Lilliputian Systems is not a big name in portable power, but they have some big ideas, and this year, they’ve promised a big product: a fuel cell generator the size of a smartphone that will be able to generate enough power on one cartridge of butane to charge an iPhone up to 14 times. Goodbye batteries, hello liquid electricity.

Later this year, you’ll be able to pick up Lilliputian Systems’ portable USB power source from Brookstone for an undisclosed sum. It runs off of a special lighter-sized cartridge full of butane that’ll cost you a couple bucks per, and will charge anything you can plug into it with a USB cable. When the cartridge runs dry, just pop in another one and you’re fully recharged. It’s simple, it’s cheap, it’s portable, it’s reliable, and it’s about time.

Personally, I’m a big believer in using fuel cells to power electronics. I’m not a big believer in proprietary cartridges, for one simple reason: in order for this charger to really take off, you’re going to have to be able to get the cartridges everywhere, and for cheap. But for you to be able to get the cartridges everywhere, and for cheap, this charger will have to have to have really taken off. Kind of a dinosaur or the egg problem here.

And anyway, if the thing runs on butane, why not just make it compatible with all of those butane refill canisters that are already out there? My guess (and maybe I’m just jaded here) is that Lilliputian sees proprietary cartridges as an additional revenue stream, which is great for them, but bad for us. Look, Lilliputian: you’ve got an amazing little piece of tech going on here. Everybody’s going to want one. I know I do. Just let me go to Costco and buy a crate full of cheap butane cylinders so that I’ll never have to worry about batteries (or cartridges) ever again, okay? Please?

via:dvice

Okay, we’re officially not going crazy. We and many new iPad owners found the tablet to get warm, especially when running GPU-intensive apps, but now consumer watch dog Consumer Reports have officially declared the iPad’s newest feature is indeed a built-in hand warmer.

To prove that the new iPad is indeed emitting more heat (and for some at uncomfortable temperatures), Tweakers.net took a cool thermal image of an iPad 2 and new iPad.

Apple’s official response to the heat complaints to AllThingsD (bolded for emphasis):

The new iPad delivers a stunning Retina display, A5X chip, support for 4G LTE plus 10 hours of battery life, all while operating well within our thermal specifications. If customers have any concerns they should contact AppleCare.

Note the wording: “within our thermal specifications.” Translation: It’s fine and there’s nothing wrong with the new iPads. Move along now.

This type of arrogant stance is just the latest in Apple’s antics of shrugging off serious complaints. Remember Antennagate on the iPhone 4? Apples response: “There is no ‘Antennagate.” Right, that’s why it issued out free bumpers and cases. Because it wasn’t a big problem.

To further get the message across, the almighty Consumer Reports did its own intensive testing and concluded:

When unplugged, the back of the new iPad reached temperatures as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit. It was only when plugged in that it hit 116 degrees. The hottest areas weren’t evenly distributed throughout the iPad’s back, but were concentrated near one corner of the display as shown in the images taken from the rear of the device above.

The findings are roughly in-line with what Tweakers.net showed off.

Apple, heat/warm-gate is real. If after 45 minutes of playing Infinity Blade II with Retina graphics gets the new iPad to be that hot, there is definitely a problem. I thought this was supposed to be the post-PC world where gadgets don’t suffer from overheating issues like laptops and PCs do thanks to really efficient system on a chip architectures and flash storage. I’m likely returning my new iPad until Apple

straightens this problem out. Because it is a problem and I don’t want to risk any iPads exploding in my bag.

via: dvice

I’ve been a bit quiet lately while considering the possible reasons why my new iPhone 4S has the worst battery life of any iPhone I’ve ever owned. Normally by now I would have written some battery troubleshooting tips to share with all of you. However, this time around the problem is anything but normal and the usual tips aren’t helping. So I’ve been quiet about this.

I cannot say the same thing about Apple’s discussion forums since the conversation about battery life there is reaching epic proportions and the conversation there is rather loud.

It might be about to get a lot quieter with this tip, which seems to be working for me.

The problem might be caused by how iOS 5 handles location services. According to one source I found the problem might be caused by a bug in how iOS 5 handles time zone switching based on your current location.

There is a setting in Location Services in the Setting App that might resolve the battery issues we’ve all been experiencing. I tried it for about half a day and it looks like it helped,  but I really need to spend a full day with it and a fresh 100% charge before I get to excited. However, so far it looks good so I thought I’d share what I found.

Open the Settings app , tap Location Services and then tap System Services. Now find the “Setting Time Zone” setting and toggle it Off.

via: cult of mac

Having problems with battery life since upgrading to the iPhone 4S? Apple may be getting in touch with you to help them troubleshoot your battery problems, hopefully solving the iPhone 4S’s woeful drainage issues once and for all.

According to The Guardian, Apple has reached out to at least one user who is experiencing poor battery life with his iPhone 4S:

I then got a call from a senior [Apple] engineer who said he had read my post and was ‘reaching out’ to users for data and admitted this was an issue (and that they aren’t close to finding a fix!) and asked lots of questions about my usage and then asked if he could install the file below and that he would call back the day after to retrieve the info. I extracted the file from my Mac after a sync and emailed it to him. He was incredibly helpful and apologetic in the typical Apple way!

It’s worth noting this particular user was seeing some obscene drain: 10% per hour even in standby mode.

There’s no real word on what is causing the battery problems in the iPhone 4S, but they are definitely worse than in the iPhone 4… so much so that Apple quietyly bumped the standby time of the iPhone 4S down from 300 hours on the iPhone 4 to just 200 hours on the iPhone 4S. Some reports claim that location services are the culprit, while others say it all has to do with corrupted contacts.

Either way, let’s hope Apple gets to the bottom of this soon. From a power management perspective, right now, the iPhone 4S is acting more like an Android phone than an Apple device.

via: cult of mac