Stardate 20011003.0420 (On Screen): The big thing holding back a lot of really neat portable devices is battery technology. It has not been following the kind of advance-curve that electronics has been following over the years. We need much higher power densities than it appears that standard batteries can provide. The future appears to be fuel cells, and progress is being made. However, this announcement makes clear that there's still much that needs to be done before they're really practical and will really make a big difference, primarily because they're still too large. On the other hand, it's also showing that serious progress is being made; they only need about another 3:1 shrink. In about five more years, when they can make a really practical fuel cell (probably powered by methanol) there's going to be a revolution in portable electronics devices to make the current revolution look tame by comparison, and the LiIon cell will join the NiCad on the scrap heap of history.
(discussion in progress)
