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Batteries Continue To Suck
pvt_medic writes "As technology continues to grow, and we see more and more of a shift to portable electronic devices in our daily life, we are still constricted by one simple thing: Batteries. Newsweek has an interesting article about the lack of development in battery technology. 'Ironically, in our headlong rush to create sophisticated untethered computing, the most problematic technology turns out also to be the oldest: those nondescript metal cylinders that never seemed to be included with our Christmas toys.' And for those of you who would like an extensive overview about batteries, ExtremeTech.com has a nice overview."
...things have become stagnant because of some logistical backwards compatible form factor issue or if it's just corporate greed not wanting to get battery lives up. The longer a battery will last, the less incentive people will have to purchase batteries more often.
If batteries didn't suck, there'd be less reason to buy more.
end of story.
Tesla had this problem licked early last century, until funding dried up, and they tore down his Magnifying Transmitter... and we're stuck without powerless - here's in 1900's:
My belief is firm in a law of compensation. The true rewards are ever
in proportion to the labour and sacrifices made. This is one of the
reasons why I feel certain that of all my inventions, the magnifying
Transmitter will prove most important and valuable to future
generations. I am prompted to this prediction, not so much by thoughts
of the commercial and industrial revolution which it will surely bring
about, but of the humanitation consequences of the many achievements
it makes possible. Considerations of mere utility weigh little in the
balance against the higher benefits of civilisation. We are confronted
with portentous problems which can not be solved just by providing for
our material existence, however abundantly. On the contrary, progress
in this direction is fraught with hazards and perils not less menacing
than those born from want and suffering. If we were to release the
energy of atoms or discover some other way of developing cheap and
unlimited power at any point on the globe, this accomplishment,
instead of being a blessing, might bring disaster to mankind in giving
rise to dissension and anarchy, which would ultimately result in the
enthronement of the hated regime of force.
The greatest good will come
from technical improvements tending to unification and harmony, and
my wireless transmitter is preeminently such. By its means, the human
voice and likeness will be reproduced everywhere and factories driven
thousands of miles from waterfalls furnishing power. Aerial machines
will be propelled around the earth without a stop and the sun's energy
controlled to create lakes and rivers for motive purposes and
transformation of arid deserts into fertile land. Its introduction for
telegraphic, telephonic and similar uses, will automatically cut out
the statics and all other interferences which at present, impose
narrow limits to the application of the wireless. This is a timely
topic on which a few words might not be amiss.
(Nikola Tesla, From 'The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla')