“To some observers, it may seem like closing the barn door after the horses have escaped, but next month a group of high-tech companies — includin leading notebook computer makers Dell, Lenovo, Apple and Hewlett-Packard — will be holding a summit meeting in San Jose, Calif., to get the ball rolling on manufacturing standards for lithium-ion batteries for portable and handheld electronic devices,” John P. Mello Jr. reports for E-Commerce Times.
“The companies are part of the OEM Critical Components Committee of the IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries, of Bannockburn, Ill. The organization has some 2,400 members involved in making, designing or using electronic components,” Mello Jr. reports.
Mello Jr. reports, “The move comes after Dell, on Aug. 14, announced the recall of 4.1 million lithium-ion batteries with cells manufactured by Sony because, under some conditions, they may overheat and cause a risk of fire.”
“The panel began to focus on battery standards long before Dell’s massive recall was announced, according to the chairman of the committee, Dell’s Director of Supplier Engineering and Quality John Grosso,” Mello Jr. reports.
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Qantas first airline to restrict in-flight Dell laptop use due to fire-prone batteries – August 23, 2006
Dell issues largest safety recall in history: 4.1 million laptop batteries due to fire threat – August 14, 2006
You watch…all of a sudden Dell and HP will have batteries with Apple’s charge indicator LED system!
Wonder if MDN could do some investigative reporting and see if the battery makers of the world are holding back longer life, safer, cooler, and overall better batteries.
I know they are and Apple is in league with them. It’s all about selling more batteries and it’s an outrage.
If they are going to write a spec, I suggest the first line of the first page read: “Battery will not explode during normal usage.”
Uh, Pete, why would MDN have to do any investigative reporting if you already “know they are”? Sounds to me like a lot of hot gas-passing on your part. Had your Beano today?
I love MDN. But investigative reporting? Don’t think so. If you send them the link to the article you refer to…
That’s a challenge btw MDN!
Are these folks all going to bring their laptops to the summit? Start the cameras rolling…
In defence of Pete Peterson:
For several decades there have been MANY stories floating around about alternate sources of power, including battery-sized ones.
Of course, you’ll never hear these stories from the sources of mainstream news, a.k.a. corporate brainwashers.
MDN Magic Word = “true”
Des, I remember when there were many stories “floating around” about a pill that would turn water into gasoline.
I remember when there were many stories “floating around” about cold fusion in a jar.
I remember when there were many stories “floating around” about . . .
Well, you get the idea.
Two people can keep a technological breakthrough secret “for several decades” only if one of them is dead. Something tells me BOTH of them are dead when it comes to your “alternate sources of power” theories.
“Paranoia strikes deep . . . .”
A little off topic but funny, I just saw the new Dell TV spot, the song they are using in it titled “CATCH MY DISEASE BY BEN LEE”.
But the the song is cut short just before that line. LOL
Little do people know thats exactly what will happen once Windows is installed, these days people would rather catch a disease than to catch FIRE : )
Pete Peterson,
I am entertained by your conspiracy theory,
but the Macbook and MBP both use Lithium
Polymer batteries. Trust me, they are state
of the art. There is nothing better at this
time except for a technology that requires
a battery temp of about 400 F.
Oxymoron: Your response shows how incredibly easy it is for certain things to remain hidden from the masses – most people don’t believe these things even when they’re told.
“Conspiracy theorist” and other versions of “nutcase” are just convenient labels that can be used by anyone whose view of the world is fed to them by the evening news, and who can’t be bothered trying to figure out the difference between a genuine nutcase and someone who’s found genuine information that you don’t want to believe.
I, and many other people, have very good reasons (e.g. personal experience) to believe some of the things that aren’t accepted by the masses. No, I’m not trying to prove it to you – just stating my case.
Having replaced too many laptop batters (each to be replaced at high cost), I’ve been looking into “care and feeding” issues, drawing from guidelines from HP and background info on Wikipedia.
What’s clear is that the battery can’t be considered in isolation. Heat shortens battery life – a critical issue in today’s “hotter” laptops, and it’s worse if the battery remains close to full charge. (Our users run their laptops most of the time off AC power, so this is an ongoing problems.) The charging circuitry varies according to laptop design, as does onboard ventilation. (HP and Sony reportedly use batteries comparable to Dell, but haven’t exhibited the same problems.) So while standardizing the battery form factor could result in lower costs, as long as those systemic issues vary we’ll still see different fatality rates for laptop batteries.
