Energizer is one of the most poplar brands for batteries of all sorts including rechargeable batteries. The company unveiled some cool chargers for rechargeable batteries a while back called the USB Charger and the Duo Charger.

The chargers connected to your PC USB port and had software you could download to see the charge status of the batteries. Energizer has announced that the software for Windows machines has a major security vulnerability in it. The Mac version is unaffected.

Panasonic is always looking to improve the life of their batteries and so they have just announced a new battery that lasts 30% longer than today’s lithium ion batteries. Instead of a graphite anode, the new rechargeable lithium ion batteries will use an anode made of silicon alloy. Panasonic even claims that after 500 charge/discharge cycles, the batteries will still retain 80% of their capacity.

That’s pretty huge when it comes to battery life. Aimed specifically at laptops, Panasonic says that the new battery technology will be produced in volume starting in 2012.

When we are on the go with our mobile devices, no one wants to run out of power. There are all sorts of gadgets on the market that are designed to keep our gadgets powered up and usable. Scosche has announced its latest portable battery pack called the solBAT II.

The device is a solar charger and back up battery with two LEDs on the top to show when it is making power from the sun and when it is charging a connected device. The charger can recharge any device that connects via USB. That means Blackberrys, iPhones, and iPods are all compatible.

I have used several ZAGG products over the years to protect my notebook and smartphones. The company makes a line of protective films that prevent scratches on your gadgets that work great. ZAGG has now announced its first external battery called the ZAGGsparq.

The ZAGGsparq is a small 3.5 x 3.5 x 1 inch external battery pack. Inside the case is a 6000mAh lithium polymer battery that can recharge up to four iPhones fully. The battery has dual USB ports for charging two devices at once.

Duracell recently introduced its new Ultra Advanced battery that lets consumers know exactly how much power is available in each battery, eliminating the need to guess. The battery comes with Powercheck, which is a gauge on the battery that can be activated by pressing two white dots on the cell.

The Ultra Advanced with Powercheck will make their debut at Costco and some other major retailers in December. There’s a small additional cost compared to regular CopperTop batteries though, as you might expect.

We’re used to seeing our gadgets come in a variety of colors, but rechargeable batteries are generally dull and boring. Not anymore. Sanyo’s latest Eneloop Tone batteries introduce bright colors that they hope will entice you to buy some.

Sanyo’s Eneloop batteries are capable of being charged about 1500 times, and are sold already charged up without losing much of their original charge by the time they get to you.

Sanyo’s line of Eneloop batteries are as green a battery as you will find and they have some more improvements to make them even more Earth friendly. These newly upgraded Eneloops can be recharged around 1,500 times, which is said to be a new record for the industry.

The batteries come pre-charged from the factory using clean energy from renewable solar power. If we had to guess, we would say that the other big names in batteries are watching very closely indeed.

As most readers of The Brick, I am a big gadget hound which means I always seem to be in need of batteries. For some of my gadgets, like digital cameras, I prefer plain AA or AAA batteries over rechargeable. That way, if I run out of juice away from home more power is but a flick of the battery door away.

Fuji has announced that its EnviroMAX eco-respectful batteries are now available in retail chains across the country including Ace, Tru Value, and ACO Stores. I guess eco-respectful is sort of like eco-friendly. Then you can be respectful without being friendly so who knows.

The battery is one of the key points of improvement technology wise for a range of devices from electric cars to our notebooks and cell phones. As battery technology improves, we can get longer runtime from our gadgets and smaller, more attractive designs as batteries take up less space.

Boston-Power announced its Sonata battery technology a while back that promises to deliver like-new performance for up to three years and recharge much faster than comparable batteries available today. The biggest claim that has notebook user excited about Sonata batteries is that they can recharge to 80% of the full capacity in only 30 minutes.

Chances are you have quite a few spent AA batteries lying around. Probably because you played with your WowWee robots too much. Well, here’s an interesting concept for quick and easy re-charging of all your AA batteries.

The Febot is a design by Ji-yun Kim, Soon-young Yang and Hwan-ju Jeon out of Korea. It would be suction mounted to your window so it can catch the breeze and recharge your single AA inside. A pretty interesting solution. I have a feeling it may take a while though, unless you are in a hurricane.

Christmas is coming and between your kid’s toys and your own toys, you’re gonna need some extra batteries. Why not take this opportunity to go green and buy some unique rechargeable batteries instead of environmentally hazardous alkaline batteries.

Like these Moixa USB batteries for instance. These are run of the mill NIMH batteries with a unique slant. They can be charged in your USB ports, making them pretty damn handy to use. They do look like they have the potential to break easily however.

I find that I surf the Internet and watch YouTube videos on my iPhone much more than I ever thought I would. The bad part is that it seems like if I watch a few videos the phone is dead before I know it. Since the iPhone has no user replaceable battery you are out of luck when it goes dead and a charger isn’t handy.

Richard Thalheimer of The Sharper Image fame (or is it infamy?) has a new website where he sells gadgets called Richard Solo. While the site is apparently named after Han’s little brother, one of the first products is interesting. The Battery Backup for iPhone/iPod retails for $49.95 and is a 1200mAH lithium-ion that charges 100% in 3.5 hours via USB. The battery weight is 2.76 ounces and it measures 1.77” x 2.83” x 0.49”.

An outfit by the name of PDASmart has announced a longer running battery specifically designed for the iPod 5G 30 GB model. This battery upgrade will run you around $75.

PDASmart says its upgraded iPod 5G 30GB battery will let you enjoy “over 45 hours on continuous song playing and an impressive 24 hour video playing time.” It installs obviously where the current battery is and also being made available by PDASmart is a special rear casing which slightly expands this particular iPod’s size to accommodate the battery.

Cali-based Tekkeon is a maker of an array of stylish looking mobile accessories and has just announced a new device to power your mobile gadgets which runs off of your own AA batteries. The TekCharge MP1550 is a mobile power accessory that is juiced up by either two or four AA batteries (rechargeable or not) and can extend the life of your mobile phone, PDA or media player by connecting via USB.

Tekkeon estimates the little device can add as much as 16 hours of phone conversations, 5 hours of PDA use or 20 more hours of watching iPod videos. It also comes with 7 different adapter tips letting you use this same device for multiple gadgets. Once the AA batteries run dry you have the option of simply picking up some more or buying rechargeable AA’s. When the TekCharge is plugged into your computer it will actually charge up the rechargeable AA’s. The device is available now, retailing for around $25.

It’s not uncommon for a laptop user to tote along an extra battery or two for those long flights, especially with the possibility of in-flight internet access coming soon. Starting January 1, 2008 the U.S. Department of Transportation will start placing restrictions on the number and size of lithium batteries that can be brought along on a U.S. flight giving you one more thing to remember before boarding a plane.

Lithium batteries are a very common type of battery used in many kinds of portable electronic devices such as digital cameras, media players and notebook computers. The new restriction will not affect batteries that are installed in their intended electronic devices, but only spare batteries that are brought along. Loose, spare batteries will no longer be allowed to be placed in checked luggage, and any spare batteries that are carried on must be in the original packaging or placed in a plastic bag to prevent contacting metal parts and the possibility of a resulting fire.