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Filed under: Digital Cameras

You may think you know everything there is to know about Canon’s marvelous EOS 5D Mark II, but have you heard of this tidbit? Hailed as the first DSLR to “manage” multiple batteries, this here camera includes technology to read up to six separate LP-E6 batteries and display data about them right on the rear LCD. The LP-E6 cell includes an embedded microchip with a unique 8-character serial number; after it’s installed once and “registered” in your EOS 5D Mark II body, the camera then displays each cell’s serial number, the last time it was charged, the number of shots taken since the last charge, its remaining capacity in 1% increments and its recharge performance. It’s a small inclusion, sure, but for pros who go 18+ hours on a single set, we can imagine this coming in handy when trying to select which battery to use on the next excursion.

[Thanks, Peter]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Laptops

HP’s ridiculously long lasting EliteBook 6930p just got done with a fresh round of torture testing from the savages over at PC Mag, and while their review unit didn’t have the optimal processor for pulling an all-nighter (followed by an all-dayer) without even a lick of the AC outlet, critics did find the unit to be fairly impressive in most every other regard. It should be pointed out, however, that the review crew sure showed a lot of love to the ThinkPad T400, noting that Lenovo’s machine deserved a “super-elite” status if the 6930p was worthy of being “elite.” Comparisons aside, they were impressed with its performance in all-around computing and the “sleek yet rugged” design, but it still came up one red dot shy of a perfect score. Is it a fit for you? Depends on your needs, but chances are you’ll have a much better idea after digesting the writeup in full down in the read link.

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

Imagine this — you, sitting in a dingy airport terminal waiting on your flight with a lifeless laptop and just 10 minutes to spare. You’ve got oodles of spreadsheet work to do before 8:00AM tomorrow, and unless you get it done on this flight, you’re fubared. Toshiba is looking to make said scenario seem like one that’s not so grim, as its prototype SCIB (Super Charge Ion Battery) purportedly has the potential to get 90% full in just 10 minutes. The battery was unveiled at CEATEC 2008 in Japan, though little was known about its eventual availability. Shame development cycles can’t be fast tracked in a similar manner, huh?

[Via UberReview]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Gaming

According to a GameSpot interview with Sony’s US director of hardware marketing John Koller, that new PSP-3000 screen may look a bit better… but it’s going to cost you about 20 minutes of battery life. Luckily for you gamers with endless pockets out there, Koller assures that minor wrinkle be offset because, “We’re going to have the extended life battery that’s still available for consumers, so we’re still going to get the eight-to-ten hours out of that battery.” So just to make that clear, the regular battery life will be diminished, but you can buy a new, larger battery from Sony to extend your gaming time. Got that? Good. Watch him say it for real in the video after the break.

[Via T3]Continue reading PSP-3000 battery life diminished by new screen, Sony suggests buying a bigger battery

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Laptops

MSI told us that a 6-cell version of its briskly-moving Wind was on the way. What it failed to mention, however, was the $50 premium that would be tacked on. The units including a 6-cell battery have been popping up in a few e-tailers here recently, with prices ranging from $559 to $599. According to an MSI representative, however, the official MSRP for the 6-cell units is $549.99 (versus $499.99 for the 3-cell edition). As you can tell, it seems that some places are taking the liberty of bundling in a little profit while demand is high. Worse still, users who managed to get their orders in at Buy.com for a $499.99 6-cell unit are now receiving cancellation notices. So, is the more capacious battery worth an extra 50 bones (or more) to you?

[Via jkOnTheRun]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals

Sure, there are already a handful of options out there for extending the life of your iPhone / iPod battery, but since when have we been ones to gripe about a little competition? Kensington has just introduced a standard and miniature version of its Battery Pack and Charger for iPhone / iPod, which unsurprisingly provides juice to your device’s internal battery and can be recharged simultaneously. As you could likely guess, the only differences between the two contraptions are the size, price and battery life; the 0.22-pound standard model extends play time to up to 100 hours (music) / 6 hours (talk), while the even tinier mini version livens things up for another 30 hours (music) / 3 hours (talk). Each is available now for $69.99 / $49.99.

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Transportation

You’re looking at the world’s first manned flight powered by a hydrogen battery. Boeing’s prop-driven aircraft set the lone pilot aloft for about 20 minutes at a speed of 100-kilometres (62 miles) an hour at an altitude of about 1,000 meters. The 800-kilogram (1,760-pound) craft with a 16.3-meter (51-foot) wingspan is capable of flying for about 45 minutes under the power of its hydrogen fuel cells — the airplane’s batteries provided an additional boost for takeoff. The fuel cells harvest the energy produced by the chemical transformation of hydrogen and oxygen into water — that makes the craft clean as well as near silent. Unfortunately, the technology is nowhere near the point of powering commercial aircraft. At best, the fuel-cells could act as a secondary power source… in another 20 years.

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Source: Thomas Ricker

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Filed under: Cellphones

Not even a month after three iPods got all hot and bothered on separate occasions, along comes images showing that even Apple’s iPhone isn’t immune to melting itself. Purportedly, the handset was purchased from Carphone Warehouse in December, but was never activated for one reason or another. Just this week, the owner’s son slapped it in a dock with intentions of activating, walked downstairs to catch the last few minutes of Magnum, P.I. and returned to his room to find a “stupidly hot” iPhone which had already melted in some parts and had its screen cracked from the reaction. Not surprisingly, he’s currently in the middle of a runaround trying to get someone to remedy the issue, but thankfully no Earthlings, carpets or IKEA desks were harmed.

Update: Thanks to Logan5’s quick eyes, it appears we’ve discovered a scammer in our midst. Essentially, this bloke posted the real story here noting that the crack (more on that here) actually appeared after it was mishandled and dropped. Haven’t we learned this approach doesn’t work by now?

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Source: Darren Murph

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