Third party batteries making eee pcs explode?

Asus has warned users to beware of third party batteries that may have damaged at least one eee pc and noted that such damage would not be covered under warranty.

Apparently there are batteries available in China for $71 to $86 that had capacities up to twice that of the standard eee pc battery.

The battery maker denies the claims of overheating and states that it is propaganda put out by their rivals designed to hurt their sales.

(via digitimes)

ZPower laptop batteries - 40% longer life

CNBC is reporting that California-based battery company ZPower will announce it's first product in august (after 10 years development).

ZPower batteries are based on silver-zinc in stead of the currently used lithium-ion and are designed to be 85% recyclable.

The batteries offer 40% more power density than lithium-ion which means that the same size battery will keep your laptop going 40% longer.

(more at cnbc)

$8.99 Batteries for Canon Cameras

The Canon NB-1LH battery fits most Powershot Digital Elph Cameras: S100, S110, S200, S230, S300, S330, S400, S410, and S500.

If, like me, you take a lot of photos you will have realized that after a few recharges the battery starts lasting for less and less time. Mine got so bad I looked around for a replacement Powershot battery and found a great deal:

Batteries made by Canon cost $58.99, but Amazon has what looks like a good discount, 32% off making the price $39.94. However, there are non-Canon batteries available from as little as $4 a battery plus $4.99 shipping.

"Brand new 14 days no-risk money back guarantee + warranty. Canon NB-1LH Equiv. made by 3rd party, NOT by Canon."

You aren't buying direct from Amazon but the sellers have a lot of positive feedback, I ordered one and it arrived promptly and works well.

Here's the link for the Canon NB-1LH Battery Pack for Canon S100, S110, S200, S230, S300, S330, S400, S410 & S500, just click that link and look for "used & new from $4.00" on the right of the page, then scroll down to the $4.00 New battery listings.

Promising new battery technology

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)