anions -- negatively charged ions which the company believes will "enhance the body's condition, promote nervous stability and recovery from fatigue, and encourage circulation of halted blood." The second, less magical entry from MSI comes in the form of the GX600-08 laptop, which utilizes a new battery design intended to extend life up to 20% by engaging a "Turbo Battery Mode" which automatically adjusts the system's workload to conserve power. We'll undoubtedly be hearing more about these from CeBIT, so keep your eyes peeled.

HydroPak Fuel Cell to Debut at CES 2008

The Skinny: The HydroPak replaces batteries and generators with cartridges that can sit on the shelf for ages, activated with water for 12 hours of power. They're quiet with zero emissions, and each $20 dry cartridge cranks out a lot more than any battery can—400 Watts through an AC outlet and two USB ports. The Catch: The device costs $400 and it's still in beta, although that's a lot cheaper than other fuel cell products. But it's a real product, rolling out first next week at CES, and samples will be available in February.

iPowerRush Battery Extender for iPod and iPhones

iPowerRush is a new arrival in the market offering higher battery life for Apple’s portable precuts like iPods and the iPhone. The iPowerRush is a charger that enhances the battery life of iPods as well as iPod Touch by 12-15 hours. That means it actually doubles!

Apple estimates that iPhone’s battery life has 8 hours of talk time, 6 hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback, 24 hours of audio and 240 hours of standby time. iPowerRush claims to expand this battery life by adding 4 hours of talk time, 3 for Internet use, 3 and a half hours more for video, audio by 14 and standby by 120 hours.

iPowerRush is powered by 6 AAA batteries and is equipped with a power on/off slide switch. Also there is a push-button power indicator that displays the amount of reserve left in the unit.

The automatic limiting circuit avoids overcharging of the device. The iPowerRush is as small as 2″x3 5/8″x1/2″

The iPowerRush iPod/iPhone battery extender is available in the US market at the price of $29.95

Cordless Screwdriver Recharges in 90 Seconds

This cordless screwdriver is named the FlashCell from Coleman and has just a 90 second recharge time. It works by using a large capacitor to store the energy. This allows it to be charged quickly and will power it for enough time to screw in about 22 screws. This is lower then a regular battery powered screwdriver which can normally do around 37… but with the charge time being just 90 seconds rather then 30 minutes you will still get way more work done. It can charge around 500000 times which is a lot of screws! It will set you back $99 from FlashCellDriver.com.

Kineticel, the Human Powered Battery Charger

One of the ideas submitted to the Next Generation competition featured in Metropolis Magazine was this Kinetic Energy-harnessing battery charger by Yael Miller. The concept is to take something we're already doing—such as working out, flopping around in a baby rocker, vacuuming, or flushing the toilet—add the piezoelectric effect, and come out with batteries that are charged by "human power." Imagine all the television remotes we could power just from flushing our droppings.

Pre Charged Rechargeable Batteries from Duracell

Duracell has announced some new batteries which will be coming out soon. They are pre charged rechargeable batteries which are NiMH (nickel metal hydride). A cool thing about the batteries is the ability to store power for a year when not used. Most rechargeable batteries go flat after a while if not charged. The batteries will cost $12.99 for a pack of 4.

Minty Boost - Portable USB Charger

The Minty Boost is a USB charger that is built inside an Altoid chewing gum tin. Inside the tin are 2 AA batteries and a USB connector. If your device can charge via USB then this can give the device a little bit of extra juice should the batteries run low.

AAA Battery Powered Phone

The phone above is by Wilcom and is shaped like a battery and uses a AAA battery to get its power. The AAA battery can power the phone for 250 hours on standby with about 5 hours of talk time. On the feature side this phone is about as basic as you can get these days. It has no screen, no MP3 player built in, no 3G access and not much else.

I am not sure how a phone like this will fair in the industry. It isnt the type I would go for as I like to have quite a few features packed in to a mobile phone. I am sure it might catch some peoples attention though.

Water Powered Alarm Clocks

With a water powered alarm clock running on H2O, you have no worries about batteries running flat or the power going out. As long as you have a bit of water you will be able to wake up on time. The clocks sell for around $15 and are quite simple by design, but they do what they say. Each clock will last around 2 - 3 months on one top up.

Via: EcoGadget

New Battery Runs on Same Fuel as Geeks - Sugar

Sony has announced a new fuel-cell battery that runs on glucose. It works by breaking down carbohydrates with enzymes, in much the same way as us humans do. It doesn't seem to be ready for release yet, but the video after the jump shows that it's already capable of powering an MP3 player.
Sony are claiming 50mW per cell, so it's still not very powerful. Even the MP3 player requires a few devices daisy-chained together, so it will be some time before this is portable enough to be practical.