The first 3D-printed battery is as tiny as a grain of sand
photo: Harvard
The tiny interlocking combs of specialized ink could power human implants, drones and cameras. Each microbattery is thinner than a human hair. Read more »
The reviews are in: Everybody loves the new MacBook Air’s battery
Apple said the new MacBook has the longest battery life of any of its notebooks. Well, according to the first users, that claim is true. Here’s a roundup of the best Air reviews. Read more »
New TI chips speed charge times and extend battery life for smartphones, tablets
New Texas Instruments chipsets won’t help your device run longer on a single charge, but they will allow for 30 percent faster recharging. And the Li-Ion battery in your mobile device will last longer over the device lifetime. Read more »
Amprius has built a lithium ion battery that can last 25% longer than today’s batteries
Venture capital-backed lithium ion battery startup Amprius is finally moving into commercial production, with an announcement that it has OEM partners in place, and will start making its second-gen batteries later this year. Read more »
Bill Gates, investors, back sodium battery startup Aquion Energy
Battery startup Aquion Energy is raising another round of $35 million from Bill Gates and other new and existing investors. The company has been planning to build a factory in Pennsylvania that can produce its low cost power grid batteries. Read more »
Battery university to open its doors this summer
A battery accelerator program and San Jose State University will start offering classes on battery technology and business starting this Summer. California has emerged as a leader in battery innovation. Read more »
A safer next-gen battery is used with solar panels for the first time
A startup called Seeo, backed by Vinod Khosla and Google.org, has created a safer lithium ion battery that’s being trialled with a solar panel system developed by SunEdison. Batteries can provide much needed energy storage systems for solar. Read more »
Battery startup Leyden Energy raises $10M for its next-gen lithium ion batteries
There’s still some venture capital money out there for next-generation lithium ion batteries. Startup Leyden Energy has raised $10 million to continue to commercialize its tech for tablets and start-stop vehicle technology. Read more »
A new battery that could revolutionize wearables
A young battery startup called Imprint Energy has designed a new type of battery that uses zinc and can be screen printed. It’s innovation could enable entirely new types of wearable electronics. Read more »
Don’t even think about it: 5 things that won’t work for cleantech in 2013
photo: huskyte77
Boom — the numbers for cleantech VC investing in 2012 are out and they ain’t pretty. A cleantech cliff of sorts has arrived and represents an end of an era. If you still want to be in the space in 2013, here’s 5 things you should avoid. Read more »
Chinese giant Wanxiang wins bid for bankrupt A123 and its battery tech
If approved, the future of A123 System’s lithium ion battery tech will fittingly be owned by Chinese auto giant Wanxiang. China is increasingly becoming one of the most important markets for electric vehicles in the world. Read more »
This week in cleantech: next-gen batteries and the importance of design
What happened in cleantech on GigaOM Pro?: a hot new report on next-gen battery innovations, a column on why design matters for cleantech, and much more. Read more »
Battery startups join forces: Contour acquires ActaCell
Two battery startups join forces on the long road of next-generation battery manufacturing. Contour Energy Systems, which makes fluorine-based batteries, has acquired Actacell and its lithium ion battery material tech. ActaCell will operate as a subsidiary under Contour Energy Systems. Read more »
The battery performance deficit disorder
Batteries fall pathetically short of our customary fossil fuel energy storage medium. When we wake up to a declining global availability of petroleum, we won’t just switch over to electric cars. Read more »
DOE funds 19 next-gen battery projects with $43M
The U.S. government continues to give small grants to early stage next-generation battery technology in an effort to boost innovation in the U.S., and provide energy storage for electric cars and the power grid. Read more »
3 things that are holding back grid energy storage
There are only a little over 500 deployed energy storage projects in the world, according to Pike Research. So what’s the hold up? Here’s three hurdles facing energy storage grid projects. Read more »
Why the lithium air battery is over hyped
IBM has made a lot of noise about its lithium air battery, which it says can hold as much energy in a given volume as gasoline can. But General Motors isn’t all that convinced that lithium air battery technology is worth the investment. Read more »
A battery breakthrough that focuses on the building blocks
If battery makers could enhance just the basic electrolyte — the guts of the battery — it could provide a major breakthrough for batteries. That’s what a year-and-a-half-old startup called Boulder Ionics is trying to do. Read more »
Look to silicon nanotubes for really long lasting batteries
How many of us have gone through numerous batteries for our laptops, because aging batteries start to lose their ability to charge? Yep, me too. Stanford’s materials scientist Yi Cui is working on a lithium ion battery that could last six times longer. Read more »
A 3M innovation could boost battery life by 40%
Materials giant 3M has a new battery innovation that could deliver gadgets that could run for 40 percent longer without being charged, or could be significantly smaller with standard battery life. Read more »
Ted Talk [video]: Donald Sadoway on battery breakthroughs
MIT Professor Donald Sadoway’s lectures were good enough to convince Bill Gates to invest in his startup called Liquid Metal Battery. Now you can watch a glimpse of a mini lecture by Sadoway, because the TED conference just released his TED talk. It’s worth a watch! Read more »
Why the world needs flow batteries
Here’s what you need to know about flow batteries: how they work, what innovation is happening in the market, who buys these batteries, and what are the benefits? Read more »
When will LTE stop sucking (your battery)?
