Under the deal, Valence will sell its lithium powder to Lishen. Lishen in turn make battery cells out of the material and sell them back to Valence. Valence will then take the cells and make battery packs that it will sell for use in electric cars, military vehicles or boats.

Lishen will also try to sell the battery cells to other manufacturers. In these deals, Valence will earn revenue from the sale of the chemicals to Lishen but also a royalty on the battery cells sold to third parties.

The deal will effectively allow Valence to concentrate on its strengths, said Kanode, who joined the company back in March in an effort to start commercializing its products. Valence has a strong background in battery chemistry, he said. “We also have a lot of microcontroller technology for controlling battery packs,” he said. It just doesn’t have much experience in the middle part of making cells.

Competition is also getting warm in the lithium ion battery market. Both A123 Systems and Tesla Motors are marketing their batteries to car makers. A123 can count General Motors as an investor and customer.

Valence’s biggest ‘name’ customer, by contrast, is Segway. Nonetheless, Kanode says a number of organizations are tinkering with its batteries and batteries from other companies. The market thus should be big enough for more than one manufacturer, he speculated.

“There are 80 different companies out there testing batteries. This isn’t just benchmark testing,” he said. “The testing can take one to two years.”

Kanode, though, indicated that Valence will back out of trying to compete in the notebook battery market, something it had its eye on earlier. Notebook manufacturers want lithium cobalt batteries. Valence specializes in lithium phosphate.

“Lithium cobalt for cell size will give you more energy,” he said. “But by definition, lithium cobalt will never be safe.”

“We had anticipated the effect, but the device produced a voltage over a hundred times too big and for tens of minutes, rather than for milliseconds as we had expected,” said one of the researchers, in a story in ScienceDaily. “That this was counterintuitive is what lead to our theoretical understanding of what was really going on.”

I’ve yet to dig through the paper in Nature to find out how far this is from being useful as a power source–as the current device is a few hundred micrometers across, it’s not going to be storing megawatts. But it’s the sort of thing that could be created in vast arrays, like any semiconductor device, and if they’re getting to the bottom of the underlying physics then the same effect could be used in many different configurations.

What may be much more interesting than just power storage is the fact, mentioned almost in passing in the press release, that the current delivered by the MTJ is spin-polarized; the electrons are predominately spinning in one direction.

That’s hot news for spintronics, which, together with graphene, has the most exciting potential for fundamentally new computational devices. Spin logic could work much faster at much lower power than even today’s finest electronics, because it doesn’t rely on currents flowing and the consequent unavoidable loss.

And, as the researchers say, if this discovery leads to new insights into basic magnetic theory, there are almost no limits to how profoundly it could affect modern life. Which is a bit over the top–just not that much. Satellite M110 battery, Satellite M115 battery, Satellite M40 battery.

For an ultra low voltage laptop, the $705 Satellite T135 performs well, gaining a higher score on PCMark Vantage than the Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T or the ASUS UL30A ($679.99). Like other notebooks in this category, you’re limited to casual games. For productivity, multitasking, and web work, the T135 will serve you well.

However, we were a bit disappointed with the cramped keyboard on the T135, especially since there was plenty of room on the deck for it.  We can live with the slightly short touchpad, but we’re not fans of the single touchpad button, which is really stiff. We prefer two distinct touchpad buttons instead of a single bar for ease of use.

The Toshiba Satellite T135 lasted 7 hours and 23 minutes on the Notebook batteries provide power to the system whenever it’s unplugged.
Learn MoreLAPTOP Battery Test, falling short of the  the Timeline 3810T’s 8:05 and the UL30’s 9:55. Still, 7+ hours will keep you from being tied to an outlet or entertained on a cross-country flight.

The most important thing to know about laptop battery maintenance is that partial discharges and charges are much better for the battery’s life than complete drains. The problem with charging so frequently is that it throws off the calibration for Windows’s battery level reading. Then your battery may read empty when power still remains, or force your PC to shut down without warning even when Windows reports power is left. BatteryCare’s main purpose is to alert you when a calibration is needed.

By default, BatteryCare recommends a calibration after the battery’s capacity is used 30 times. Unfortunately, the program can’t perform the calibration itself. Some laptops have BIOS programs for the task, but otherwise you must do it manually, as outlined in the supplemental guide. It is a long process (around 15 hours, although you may be able to cut down the 7 hours of recommended idle time) which involves completely draining and charging the battery.

