• Science

    Why Aren't Batteries Better Yet?

    By Posted on 8.13.2008 16 Comments

    PopSci reader VectorAKA2004 raises a good question: "I wonder why batteries are lagging behind portable technologies. We advance cell phones and all kinds of things so far and still barely have the power to run them. We have yet to create batteries that can efficiently store solar energy, or other renewable energy sources." What do you think? Discuss in the comments. Submit your science and technology questions to fyi@popsci.com.

    8.15.2008 at 01:11pm - Comment by nebyorel

    that's true, but the MIT guys are making the wireless transfer of energy efficient. If we did it Tesla's way, we'd lose a huge percentage of the energy and it just wouldn't make sense to implement from an economic POV. Interestingly, Tesla was Croatian and so is the MIT guy who's now enhancing what Tesla first demonstrated :-)

  • Science

    Why Aren't Batteries Better Yet?

    By Posted on 8.13.2008 16 Comments

    PopSci reader VectorAKA2004 raises a good question: "I wonder why batteries are lagging behind portable technologies. We advance cell phones and all kinds of things so far and still barely have the power to run them. We have yet to create batteries that can efficiently store solar energy, or other renewable energy sources." What do you think? Discuss in the comments. Submit your science and technology questions to fyi@popsci.com.

    8.14.2008 at 06:21am - Comment by nebyorel

    Just had another thought. Obviously you can't cover the world in solar panels, but if you built a huge array in space, or a collection of smaller ones, you could just transfer this energy wireless to earth. So maybe in a hundred or two hundred years if we haven't figured out fusion or killed each other that might be viable.

  • Science

    Why Aren't Batteries Better Yet?

    By Posted on 8.13.2008 16 Comments

    PopSci reader VectorAKA2004 raises a good question: "I wonder why batteries are lagging behind portable technologies. We advance cell phones and all kinds of things so far and still barely have the power to run them. We have yet to create batteries that can efficiently store solar energy, or other renewable energy sources." What do you think? Discuss in the comments. Submit your science and technology questions to fyi@popsci.com.

    8.14.2008 at 06:17am - Comment by nebyorel

    I don't know why you all think batteries haven't improved? Take your cell phone battery for instance. Compared to 5 years ago, we now have much smaller batteries that power a cell phone that requires much more power than your own phone from 5 years ago. On the contrary, I'm continually surprised that my iPhone can be so slim and still have the power to do so much for so long. This being said, i read an article not so long ago about scientists using bacteria somehow to dramatically increase battery power. The preliminary results would dramatically increase battery power -- the example they gave was a laptop that would be powered for 1 month on one charge with the same size battery you have now. Also, you probably recall that no so long ago some MIT guys figured out out to transfer energy wirelessly. How sweet is that? That means that as you walk around your city, your phone/laptop/whatever will charge in your pocket. If we could figure out solar power or some similar alternative energy we could all just have cars that have batteries and charge as you drive along the road. I read once that if you can trap 100% of the solar energy that hits the earth in 1 day it would power the world for 200 years (even given dramatic increases in energy consumption in the future). Not bad, huh?

  • Gadgets

    R.I.P. [your gadget here]

    By Posted on 4.23.2008 3 Comments

    Over the past dozen columns of Grousings, Ive occasionally, sometimes vehemently, nominated various bits of gadgetry to an ad hoc deathwatch list. In particular I singled out Polaroid photos, home photo printers; disposable batteries; and Sprints WiMAX venture Xohm (maybe even Sprint itself, if they arent careful). Some of those predictions are necessarily more long-term than others, and some probably wishful thinking.

    4.24.2008 at 12:53am - Comment by nebyorel

    The only thing I question from the list is the tablet pc. I see great potential in this area for the future and it is already popularly used in the school and medical arenas. Also, if you look at the most recent Apple innovations you notice a heavy emphasis on touch interfaces, including the iPhone, iPod touch and new macbooks. Even Windows has some concept systems where you just set your camera/phone on top of the screen and the pictures automatically upload and then you can use your fingers to play around with the pictures. I do understand that right now the tablet pc isn't popular -- it is too expensive a toy (usually at least $2,000) for many to buy when you can buy an equally equipped laptop for less than half that, not to mention that fact that the technology isn't fully developed. If any company really is going to capitalize upon the possibilities, it will be Apple. In fact, if you look at the patent filed for the touch interface for the iPhone it pictures a tablet pc and not a smaller device like an iPhone or iPod. The point it, technology evolves. The mouse once had a rollerball, then a scroll wheel, then a laser... One day we very well might be saying that same thing about the laptop. It once was big and heavy, had a whole separate keyboard, etc. Really, to keep innovating, what are these companies going to offer? They throw in a few extra ghz, a larger hard drive, etc. but there comes a point where we just don't utilize all that stuff and want something more innovative and fun. Maybe the tablet pc does die off for a time, but I fully expect it to be resurrected at some point in the not so distant future.



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