Can technology tame the battery flames?

So apparently, lithium-ion laptop batteries can short-circuit and explode into visible flames. That's cool for a science fair but not so much fun if you're flying coach or giving a vital sales pitch. In response to this revelation by Dell and Sony, a variety of companies are stepping forward with supposedly safer battery technologies. Zinc-based cells and methanol fuel cells are both said to be non-explosive. There's also said to be a quality difference between expensive and cheap lithion ion cells, but unfortunately Sony is not elaborating very much.

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- read this Cnet News.com article

ALSO: Sony won't elaborate on battery customers. Article