Des Gusting,
I understand your point, but I believe
that usually the simplest explanation
is the right one. What would be the gain
of keeping a new and better battery
technology from market? Why would anyone
want to miss out on loads of money from
doing so? It just doesn’t make any sense.
It is an illogical conclusion, hence,
conspiracy theory.
Des,
Actually, I’m on YOUR side on this, for I and a few other “non-masses” elites like you KNOW that Elvis is alive and well and living on a farm in Oregon. How easily the media have manipulated the great unwashed into believing he died this month in 1977.
If only the rest of the world’s flotsam and jetsam were as intelligent, intuitive, and cyncial as we [are], how easy it would be for us to strip away the film of corporate greed, governmental manipulation, international conspiracies, and more from their eyes.
Power to the people [read that “intelligentia”], right, Des? Thinkers of the world unite! The only thing you have to lose is your mind!
(I’m going to go read some more about Roswell and Area 51 on the net now.)
Oxymoron,
Make sure your foil hat is
on, shiny side out! Good one LOL.
Anyway, more on topic, Apple’s notebook
and iPod competitors still use Lithium Ion
while Apple puts Lithium Polymer in their stuff.
So perhaps if not for Apple, some of the theories
here might be more founded. Also, a response to
Raymond from DC, what you said is right, except
leaving a Lithium Polymer topped off all of the
time DOES NOT hurt it. That’s what is so sweet
about them, in addition to the amp-hour rating
per size. Keep your iPods and new Macbooks
plugged in folks. I have the original 2001 iPod
, have never replaced the batter, and it still
runs for about 7 hours!
“‘Conspiracy theorist’ and other versions of ‘nutcase’ are just convenient labels that can be used by anyone whose view of the world is fed to them by the evening news, and who can’t be bothered trying to figure out the difference between a genuine nutcase and someone who’s found genuine information that you don’t want to believe.”
I love when people use that argument. It’s like a “debating cork” because it stops the flow of reasonable discourse. Anyone who disagrees with you is just brainwashed by the evil, corporate, mainstream media. How convenient for you to be able to pull that card from your hand and use it when you really have no ground to stand on. How about showing some proof of your claims, and that doesn’t count citing some website run by a forty-five year old guy with a ponytail blogging from his mom’s basement while listening to Art Bell.
To the first poster “me”. Dell already have the charge indicator, at least the laptop I have at work has it. However its usefully only visible if you remove the battery.
“only visible if you remove the battery.”
Yeah, there was a third party PowerBook battery like that (Newer Tech?). You would press a button and the LEDE’s light up.
Just remember Pete Peterson is the idiot who thinks Apple released “immediately obsolete” Core Duo products at January’s MW. Apparently he thinks Apple was holding back Core 2 Duo chips, back then. What a numbnut, don’t believe anything he says. He probably believes everything Oliver Stone believes.
All I want is a instant charging capacitor for all my electronic appliances. the capacitors have already been invented, they just need to apply them to notebook batteries so we can charge in a few seconds and run our devices for 10 hours.
Anger Monkey,
There is an inherent size issue with using even the most high
quality electrolytic capacitors. The “battery” would be huge.
Yes, caps work well in applications such as little toy cars and
what-not. It is more than just a matter of storage, but of
sustainable portability. Batteries rely on a chemical reaction,
they are not simply a storage device as you have cited.
“What would be the gain of keeping a new and better battery technology from market? Why would anyone want to miss out on loads of money from doing so?”
Thorin, the types of “batteries” (or whatever they actually are) that I’ve read and heard about *never* run out. Sure, the battery industry and its suppliers would make a killing initially, but not for long. In one of the stories I heard it was the suppliers of materials for the “batteries” that refused to co-operate, not wanting to help make demand for their services virtually disappear within a few years. Built-in obsolescence keeps many industries propped up.
So, it makes sense to me…
“If only the rest of the world’s flotsam and jetsam were as intelligent, intuitive, and cyncial as we [are]”
Oxymoron, it doesn’t necessarily take intelligence, intuition and cynicism to find out some of the stuff that the mainstream press doesn’t print. Sometimes just being lucky enough to experience or witness some “impossible” things will do it. Or being lucky enough to meet (and sometimes befriend) people who’ve had equivalently “impossible” experiences”.
“The only thing you have to lose is your mind!”
Or, if you go along with the manipulators, your money, freedom or even (in the case of suppressed cures for diseases) your life! Sure, there’s a lot of crap out there to fool gullible people, but it’s certainly not all crap.