The civil penalty won’t be arriving in mailboxes of HP notebook users, but will instead go to the CPSC. HP was criticized and penalized for not reporting faulty lithium ion batteries soon enough.

The CPSC says that HP knew about the exploding batteries as early as 2007, but let the issue continue until July 2008. During this time there were reportedly 22 incidents involving faulty batteries, two with injuries to consumers and at least one that sent a customer to the hospital.

In all the CPSC alleges that there were 31 incidents, which led to the October 2008 battery recall of over 32,000 batteries for HP notebooks. The affected batteries were found in notebooks ranging from $700 to $3,000 and included spare parts and replacement batteries sold at retail outlets.

HP was fined because federal law dictates that manufacturers report issues such as the battery explosions to the CPSC within 24 hours of ,”obtaining information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product contains a defect which could create a substantial product hazard, creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, or fails to comply with any consumer product safety rule or any other rule, regulation, standard, or ban enforced by CPSC.”

While HP has agreed to pay the penalty, the company does not agree that the batteries posed an unreasonable risk, or that the company violated the reporting requirements.

Flames via wwarby on Flickr

HP Pays $425,000 for Burning Battery Bungle is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Computer Bags

If you are carrying both a computer and a camera, you may want something to protect them and the tools that go with them.  You could just grab a nice notebook bag and a camera bag. Or you could combine them in one case. Our Publisher, Xavier Lanier recommends the Lowepro Pro Runner 350 AW. It is a backpack that will not only hold your DSLR camera and its gear, but also a notebook computer with a display up to 15.4-inches. On our recent trip to Charlotte to hang out with the Red Bull Racing team learning how they use technology in NASCAR, I was impressed with how neatly it carried and protected all his photography and computer gadgets.

While you are on the road, your bag will need to protect all your gear. That is why Xavier recommends Voodoo Tactical. They sell military grade equipment including bags and packs. These look like they will keep your tech safe. And the image they cast might make you feel safe too.

They don’t look very professional, but they’re great for when you have to get a little dirty/rugged. Very versatile and weather resistant. I bought a small one as a range bag and now use it as my daily gadget bag. They’re extremely compact and expand as needed. (Xavier Lanier)

Xavier recommends the Level III MOLLE Assault Pack, which is a military style backpack. He said the following:

The smaller one can shrink down to about 4″ thick, but can expand to fit my 15″ MacBook Pro, 12″ Tablet or iPad, and my DSLR or video camera. It’s absolutely built better than any computer bag I’ve ever seen. You can clip on accessory pouches for anything from mobile phones to water bottles. Both of mine are black. They both have water-resistant pouches and zippers. Really good price compared to computer bags.

The bag he recommends costs $62.95 and comes in many colors.

While some of love the military grunt look of the Voodoo bags, you may want something a little more stylish. That is why you might want to check out Waterfield Designs. I reviewed one of their iPad cases, and in fact we will be giving it away soon.

Waterfield Designs makes larger bags and sleeves for notebook computers and many other electronic devices. If it needs a power cord or batteries, they likely have a nice case to cover it. The Cargo Mambo Combo looks like the perfect thing for a travel bag as it comes in a package price with the bag, a pouch for accessories, and a sleeve for your computer. They are expensive, but they make great products.

Finally, our Editor, Josh Smith, has been testing the Mobile Edge EVO Backpack. It is designed for larger 16 or 17-inch computers. The EVO bags are black with colorful highlights.

They look like a great solution for larger notebooks. The 16 accessory pouches and pockets will make this a great solution for carrying it all on the road. Below is Josh’s video preview of the pack.