In addition to the calibration notification feature, BatteryCare provides detailed statistics on your battery, including total capacity, current capacity, wear, and CPU temperature (excessive heat can be damaging). For Vista, there are also settings to reduce power usage by disabling Aero and unnecessary background services when running from the battery.

For those who don’t know about proper care for a lithium battery, the written guide may be more useful than the program itself. That said, although no individual feature is particularly groundbreaking, the combination makes BatteryCare a convenient program which will help you get the most out of your laptop battery.

Like we saw with the MSI Wind NB and the Eee PC 901, the system’s 1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor and 1GB of RAM provided solid performance. We couldn’t run our usual PC Mark05 test on the system, but in our hands-on experience, the 1000H was snappy. FireFox and Windows Media Player opened quickly, and we saw no performance hit when we conducted video calls over Skype, surfed the Web, and streamed music. The integrated graphics scored 739 in our 3DMark03 test (better than the MSI Wind NB’s score of 606), and was even able to run the graphics intensive Second Life.
Very Good Battery Life
One of the biggest selling points of the Atom processor is the ability to provide lots of endurance, at least when paired with a nice sized battery. The 1000H’s 6-cell battery lasted an impressive 4 hours and 28 minutes with Wi-Fi turned on. This is plenty of juice for a cross-country flight and is similar to the Wind NB’s runtime

As notebooks drop in price and increase in performance, they’ve finally become a viable option as a primary computer for millions of users. But those with the fanciest chips and multimedia options typically offer less than stellar battery life–about an hour for many systems–which leaves many nervous users scrambling for an electrical outlet.

That scenario may be changing, according to analysts, because of the inroads notebook and chip manufacturers are making in “power management.” There are several aspects to this, but, generally speaking, the components of a laptop are being designed to consume less power, which helps batteries last longer.

Recent events have crystallized industry expectations for battery life in portable devices and notebook computers. Last week, Apple Computer announced its long-awaited iBook notebook, offering up to six hours of battery life.

This week, chipmaker Texas Instruments acquired Unitrode, a power-management component maker, which TI called the fastest growing segment of the analog semiconductor market. In addition, upcoming technology from chip giant Intel further indicates that by next year, battery woes may be a gripe of the past.

“The fundamental issue is that ever since they’ve designed mobile systems, they’ve always made trade-offs in the way they ran the processor to extend battery life,” said Nathan Brookwood, a principal at Insight 64, noting that Intel’s upcoming power management technology, dubbed Geyserville, should make a noticeable difference. “The best is yet to come in that regard.”

Geyserville essentially allows notebooks to run with desktop-like performance when plugged into an outlet, and at lower power when relying on batteries. This will allow high-performance machines, which normally are very hard on batteries, to achieve the two-hour battery life of a lower-performance system, according to Brookwood.

“Lower-power modes are a very critical part of mobile-processor design,” said Frank Spindler, vice president of marketing for Intel’s mobile products group. “Geyserville is a new capability added on top of that.”

Improving the battery life of performance notebooks essentially removes one of the major sticking points among consumers and businesses interested in acquiring these more expensive systems, a fact not lost on manufacturers in this age of sub-$500 desktop PCs.

“Generally, the higher performance the notebook, the more power it will consume. The value proposition is that now users don’t have to make a compromise on performance and features,” Spindler said.

Spindler point outs that rather than extending battery life, Intel’s new technologies provide enhanced performance without additional drains on the battery.

Apple is taking a similar approach to power management but is also making other advances in battery life. The company stressed the power-management advances result in up to six hours of continuous battery life for the iBook.

Changes in the “sleep” mode is key, Apple said. The iBook includes new features that let the system conserve energy, including new sleep capabilities that allow the computer to save information before going into a rest state, which continually draws a small amount of power from the batteries.

Although some observers express skepticism until independent benchmarks verify the six-hour claim, an Apple spokesperson says it is a “conservative estimate.”

Apple notebooks have historically achieved better battery performance than their Intel counterparts, according to Brookwood, because of the lower power PowerPC chip they are based on. “Battery life has never been as much of a problem,” in Apple products, he said, adding that consumers are demanding better overall battery performance.

“My laptop spends a lot of time plugged into the wall. Then I go out, and I curse the fact that the battery dies in two hours. I think a lot of people are like that,” he said.

Some analysts are taking a wait-and-see approach on the iBook. “You need to be careful about any particular number if it’s not defined,” said Spindler, in reference to the iBook. “There’s not really any standard methodology for measuring battery life–it’s highly variable,” depending on what type of applications are running and the configuration of the system.

