HP Voluntarily Recalls 70,000 Faulty Notebook Batteries
HP is issuing a voluntary recall on 70,000 outstanding batteries sold between August 2007 and March 2008 due to potential overheating problems. Reports to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission show there has been two instances of overheated batteries leading to property damage with no bodily injuries. HP notes that these battery issues are in no way related to the previous recalls and will replace the affected batteries at no charge. The batteries in question were sold both as part of the notebook package or as stand-alone replacement batteries for these particular devices:
Read MoreHP Enviro Series Batteries Now Available, Good to Go for 3 Years
HP’s Enviro Series batteries are now available for order. The batteries are produced by Boston-Power, a company that makes environmentally-friendly batteries that perform better over the long haul. This new line of batteries are are compatible with 18 HP notebooks, including most Pavilion and HDX series computers.
HP Mini Extended 6-Cell Battery Now Shipping, On Sale for $96
The 6-cell extended battery for the HP Mini 1000 is shipping and on sales for $95.99 after a $24 discount. The Mini 1000 is one of my favorite netbooks, but its standard 3-cell battery just isn’t enough for a lot of people. The 6-cell battery doubles the time you can work on the Mini 1000 on a single charge.
Panasonic Announces Smaller Fuel Cell for Notebooks
Panasonic showed off the world’s smallest notebook fuel cell and another fuel cell that can recharge mobile phones. Panasonic hopes to bring notebook fuel cells to market by 2012.
HP EliteBook 6930p: 24-Hours of Battery Life on a Single Charge
HP’s announced that its EliteBook 6930p business notebook will have up to a 24-hour runtime thanks to energy saving components and a 12-cell ultracapacity battery. I spoke with Jeremy Brody from HP, who filled me in on exactly how this is accomplished.
Pull Cord Generator for OLPC…I Want One
Keeping gadgets charged and ready to use can be a major pain, even in a big city. So how does the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project plan on keeping millions of computers powered up in some of the poorest, most remote locales in the world? Forget about power outlets, the low-cost laptops will be human-powered with an innovative generator that resembles a yo-yo.
Next Gen Lithium Notebook Batteries
Panasonic’s Michael Buchner walks us through the next two generations of Lithium Ion notebook batteries. The company will increase battery life by 40% without increasing size. A unique protective layer will keep the high capacity notebook batteries safe.
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Will We Ever See Fuel Cell Powered Notebooks?
We keep seeing notebook prototypes that utilize fuel cells instead of batteries. Fuel cells could keep notebooks running far longer than Lithium-Ion batteries and have nearly instant refill times. So why haven’t we seen any production models yet?
Matt Kohut, a competitive analyst at Lenovo, says all the technology needed to produce such a notebook is [...]
Video: Exploding Notebook Battery
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This is what an exploding notebook battery looks like. The chances of your notebook battery exploding is pretty much nil, this is probably the only chance you’ll get to see the shooting flames and bursting cells. The video uses a generic notebook and battery, neither of which are part of any recall. The techies forced [...]
