Squeezin

A
good example of the convergence of capitalism and technology in a consumer-driven
context is in battery technology.
  While Moore’s Law has governed processing and storage, in the
arena of energy storage, no major innovations or performance enhancements
have burst on the scene since the advent of alkaline batteries over 20
years ago.

So, according to conventional economic theory, with
more and more consumers buying more and more devices requiring more and
more
portable
energy, the dominant technological empires should devote an increasing
percentage of their research and development dollars in this area. Brilliant
young geeks and entrepreneurs should be creating startups to explore
and develop promising new technologies.  Universities should be
encouraging research into new battery technology.  Crackpot inventors
in third world metropoli and suburban garages should be trying to strike
it rich. One recalcitrant corner of technology cannot be allowed to restrain
the inevitable march towards full
functional connectivity – everywhere and all the time. Bottlenecks must
be removed.

Recently, the intellectual fruits of this effort are
starting to make it to the market. Last week we read in the New
York Times about the amazing new Alkyride batteries from Panasonic
which promise more power for longer and at a lower
price.
They have been available in Japan for a year and will soon go on sale
here (what’s with the Japanese getting everything first? Just because
Panasonic is a Japanese company? Do we get new Ford trucks a year early
because they are made in the states?)

Today brings the
news that fuel cell technology has made it to the laptop
level.

TOKYO
(Reuters) – IBM’s personal computer division and Sanyo Electric Co.
Ltd. said Monday
they
have teamed
up
to create
prototype notebook computer batteries using long-lasting fuel cell
technology.

Sanyo Electric, based in the western Japan city of Osaka, and International
Business Machines Corp. (down $0.24 to $87.36, Research) of Armonk,
N.Y., said the prototype
fuel cell system can provide eight hours of battery life using replaceable
methanol fuel cartridges.

Fuel cell technology mixes hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity
and is considered a promising next-generation replacement for current
batteries
that
must typically be recharged every two to six hours.

Of course, we realize that eventually all the power
a person could need will be generated from a perfectly safe portable
nuclear reactor signet ring, or sucked Matrix-style from some sort
of Bio-electical converter hooked to your belly button, or broadcast
over some harmless and unused sector of the electromagnetic spectrum.
  But until then, here’s hoping these are just the first few barrages
of an increasingly vicious "battery war" benefiting consumers.

article
from Reuters

analysis from Geekzone

Alkride article from the New York Times