laptop battery

Laptop battery shortage should be over by Q3

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:14:23 -0400

Last month, we reported on a laptop battery shortage, caused by a fire at a South Korean chemical plant owned by LG, the manufacturer of batteries for companies like Dell, HP and Asus. Well, it looks like LG is ramping up production of the batteries again and any shortages should be over by Q3 of this year. Though you might not have felt the shortage yourself, OEMs certainly have: Asus reports that it could have produced far more Eee PC units, had there been a more plentiful supply of batteries. "I think maybe the battery shortage may hurt every brand," Acer's chairman J.T. Wang said at the company's investor conference two weeks ago.

For more on the shortage:
- see this PC World article

Laptop batteries that won't die

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Laptop batteries were never meant to die. But plenty of CIOs have a different kind of experience. Even when fully charged, a laptop battery might last for half the trip across the country, not even even a full non-stop flight. And plenty of executives know that carrying a spare makes for an awkward juggling experience on a crowded plane.

Now a professor at Stanford University has come up with a way of creating longer-life lithium batteries. Yi Cui, assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering, has developed a way for batteries to produce 10 times the electricity that most batteries are able to do. And that results in as much as 20 hours of device power, nearly enough to fly from New York to Africa without changing batteries or halting your laptop work.

The technology is simple. Instead of using carbon inside a battery, silicon is used in the battery's anode. The silicon can hold much more lithium than carbon. Cui's battery also uses nanotechnology to increase capacity. Cui has already filed a patent, and he is considering the formation of a company that sells these batteries. As the world gets smaller, so does the technology that drives it around. We can only ask: What's coming next?

For more on charging batteries:
- Check out this CIO Magazine Article

Powerful computing can light a fire

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 19:01:38 -0500

The growing concern over the increased heat produced by heftier computing devices has landed one vendor in court and has sparked an industry-wide discussion on the safety factor involved with the latest mobile devices. Dell is due in court to face charges that it allegedly sold laptops with a defective motherboard prone to overheating. The complaint comes on the heels of the huge laptop battery recall due to fire, an issue the vendor dealt with in 2006. Experts say that the increasing risk of fire and meltdowns is a serious factor that any small or mobile device vendor must address.

For more on the device safety issues:
- read the story at CIO Today

New battery promises to prevent overheating

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 19:01:35 -0500

Panasonic is showing some business acumen and ingenuity in designing a new lithium battery that won't catch fire the way some of Sony's batteries recently did. The vendor says that its new lithium-ion battery has a heat-resistant layer that will keep notebooks and other electronic devices from overheating. Such batteries could prove popular with vendors, given that Dell's recall of over 4 million Sony batteries was the largest consumer product recall to date.

For more on the safer laptop battery:
- read the article at DailyTechRag

Laptop recall hits everyone's bottom line

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 19:01:38 -0500

There's been quite a bit of news on how the massive laptop battery recall is hurting Sony and other vendors. What you might not realize is how much the battery recall is hurting your own enterprise, especially if you're a big organization. According to an analyst report, the recall will cost enterprises over $372 million--on the enterprise level that translates to a replacement cost per unit of $102, or about $625,000 for a typical enterprise notebook installation. Experts say that enterprises should be looking to the vendors to recoup the losses.

For more on the economics of the laptop battery recall:
- read the report at Tekrati

Related Articles:
New laptop battery standard in the works. Report
Battery recall hits bottom line. Report
Laptop battery risk may exist in other devices. Report

ALSO NOTED: OfficeLive readied for final release; New alliance aims to stop spam; and much more...

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 19:01:33 -0500

> OfficeLive readied for final release. Article

> New alliance aims to stop spam. Article

> Feds say airline lounge WiFi can stay. Article

> HP CEO doesn't have much recollection on spying incident. Article

> How grid computing is helping a delivery service save money, time. Article

> Microsoft takes aim at CRM market with Office Live. Report

> Manufacturer warns of laptop battery shortage. Report

> Linux eyes the enterprise desktop. Report

And Finally... The Web hits a huge milestone. Article

New laptop battery standard in the works

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 19:01:35 -0500

Given the fact that laptop batteries were the cause of the largest recall of a consumer electronics product in history, it shouldn't come as a surprise that laptop vendors and battery makers are collaborating on a new standard for safer batteries. The new standard, according to the Association Connecting Electronics Industries (IPC), will include quality control and assurance as well as process requirements for rechargeable lithium ion battery cells.

For more on the laptop battery safety effort:
- read the news at PCWorld

ALSO NOTED: Another laptop battery flares up; More business apps are moving onto the cell phone; and much more...

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 19:01:33 -0500

> Another laptop battery flares up. Article

> More business apps are moving onto the cell phone. Article

> Houston's wireless meter net will grow into a city network. Article

> New smartphones ring death knell for the PDA. Article

> Linux keeps making strides in the desktop environment. Article

> A guide for making the right smartphone decision. Article

And Finally... Failed love spell costs a witch some moola. Article

Battery recall hits bottom line

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 20:01:36 -0400

With the current laptop battery recall now hitting numbers close to 10 million, it's not surprising that the battery maker, Sony, is feeling some economic pressure. It cut its fiscal profit expectations, as the recall cost is estimated to be $500 million.

For more on the recall economics:
- read the story at Newsfactor.com

ALSO NOTED: The lowdown on the laptop battery safety; Thanks to HP new pretexting legislation may go forward; and much more...

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:01:33 -0400

> The lowdown on the laptop battery safety. Article

> Thanks to HP new pretexting legislation may go forward. Article

> A checklist for measuring security operations. Article

> Why ESPN's mobile effort failed to score a win. Article

> Google buys the place where its search empire was launched. Article

> Texas university will be home for new supercomputer. Article

And Finally... One story of where the term "bug" came from. Article