Skip to Content

Better Battery Gauge

Your laptop’s battery gauge says you have an hour of computing time left, but don’t count on it. The older a lithium-ion laptop battery, the less energy it can typically store – a variation that can throw off the accuracy of conventional battery gauges by more than 50 percent. This winter, Texas Instruments plans to introduce an inexpensive “gas gauge” chip that not only takes into account a battery’s original capacity but also measures its impedance – the resistance to electrical current caused by age, frequent use, and other factors. Built into the chip are mathematical models of lithium-ion chemistry that use impedance measurements to calculate how much a battery has degraded and adjust predictions of remaining charge accordingly.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

DeepMind’s cofounder: Generative AI is just a phase. What’s next is interactive AI.

“This is a profound moment in the history of technology,” says Mustafa Suleyman.

What to know about this autumn’s covid vaccines

New variants will pose a challenge, but early signs suggest the shots will still boost antibody responses.

Human-plus-AI solutions mitigate security threats

With the right human oversight, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence can help keep business and customer data secure

Next slide, please: A brief history of the corporate presentation

From million-dollar slide shows to Steve Jobs’s introduction of the iPhone, a bit of show business never hurt plain old business.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.