Charging Solutions

If you have an iPod-wielding child who will not put the “toy” down, then you will also eventually have a child begging for batteries. My son’s both have iPod Touches. Playing games and watching videos on trips keeps them entertained. But if the battery dies, they get grumpy. So our DLO Game Case Boost helps keep the juice flowing. It serves three purposes. First, it is a nice protective case with rubber outer shell covering a hard plastic inner shell. The inner shell also serves to hold two AA batteries that extend the life of the iPod Touch by about two hours. I recommend getting some rechargeable batteries though, or else you will go poor buying AAs. The third benefit is that it makes the iPod Touch feel more like a gaming controller. My son loves his and I love the protection it gives his expensive toy and at $30 that’s cheap insurance.

We have other gadgets that we carry on trips from our iPhones to our Verizon Mifi cellular router, which lets up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices get online via Verizon’s broadband cellular network. Sprint has one too. Our charging solution is to have a cable for the car to charge our iPhones and the Mifi. If we are way from the vehicle, we give extra juice to these devices with Energizer’s XPAL XP2000 ultra slim charger. It is essentially a small battery with two USB ports one mini and one standard. You plug in the cable that comes with it to charge up the device. On one end is a standard USB connector. The other is a plug on which you put one of the included adapters. Once it is fully charged you plug one of the adapters into the included cable. Connect to your device and the XPAL and you are charging away. To check how much power the XPAL has left, push the Check/On button on the top and it has four blue indicators to show the power level.

The XPAL has a number of adapters for various devices. To charge a device plug it in and push the Check/On button and it will charge fine. The adapters will fit many cell phones, devices with micro and mini USB connectors, and Apple products via the dock connector. It works fine with iPods, iPod Touches, and all iPhones, but it will not charge the iPad. I have not tested it with other cell phones. It is $48 at Staples. They also have both smaller and larger capacity versions. The $100 model will even charge many notebooks.

Speakers

If you are at the beach, on a picnic, or just in a hotel room and want to play some music for everyone to enjoy, you will need some speakers. This category is far too large to cover in this space, but I do want to make one recommendation. The folks at iHome sent over a great mobile speaker solution for us to test out. I’ve been playing with it and will be writing a full review soon. For now, I can recommend the iHome iP46 Portable Speakers for iPods and iPhones. Not only are they portable speakers with an Apple dock, but it is also battery-powered. You can either plug it in with the AC adapter or after charging the internal rechargeable battery, run it untethered. On the back there is an Auxiliary input via 3.5 mm stereo jack. So you could plug your notebook in so everyone can hear if you are playing a video on your computer or portable DVD player over a projector. The sound is very good and in my initial test the battery lasts more than 7 hours.

The iHome works well with an iPod, but there are issues using it with an iPhone. My iPhone 4 is a little temperamental. I have to sometimes reboot my phone by pressing and holding the power button on top and then sliding the red slider that appears after a few seconds. Usually after a reboot it works just fine. Also, in the picture above you can see that I have a case on my phone. It works with the case on occasion but usually I have to remove the case first. However, all iPod Touches and other iPods seem to work well with the speakers. The sound is very good, but the SRS Boost button makes it even better when listening to movies and music. Spoken word is best with the SRS button on. The feet on the back keep it steady. I love this product and can’t wait to try it out on our trip coming up.

Next week ten people from our church are travelling to Wisconsin to do some mission work. One of the things we plan to do is hook up my notebook to our projector to watch movies after our mission work is done. The iHome speaker will help us enjoy the movies so much more because I will plug the notebook’s headphone jack into the line in on the back.

Summer Travel Tech: Accessories is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Affected HP Notebooks

If you suspect you have a recalled battery or if you have any doubt, take a look at the USCPSC site for more information or this link at HP’s site to validate your battery.

Via Engadget

HP Voluntarily Recalls 70,000 Faulty Notebook Batteries is a post by Truc from Notebooks.com.

At the heart of the Enviro Series batteries are Boston-Power’s Sonata Li-ion battery cells. Standard notebook batteries begin degrading almost immediately and come with just a one-year warranty. These new batteries are warranted for three years, which is longer than many users plan on using their notebooks.

