Batteries just don't generate the respect they deserve. Imagine how much poorer your lifestyle would be if all of the miniature power cells you use just up and disappeared. Panasonic, as one of the many companies whose profit margins very much rest on these humble gadgets, knows their value and often overlooked abilities. The electronics maker showcased both of these recently with an extraordinary car that runs at 100 kph-plus and is powered by 192 AA-size batteries. Admittedly the power cells, Panasonic's own Oxyride creations, pack 1.5 times more power than the average alkaline battery but their new-age fuel achievement remains impressive. The car, a 3.3-meter-long craft with an F1-style cabin complete with fin and rudder, was clocked at a top speed of 122 kph, enough to leave its mark in the record books. While neither the car, nor any obvious derivative of it, can be expected to hit the showrooms the feat remains one of the more remarkable bits of advertising.
The sound of smallness: A Panasonic feat of technology that is more likely to hit the heights of commercialism is a new approach to speakers. The company's nano bass exciter technique uses porous carbon to help conjure high-fidelity bass notes from compact speakers. The key trick is nanometer-sized pores that absorb air molecules in the speaker when a bass note is produced, forcing a sudden drop in air pressure in the speaker's cabinet. This gives the speaker's diaphragm the ability to move like that in a much larger speaker, and as such a greater capacity for rendering low sounds. A best (worst?) case scenario could have the new technology empowering the tiny speakers of mobile phones to produce the kind of thumping notes reminiscent of boomboxes. There is a reason that God gave us headphones.
Silent running: Sound is also a defining motivation behind a joint project of Hitachi and NEC. The pair are crafting a liquid-based cooling system for computer hard drives. The claim to class for the system is that it makes a PC a third quieter, producing less noise than a digital video recorder. Apart from a new concept in circulating coolant it also involves wrapping the computer's entire hard disk in a noise-absorbing material. Augmenting the effect is that the system can use a quieter, low-speed fan than what a typical air-based cooling set up needs. If you doubt the virtue of such a fresh design just cock an ear to the rumblings from your computer. These machines should be seen and only occasionally heard.