A Singapore clean-tech company called Gcorelab has just received $482,000 (S$589,000) in funding for a new technology that promises to control the thermal issues that have plagued lithium-ion batteries. Battery packs that use lithium-ion cells such as those found in laptops and, in larger deployments like electric cars, can suffer from cells failing. When the cells do and overheat, they can cause… → Read More
Mophie is one of the most trusted names in iPhone and mobile backup batteries, and the company has finally debuted its battery case for iPhone 5. The Mophie Juice Pack Helium is around 13 percent thinner than the Air version released for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 (get it? Helium is lighter than air), and retails for $79.95 right now direct from the Mophie store. The cases should ship in time for… → Read More
Android smartphones can have a pretty bad reputation when it comes to battery life, though that reputation has definitely improved in general over time. A new report updated today ranks the top 15 and worst 15 Android devices based on statistics shared through their app. There’s a huge variance between the best and the worst, and the ones on top might not be the flagship devices you’re looking… → Read More
Do you like power? It’s very useful for using all those electronic devices we have. But often, those devices have less power than we’d like them to, especially when we’re traveling or fighting for socket space at a coffee shop or conference. The HyperJuice 2 can provide that power, and lots of it, enough to double the life of a new Retina MacBook Pro, and charge iPads and iPhones, too. → Read More
In the blogosphere’s continuing quest to assemble a virtual iPhone 5 before Apple unveils a real one in September, 9to5Mac has published images of what appears to be the next iPhone’s battery. Juicy stuff!
As expected, the battery is a bit larger than the last iPhone, but not by much. It jumps from 1430mAh in the iPhone 4S (up from 1420mAh in the iPhone 4) to a 1440 mAh battery. With the… → Read More
“Kill Pandora – Expected Battery Life Improvement: 1 hour 50 minutes” This is what you’ll learn from Carat, an incredibly useful free new iOS and Android app that’s the first to give you personalized mobile battery life-saving recommendations.
Carat quietly takes measurements from you device, does some math, combines is with other people’s anonymized data, and sends back tips on if you should… → Read More
It hits you when you least expect it. It slips away under a mask of dormant inactivity. And it can ruin your entire day.
It’s your iPhone 4S battery life, and it sucks.
It’s been 17 days since the iPhone 4S was released — 19 since iOS 5 — and just like the madness that was Antennagate, complaints are churning out left and right. As Erick so clearly pointed out, the iPhone 4S is… → Read More
Designer Wonchul Hwang has an idea: it’s a AA battery with a pop out USB connector that doubles as a flash drive and a rechargeable battery, thus allowing you to power your electronic devices and… ummm… store data on them? At the same time? At different times? → Read More
The Nintendo Japan site disclosed the official specs on the 3DS, and while overall it looks good, there is one thing that might be a deal breaker for some. Apparently, it takes a whole lot of battery life to power a 3D screen, even one the size of the 3DS. → Read More
Remember when some dude said that the Playbook got 2 hours of battery life on a good day? Wrong, says RIM. They released an official message to all the haters. → Read More
We’ve covered quite a few electric bikes over the years, but Panasonic’s new model, the oddly named EX BE-ENE [JP, PDF] has one feature that makes it stand out: at 12Ah, it boasts the battery with biggest capacity for an e-bike out there, according to the company. Panasonic says its version tops conventional e-bike batteries by around 20% in this area. → Read More
How do you recharge an electric vehicle in 59 seconds? Simple. You swap out the battery. Tokyo’s largest taxi company has been testing a rather surprising and innovative method of extending the range on their electric fleet: swapping out the battery. Makes sense really, if you think about it. → Read More
Airplanes release greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere and require enormous amounts of fuel to fly. A Boeing 747 can consume up to five gallons of fuel per mile. But what if planes could be powered by electricity? Though they won’t replace passenger airliners anytime soon, small, zero-emission, electric planes are flying today.
