NE Asia Online reports that NEC has developed a new type of battery called an organic radical battery that holds the same amount of power as your typical digital camera battery but can be recharged in 30 seconds (presumably only if you are connected directly to a power station as I doubt that much power can come out of a household electrical socket in 30 seconds).
Battery power is (in my opinion) the main thing holding back miniturization of gadgets at the moment... computing power is increasing in leaps and bounds but what is the use of a tiny MP3 player if the battery only lasts a couple of hours.
(thanks Gadget Madness)