The Enviro Series battery has a similar capacity to the standard Li-ion batteries that ship with HP notebooks, which means you won’t get longer battery life right off the bat. But the Enviro Series batteries can withstand more charge/discharge cycles without losing capacity. After a few dozen cycles the Enviro Series battery will outpperform the standard batteries.

The Enviro Series battery is available for $149 at HP.com.

Here’s the full press release from Boston-Power:

HP Enviro Series Program Batteries Based on Sonata Supported by Wide Range of Consumer Notebooks from World’s No. 1 Provider of PCs

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. March 16, 2009 Boston-Power’s longer lasting, Ecolabel-certified battery technology, Sonata, is available to consumer notebook PC customers starting today via HP.

New HP batteries based on Sonata technology are available as accessories for 18 existing notebook models representing approximately 70 percent of HP’s consumer notebook PC portfolio.

In addition to first-of-its-kind environmental certifications, Sonata Li-ion battery cells deliver sustainable performance for three years three times longer than most other notebook computer batteries. In fact, HP is providing a three-year warranty on the batteries the first and only notebook computer provider in the industry to offer such a warranty.

Now available at www.hpshopping.com, the new HP battery based on Sonata is available as an accessory priced at $149.99. Later this month, the HP battery will be available as a point-of-sale option for consumers buying new HP notebooks at www.hpshopping.com. The battery’s drop-in” form factor enables it to be used with existing computers including models in the HP Pavilion, HP HDX, Compaq Presario and HP G series. A complete list of compatible individual models is available at http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/NH493AA%2523ABA. More information can also be found on Boston-Power’s site at http://www.boston-power.com/enviro.

From the beginning, our goal has been to help notebook computer users benefit from optimal mobility with dependable, high-performance, environmentally sustainable batteries,” said Boston-Power Founder and CEO Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud. HP’s endorsement of Sonata is a great step forward in popularizing this battery technology.”

HP delivers customers innovative products that respect our planet,” said Jonathan Kaye, director of consumer notebooks marketing at HP. The Enviro Series program gives PC users longer lasting batteries that improve their computing experience while reducing the number of batteries that need to be recycled. That’s a win for everyone.”

Boston-Power is the first and only provider whose rechargeable Li-ion battery cells have earned the prestigious Nordic Ecolabel certification. The company has additionally earned a similar world’s-first certification for its battery cells from the Chinese Environmental Protection Agency. Sonata’s patent-pending, whole-system design makes it capable of benefiting a wide range of end-applications from consumer electronics to transportation. As a result, total cost of ownership benefits inherent in notebook computer batteries prove increasingly impressive in cases where even greater power is required.

About Boston-Power

Boston-Power, Inc. is an award-winning provider of next-generation Lithium-ion batteries. Designed to power a wide range of end-applications, its flagship offering, Sonata, is a notebook computer battery. Founded in 2005 and with more than 60 patents filed, Boston-Power is led by Founder and CEO Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud, an internationally recognized strategy and technology advisor to the top players in the portable power and energy storage industries. To date, the company has raised $125 million in venture funding from Foundation Asset Management, Oak Investment Partners, Venrock, GGV Capital and Gabriel Venture Partners. Boston-Power is headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts and has Six Sigma-level mass manufacturing operations in Greater China.

HP Enviro Series Batteries Now Available, Good to Go for 3 Years is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

I used a pre-release 6-cell battery during CES 2009 with my Mini 1000, but didn’t like the extra thickness it added to the netbook’s thin frame. I prefer carrying a second (and sometimes third) 3-cell battery so I can slip the Mini 1000 in my sweater’s pocket.

Here’s the Mini 1000 6-cell extended battery product page.

HP Mini Extended 6-Cell Battery Now Shipping, On Sale for $96 is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

The breakthrough here is that the fuel cells are about the same size as existing lithium-ion battery packs. Previous fuel cell battery packs were much larger than normal notebook batteries. Panasonic claims the fuel cell can keep notebooks running for up to 20 hours, which would be a true blessing.

