batteries

Liquid Metal Battery, an MIT spinoff backed by Bill Gates, has secured an additional $15 million in series B financing in a funding round led by Khosla Ventures, the company announced today.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company, which aims to build a cheap battery for bulk storage of wind and solar power, also announced that Andrew Chung, a Khosla Ventures partner, would join the board.

"Our Liquid Metal Battery technology is tremendously exciting because it has the potential to dramatically change the electric power system everywhere," Liquid Metal Battery CEO Phil Giudice said in a statement announcing the … Read more

One possible solution to resurrect a dead phone resides in Sony's latest portable CycleEnergy USB charger with a built-in hand crank, due in Japan on June 20 for 8,000 yen ($100).

The modular charger (CP-A2LAKS) features a dual port unit capable of charging two USB-equipped devices and a built-in 4,000mAh battery chargeable via AC power.

A Sony press release states the large battery capacity within can deliver enough power to charge a smartphone about two times, with an additional reference noting it would take about two hours to give the Xperia Acro HD smartphone a full charge. … Read more

After Apple's iOS 5.1.1 update was released last week, several users began reporting that their iOS devices had taken a significant battery life hit.

While the issues are not common to most users, it appears as though some iPhone and iPad owners found that the battery life they had come to expect was not apparent after updating to iOS 5.1.1 using Apple's over-the-air updating.

If you find your device is not getting the battery life it once was, a few troubleshooting tips provided by Apple Support Communities user sbaily4 could be of help.

First, … Read more

In today's show, we're buying status updates, finding a new route and building a new game addiction:

Would you pay $2 to get your Facebook status message seen by more people? It's something Facebook is testing in New Zealand. (And tell me your two-cents on the issue via Tout!)

The Foxconn factory for Apple products is preparing to build the much anticipated Apple television set. The chief at the Foxconn spilled the beans in a news conference.

According to 9to5Mac, the next version of iOS will not include Google Maps. Rather, it will have Apple's own mapping software. … Read more

If you know anyone living outside the U.S. who wants a tablet, laptop, camera, or smartphone from the States, it's best to send it to them before May 16.

As of next week, the United States Postal Service, or USPS, is banning all international shipments containing lithium ion batteries, which many electronics have (see the full list below).

The most likely reason for the ban is that if lithium ion batteries are fully charged or not correctly stored or packed, they can catch fire or combust -- something obviously best to avoid while shipping. … Read more

That seemingly ordinary iPad 2 that Apple is selling for $399 has actually been modified internally in ways that, in some cases, can yield better battery life, according to a report.

Along with the new third-generation iPad, Apple in March began selling a lower-priced, $399 iPad 2.

Among those iPad 3 models is a variant, the "iPad 2,4," that sports a more advanced 32-nanometer version of the dual-core Apple A5 series chip, according to chip review site Anandtech. (The older iPad 2 uses an A5 based on a lagging-edge 45-nanometer manufacturing process.)

And an A5 built on … Read more

You see that battery meter dwindling down to zero. There's a knot in your stomach. You'd pay anything just to squeeze another 10 minutes from your phone.

Your panic is justified. Not only does a dead phone battery cut you off from communication with the outside world, but it strips you of your contact book as well. There was a time when I could remember close to a dozen phone numbers off the top of my head. But today, I can barely remember my wife's number without the aid of my phone.

Fortunately, there are a number … Read more

Ten years from now, range anxiety for electric cars could be a thing of the past.

IBM today announced two partners for a project aimed at building a lithium air battery able to propel an electric car 500 miles. Scientists from Asahi Kasei and Central Glass with expertise in membranes and electrolyte chemistries will join IBM researchers on the initiative.

Called the Battery 500 Project, the goal is to design an "air-breathing" battery that will use oxygen from the air to drive a new type of battery chemical reaction and, in the process, deliver a big jump in … Read more

Spring cleaning is about more than actual cleaning -- it's about getting a fresh start. The latter of these can simply mean changing things around so that the experience feels new. Here are some of the cleaning basics for your Android device, and also some tips on how to make other parts you can't change feel a bit of that spring rejuvenation.

We all have too much "stuff," as the famous comedian George Carlin told us, and chances are that you can afford to get rid of some of it.… Read more