Now If They Could Just Get That Signal Thing Down

Good news for road warriors. Scientific American reports that scientists at Lawrence Livermore have come up with a "portable fuel cell energy source" that can power a mobile phone or laptop computer longer than the current batteries do. And it's cheaper. Straight to the text we go:

The days of fast-fading cellular phone batteries may soon be over. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently developed a working prototype for a portable fuel cell energy source that could power a cellular phone 300 percent longer than existing rechargeable batteries do. Indeed, the new technology would be less expensive, smaller and more powerful than any battery currently in use, according to Jeff Morse of LLNL's Center for Microtechnology Engineering. He predicts that it could replace standard lithium-ion and lithium-ion polymer batteries in a number of consumer electronics products, such as laptops and handheld computers.

God bless 'em.