The upcoming technology advances should come at no extra charge to consumers, according to TI’s Alan Roberts, worldwide director of analog products, especially when compared to the cost of adding similar technology to smaller devices like digital cameras, portable MP3 players, and handheld devices.

Lithium ion advances
TI’s new acquisition, Unitrode, designs and manufacturers components that control power supply and provide users with more information about their battery usage. “You don’t want to run out of battery life at a critical point. Already, battery technology has changed tremendously,” he said, pointing to the emergence of the re-chargeable lithium ion battery.

Lithium batteries, which are made from somewhat dangerous chemicals, already include components designed to protect hardware from battery damage, Roberts said. It is a fairly insignificant and inexpensive task to add power-management technology to the existing battery protection, he said, an area Unitrode specializes in.

“Notebook PCs are nowhere near as cost sensitive as cell phones, and the overwhelming number of purchases are corporate. The additional cost in a $2,000 machine is small,” he said. “While a few dollars in a discounted cell phone is a big deal.”

The line has been developed to serve as replacement batteries for some notebook computers that have been discontinued for three to five years, according to FreshBattery. And the batteries are designed to meet or exceed the original manufacturer’s specifications.

FreshBattery VP of business development, Bob Schaffer, gives an example: A Legacy FreshBattery for an original Titanium PowerBook G4 uses 4400 mAh cells, unlike the original, which used 3600 mAh cells. This translates into a 3 hour and 10 minute runtime, compared to 2 and a half hours for the original. The battery costs $89.99.

FreshBattery also makes models designed to fit iBooks going back to the original “Clamshell” design models and PowerBooks as far back as the Wall Street and Pismo-era G3.

An internal short of the batteries can cause them to overheat, posing a fire hazard. The units were made by LG Chem in South Korea. Apple is replacing the batteries at no charge.

The company says that it has received just four reports of the batteries overheating, and that no injuries have been reported. In the interests of customers, however, the company warns: “Apple urges you to stop using your battery and to order a replacement Sony VGP-BPS2 immediately. If you continue to use your battery, do not leave it unattended and check for signs of overheating.”

Identifying Affected Batteries
Not all PowerBooks–and no IBooks–are reportedly affected. The recalled units were sold worldwide from January 2004 until August 2004 for use with 15-inch G4 PowerBooks.

The recalled Sony VGP-BPS2A have the model number A1045, and serial numbers that begin with HQ404, HQ405, HQ406, HQ407, or HQ408.

“Batteries with the affected serial numbers contain cells that were manufactured by LG Chem of South Korea during the last week of December 2003 only,” Apple says.

If your battery serial number does not match those listed above, you do not have to exchange your Sony VGP-BPS2B.

The U-Charge works with iBook, MacBook, MacBook Pro and PowerBook laptops. It operates by connecting directly to the battery’s terminals to recharge the battery’s power without needing the laptop involved at all. It’s rated at 45 watts.

The main housing of the U-Charge features Inspiron 500m battery indicator charge LEDs that operate the same way as the charge indicators found on Apple batteries. The device includes safety features to protect against overcharge, overheating, short circuits and power surges, and it weighs less than six ounces. Its dimensions match an Apple AC adapter.

The U-Charge comes in two colors, black and white. It also comes in two variants. The 10.8 volt model works with PowerBook G3, iBook G3/G4 12-inch, PowerBook G4 aluminum, MacBook and MacBook Pro models. A 14.4 volt version, coming soon, will work with clamshell-style iBooks, iBook G3/G4 14-inch models, Inspiron 510m battery,and the PowerBook G4 Titanium 15-inch model.

The E-Series comes in three models (E1, E2, and E3), each with two shock-mounted 500GB disk drives with RAID controller, 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, four USB 2.0 ports, Windows 7 or Vista, and a 14.1″ WXGA/WXGA+ TFT display. GammaTech claims the E0 is “configured for maximum data capacity and performance,” the E1 provides real-time data backup and sync, and the E2 allows users to organize data into two separate 500GB hard disk drives.

E-Series is tested at Military 810F guidelines for drop, shock, spill, compaq evo n600 battery,and dust protection, which is comparable with other rugged notebooks, including the Panasonic Toughbook. In addition, the E-Series models are encased by magnesium alloy, feature a spill-resistant keyboard with insulated system switches and the vital components are covered with anti-shock materials.

GammaTech did not announce pricing or availability.