This interesting development with great implications for subnotebooks excerpted from yesterday's Forbes: "" The universal rule about laptop batteries is that they never last long enough.... the best most are able to do is about five hours.
Casio has a plan to push that to 20 hours, and it intends to use fuel-cell technology to do it. Later this week the company will present the particulars about a fuel cell for laptops at a chemical engineering conference.... Casio is making ambitious noises about having fuel cells built into its notebook computers within two years. It's already filed for patents on some 100 innovations related to its fuel cell technology. The fuel cell produces hydrogen converted from either alcohol or methanol. Using a device called a micro-reactor formed on a wafer of silicon, Casio has managed to cut down the overall size of the fuel cell while still maintaining a high rate of efficiency, it says. Casio envisions using fuel cells not only in laptops but also in handheld computers, digital cameras and handheld TV receivers. Not only will a fuel cell last longer on each charge, but it will have a longer lifetime overall. There still aren't many details. Initially, it stands to reason that laptops running on fuel cell power will cost a lot more than laptops on conventional lithium ion batteries, but Casio hasn't hinted what the ballpark cost may be. More details will certainly emerge as Casio reveals more about its plans later this week. "" It looked about 1/2 the size of 3-4 stacked credit cards --and the manufacturing cost shouldn't be out of sight (after volume comes into the market). ---------- Duo/2400 List, The friendliest place on the Net! A listserv for users and fans of Mac subportables. FAQ at <http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/DuoListFAQ.shtml> Be sure to visit Mac2400! <http://www.sineware.com/mac2400> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Need help from a real person? Try. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ---------- Dr. Bott | 10/100 Ethernet for your 2400 is finally here! MPC-100 | <http://www.drbott.com/prod/mpc100.html> RoadTools $30 PodiumPad available at Apple retail stores, $20 Traveler CoolPad at Staples. Both in white for iBooks at <http://roadtools.com> Midwest Mac Parts ][ <http://www.midwestmac.com> After-market parts for Macs. ][ 888-356-1104 ][ MacResQ Specials: LaCie SCSI CDR From $99! PowerBook 3400/200 Only $879! Norton AntiVirus 6 Only $19! We Stock PARTS! <http://www.macresq.com>
