Fraunhofer takes a stab at non-exploding lithium-ion batteries

Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops

It’s hardly the only one working on making lithium-ion batteries a little less likely to blow up in your face, but the prolific folks at Fraunhofer Institute seem to think that they’ve come up with a solid contender for your future laptop or cellphone, and they’re now set to take the wraps off it at the Hannover Messe conference later this month. The key to their solution, it seems, is the use of a non-flammable polymer electrolyte instead of the liquid electrolyte now commonly used in lithium-ion batteries. While that switch cuts down on the explosiveness, it also introduced a fair number of challenges, not the least of which is the fact that polymer becomes less conductive as it gets more solid. Fraunhofer’s apparently made some significant progress on that front, however, and while they’re still not completely satisfied with the conductivity, they say the batteries could be ready for commercial use in three to five years. They also, not surprisingly, see no end to the uses for ‘em, saying that they could not only wind up in laptops and cellphones, but power tools, lawnmowers, and potentially even cars.

[Thanks, Mademoiselle Y]

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Trailer Park: Scooby Doo Edition

Filed under: Action, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Thrillers, Trailer Trash, Family Films

This week week I’m feeling like one of the Scooby gang. Each trailer I see provides a clue that leads me to the next. For example:

Space Chimps
“From one of the primates who brought you Shrek,” says the trailer. Obviously it’s not the funny one. This computer animated tale of chimps being launched into space is chock full of jokes from the “been there, done that, got the t-shirt” school of humor. There’s the slow-mo walk from The Right Stuff, a slip on a banana peel, and a pratfall followed by “that’s gotta hurt.” Younger kids may enjoy this one, but the string of cliche jokes is quite irritating. I begrudgingly cracked a smile only once, which is a good indicator that I should avoid this one. As is required by law for all animated features, Patrick Wharburton is one of the voice actors (I love his work as Brock Samson on The Venture Brothers). Monika first posted about this one last June.

Continue reading Trailer Park: Scooby Doo Edition

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Food Porn Daily: Bubbly, brown pizza

Filed under: Food Porn Daily, Cheese, Comfort Food

As soon as I spotted this picture, taken by Flickr user Queen Roly, I immediately started to sniff the air, somehow thinking that I might just be able to smell the aroma of freshly baked pizza. Sadly, there was no pizza for me (just a olfactory reminder that the trash needs to be taken out), but the picture is still more than deserving of the title “food porn.”

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Asha Bhosle not ready to forgive Himmesh
Himmesh Reshammaiya must have made the biggest mistake of his life when he compared himself to R.D Burman ‘coz Asha Tai is in no mood to forgive him . Recentley when Asha Bhosle was asked to give her take on reality shows she said, “I never watch any reality shows because I don’t […]

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Pandora dev board seen running applications, games

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

So much for the naysayers, huh? Although the hotly-anticipated Pandora is still doing its thang without a case in the most recent videos, the dev board is definitely handling the FinalBurn Alpha arcade emulator and MPlayer video viewer with ease. Yeah, we’re still clueless about a definitive launch date, but feel free to hit the read link for a couple of clips sure to get you even more anxious for this thing’s arrival.

[Thanks, Ben]

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Pantry essentials for life on a desert island

Filed under: On the Blogs, Condiments

Here’s an improbably mental puzzle for you. If you were stranded on a desert island (with stove, oven and good bug screens), what items in your pantry would you really want to bring along? It’s a question that Lynda has asked and answered on The Perfect Pantry. She lists 23 items she’d like to have and her top five are: two types of salt (kosher and sea), black peppercorns, soy sauce and honey.

I think that my top five would be kosher salt, black peppercorns, olive oil, garlic powder (the California style kind, with the parsley flakes) and a hardy rosemary plant that was impossible to kill (I have yet to find one of these in real life).

Lynda is having a whole week of Things We Can’t Live Without over on The Perfect Pantry, so you’ll also find a list of 13 invaluable baking ingredients as well as her readers’ top choices for the things that must be in their pantries at all times.

What’s in your essential pantry?

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