Your LTE phone is just as adept at eating battery power as it is at eating bandwidth. Last week, I wrote about the many ways that LTE devices are far more power hungry than their 3G predecessors. Now let’s look at what’s being doing about it. Read more »
Why LTE sucks (your battery, that is)
LTE phones are the fastest things on the airwaves, but they can also suck a battery dry in a few hours. Here are five reasons why your new Samsung Galaxy Nexus or HTC Vivid is going dead right after lunch time. Read more »
The future of the Japanese home: solar, battery, energy software
While some day in the future we could all have our own personal home battery systems combined with solar panels, Japanese home owners could get these goodies sooner, rather than later. Read more »
6 ways to give your Mac a thorough New Year’s cleaning
Although it’s still winter, now is the time to do some spring cleaning on your Mac to help it run more efficient and reliably. Here are six simple steps to take that will get your Mac sparkly clean and running like new. Read more »
CES Video: Innergie PocketCell powers mobile devices
Innergie just launched its PocketCell portable battery, and sent me a review unit for use at CES. The portable battery and cable system has already saved my hide here at the show and I’ll be buying my own as soon as I get back home. Read more »
Video: Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus battery charging system
I just took delivery of Samsung’s $40 spare battery charging station for my Galaxy Nexus. The second battery will give me peace of mind in case I run through my first one, but the included dock, or stand, is mediocre at best: take a close look. Read more »
A few of our favorite things: Power accessories
Shopping time is almost up for this year’s holiday season, but shipping deadlines have yet to elapse completely, and stores will still be plenty busy. In this week’s installment of our series, we’re looking at power accessories for Apple devices that could make great last-minute gifts. Read more »
Opportunities for the future of batteries
There are hundreds of startups, massive battery conglomerates and university labs that are trying to push the battery envelope and create as much power at the lowest cost for these little energy storage devices. Here’s some details from my GigaOM Pro report. Read more »
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Opportunities for the future of batteries
If there is one thing to know about the pace of progress for battery innovation, it’s this: There is no Moore’s law for batteries. The rapid progress that has been made over the past decade in silicon and computing makes the pace of innovation in batteries, ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
GoCharge tops up your phone while you down a drink
Mobile device owners in New York City have 50 bar locations to freely charge their smartphones, thanks to a deal between Patrón Sprits and goCharge, which makes device-charging kiosks. Batteries can be topped off in 10 minutes: just enough time for some cheesy pickup lines. Read more »
25 battery breakthroughs for gadgets, electric cars & the grid
A lack of progress for battery technology is (arguably) the single biggest barrier for gadgets, electric vehicles, and the power grid. But there’s hundreds of researchers, entrepreneurs, universities and large companies working on battery breakthroughs. Here’s 25 you should know about: Read more »
Future gadget batteries could last 10 times longer
Batteries continue to be the bane of mobile devices, but research done at Northwestern University could change that, with longer-lasting batteries that charge in minutes, not hours. Imagine a battery that lasts 10 times longer than today’s power packs with a 15-minute recharge time! Read more »
How to get Apple to replace your first-generation iPod nano
Apple over the weekend sent out a notice to registered first-generation iPod nano owners detailing a recall for the product, due to battery issues that could cause some units to become excessively hot. Here’s a detailed guide for getting your replacement, and why you’d want to. Read more »
Apple expands iOS 5.0.1 beta testing to some end users
Apple had previously released iOS 5.0.1 to developers for beta testing, but as of Tuesday, a report claims it is now extending that testing pool to include some ordinary end users, too. 9t05Mac received an invitation to download the pre-release software through Apple’s software seed program. Read more »
Apple: Battery fix update for iPhone 4S coming in “a few weeks”
Apple said in a short statement Wednesday to AllThingsD that it has found iOS 5 bugs responsible for battery issues experienced by many iPhone 4S (and other device) owners, and will issue “a software update to address those [bugs] in a few weeks.” Read more »
Quick tip: Preserve your iPhone battery for that important call
Sometimes you need a plain old phone more than you need a smartphone. But with all the activities and apps you have running on your iPhone, your battery may not hold out when you need it most. Here’s how to help make sure it does. Read more »
Amidst stock slump, A123 touts GM deal
Amidst the stock slump that lithium ion battery maker A123 System’s is facing, the company touts a new production contract with GM. Read more »
Why every Android user needs this green app
Android cell phones are notoriously bad at battery drain. But recently I discovered the single app that has smartly and simply solved many of these battery life problems for me: the PowerMax Android app made by Volt-Up. Read more »
