Panasonic Begins To Lock Out 3d-Party Camera Batteries

OhMyBattery writes "The latest firmware updated for Panasonic digital cameras contains one single improvement: it locks out the ability to use 'non-genuine Panasonic' batteries. It does so for safety reasons, it says. It seems to indicate that this is going to be the norm for all new Panasonic digital cameras. From the release: 'Panasonic Digital Still Cameras now include a technology that can identify a genuine Panasonic battery. For the protection of our customers Panasonic developed this technology after it was discovered that some aftermarket 3rd party batteries do not meet the rigid safety standards Panasonic uses.' The firmware warning is quite clear as to what it does: 'After this firmware update your Panasonic Digital Camera cannot be operated by 3rd party batteries (non genuine Panasonic batteries).'"

Comments

Asspirates...

[skuzzlebutt]

I bet Sony is next. They love proprietary hardware and formats. Asspirates, all of them.

Later for that

[flameproof]

See, that's why I like thrift stores. Today on a lark I went to the local Goodwill and picked up a rockin' no-name point & shoot 35mm for like, $2. Film, battery and developing will probably run about $10 total and I get to hold nice, weirdly uber-colored, glossy photos in my hand as opposed to looking at them (as most people do) from the back of a digital camera on a tiny screen. Analog rocks and Panasonic can kiss my gritty iso 100 butt.

Re:Therein lies the problem

[anagama]

You sound like the guy who needs to look inside the new MacBook Pros and figure out how to put an additional battery in the space for the DVD drive. Make it a nice package deal with an aluminum usb shell for the removed DVD (for most people, a DVD in a shell would be fine because the reality is that most people don't use their DVDs all that much, but most people use their laptop unplugged frequently). It would rock to have 12 or 14 hours of battery life.

Here's an inside shot: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-Unibody/814/1
Take a look at step five for the space.

Now get cracking -- I want a laptop I can use all day unplugged! $175-200 would seem a reasonable price for an extra battery/DVD shell combo package, as long as the shell doesn't look like junk. No blue LEDs please.