Another major advantage of notebook fuel cells is that they can be refilled almost instantly.

via Ubergizmo

Panasonic Announces Smaller Fuel Cell for Notebooks is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

The 24-hour claim is based on testing with  BAPCO’s MobileMark 2005, an application that runs notebooks through a variety of everyday computing tasks until the battery is completely drained, with Windows XP Pro installed.The 6930p’s power settings were set to “HP Optimized,” which is the recommended balanced performance mode.

Jeremy said the tests were set up to “Simulate average usage common tasks such as word, powerpoint, etc… and s,imulate what an average user would be doing during average workday.”

The standard configuration of the 6930p ($1,199) with a standard 6-cell battery will run for about 6.5 hours. Opting for the 12-cell ultra-capacity battery ($189) will boost that number to 17 hours.

A BIOs update and driver update RS2 (render standby 2) extends battery life by another hour. This update is available to existing customers and will come pre-installed on future models.

Upgrading from the standard 14-inch LCD display to the HP Illumilight LED display ($50) improves battery life by about 20%, boosting overall runtime to 22 hours.

The final piece of the equation is the 80GB SSD option from intel (est. $500), which yields an extra two hours of runtime.

The final price tag for the 24-hour system will ring in at about $1,900, though this configuration isn’t yet available from HP.  The $700 premium may sound steep, but increased battery life is amongst the most requested features from business notebook users.

“Two of the tings that are always at the top of the list are weight and size and battery life,” Brody said.

I asked Jeremey about how the 6930p measures up against Dell’s recently announced Latitude E-Series notebook, which is being advertised as a 19-hour machine.

“To get to their number you have to spend $100 for a 9-cell battery, and $400 for the extended battery,” he said. “They don’t want to pay more than $200 for the extended battery solution, that seems to be the magic number.”

The 6930p with the options that enable the 24-hour runtime will be available in October.

While the SSD does top-off the final 2 hours to hit the 24-hour mark, it’s clearly the most expensive piece of the puzzle. Those who want fantastic runtimes but are still on a budget can acheive 22-hours of battery life for as little as $1,539 by starting with a base configuration and adding the 12-cell battery ($189) and the LED ($50) display.

In a press release, HP points out that the 6930p can last longer than the world’s longest commercial flight or up to 10 train trips between London and Paris. In the real world, it’s more likely to mean business travelers won’t have to worry about watching a movie while they wait for a delayed flight or hunting down power outlets at an airport.

HP EliteBook 6930p: 24-Hours of Battery Life on a Single Charge is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

Potenco, a company in Alameda, Calif., landed a grant from OLPC to develop the pull-cord generator. The pull-cord generator can produce up to 20-watts of power to charge a OLPC laptop or any other mobile gadget. One minute of pulling on the cord can generate 20 minutes of talk time on a mobile phone or four hours of play time on an iPod Shuffle.

The first versions of the pull-cord generator will be sold to governments ordering OLPC laptops for students, but there are plans to commercialize it. It’s great to see OLPC driving innovation and I’d be first in line to buy one of these things.

via OLPC News

Pull Cord Generator for OLPC…I Want One is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

Next Gen Lithium Notebook Batteries is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

Matt Kohut, a competitive analyst at Lenovo, says all the technology needed to produce such a notebook is already available, but there are two big reasons why he thinks we wonâ€â„¢t one hit store shelves anytime soon.

The two problems preventing fuel cells from being in widespread use are 1. the distribution problem, and 2. the airline problem.
The distribution problem is that today if we need to recharge our laptop PCs, we can plug into any available electrical outlet and get a âہfreeâ€ÂÃƒâ€šÃ‚ recharge. Even if I am on the other side of the world, my notebook power brick automatically steps the voltage down to the correct level.
Until fuel cell recharges are available as widely as chewing gum at every 7-Eleven, I could very easily be out of power when I need it the most with nowhere to refuel.

Read Mattâ€â„¢s Full post at LenovoBlogs

Will We Ever See Fuel Cell Powered Notebooks? is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.