Engineers have been pursing electric flight for decades. In… → Read More
The trade-off between compact size and prolonged battery life has plagued iPhone owners pretty much since the product was released. There’s only so much space to cram battery cells in that sleek form factor, so the operating time of the phone is restricted. A variety of products have entered the market to extend the life of your iPhone battery without overly extending the bulk of the phone. → Read More
We have reported about electric bicycles multiple times in the past, but today Sanyo in Japan announced [press release in English] the “eneloop Hybrid Bicycle” whose battery riders can actively charge while pedaling on flat roads. Previous models, for example this one Sanyo released in 2008, mainly harness energy from braking when the bike goes downhill (“Loop Charge Mode”). → Read More
Battery-powered socks that help keep your feet warm? What may sound a bit like overkill at first does make sense when you think of motorcycle riders or people having to work outdoors for long hours during winter. Made by Tokyo-based Bionics Japan, the so-called Heat Sock EX [JP] heats your entire foot by incorporating conductive carbon fibers. → Read More
Amazon announced some major changes to their Kindle e-book reader today. Specifically, it stated that they’ve worked out a way to increase battery life by 85%. That means that the new firmware update will allow you to leave your Kindle on (with the wifi active) for about 7 days before you need to recharge. Additionally, the Kindle will now support Adobe’s PDF format natively. Previously, you had… → Read More
Sanyo is already being considered Japan’s “greenest” brand in the consumer electronics field (which is the main reason Panasonic is about to acquire the company), but them building complete, eco-friendly buildings is certainly new. Sanyo Homes [JP], a wholly-owned subsidiary, will start marketing all-electric homes with lithium ion batteries providing back up power to Japanese customers as early… → Read More
LEDs have really changed the flashlight market. It used to be that a Maglight was the pinnacle of illumination technology. Not any more. → Read More
Man has long been on a quest for a better battery. This has resulted in some less then ideal solutions, such as the potato battery (it was half baked) and the onion battery (too smelly). Finally, researchers at the University of Missouri have developed a smaller, more efficient, and hopefully radiation free nuclear battery. → Read More
Panasonic has on display at CEATEC a “1.5 kWh battery module [made] from 18650-type (18 mm in diameter x 65 mm in length) lithium-ion battery cells, which are widely used in laptop computers, to provide energy storage solutions for a wide range of environmentally friendly energy technologies.” String a couple of these suckers together to store the juice collected from the solar panels… → Read More
Japan’s biggest business publication, the Nikkei, is reporting that Panasonic is thinking about using lithium ion batterries used in notebooks to power electric cars. Obviously, the big idea is to bring down the overall costs of these vehicles (and make some money for the company, too). → Read More
OK, Panasonic’s Evolta batteries are quite powerful, alright. A robot in a mini car powered by nothing more than two AA Evolta batteries completed five and a half laps on the famous Le Mans 24 Hours circuit in France. This means the little guy ran a distance of 23.7km before finally running out of juice. → Read More
If you find yourself wishing your Palm Pre had a tad more battery life, Seidio is now selling an extended life battery for $45. It’s the same size as the regular battery pack so it doesn’t require a special back cover for you to use it. → Read More
Sony, so far not known to be a particularly “green” tech company, has announced plans [JP] to commercialize a total of six different models of batteries that contain no mercury. The company said it’s the first that has found a way to mix absorbent raw material into the cathode, eliminating the need to use mercury in the button batteries. → Read More
Attention, HP Mini 1000 owners. It looks like HP has a six-cell battery for the netbook available from its parts Web site. The battery (part number 517581-001) is actually for the Mini 1000 CTO, but should with every shapes and size of the Mini 1000. → Read More
Hitachi Maxell Japan has developed a new kind of alkaline battery that’s supposedly shielded well enough to prevent leakage in the case of misuse. The new batteries will be part of the company’s Voltage brand and go on sale in Japan in April this year. → Read More
Apple published a support bulletin recently, finally disclosing what it’s going to take to replace those Macbook Pro batteries.
It can be done, but not by the end user, and not for free. If you take it into your local Apple store (with an appointment) it’ll be a same day process. If you ship it in, expect a 3-4 week delay. Either way, it’s going to cost you $179 to get it done. Ouch. → Read More
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