Tekkeon announces myPower ALL Plus MP3450, an external rechargeable laptop battery that doubles the life of laptop batteries and can simultaneously charge other small portable devices through an on-board USB port. myPower ALL Plus is modular, so a second extended battery can be added to provide even more mobile power.

myPower ALL Plus powers and charges most laptop computers and virtually any mobile device on the go. In addition to powering a laptop for up to four extra hours, myPower ALL Plus powers and charges most portable electronics like portable DVD players, digital cameras and camcorders, portable media centers, portable MP3 and CD players, PDAs, and mobile phones.

“Tekkeon’s new external laptop battery is a must-have alternative for expensive notebook batteries that are dedicated to a single device,”

says Jerry Yang, president of Tekkeon, Inc.

“Before needing to be recharged, our new lightweight battery can power a notebook up to four hours, provide up to six hours of extra play time on a portable DVD player, or up to 12 hours of recording time on a digital camcorder - making it a truly universal mobile power solution.”

myPower ALL Plus connects to the power jack on the portable device. Selecting the right voltage for a portable device is done quickly and easily using the voltage selector. Automatic reset upon adapter change provides added safety to protect the connected device.

Full Story: PRNewswire.com

Toshiba said Thursday it will recall lithium-ion notebook battery packs made by Sony Corp.

Up to 5,100 battery packs are defective, but the recall will include 10,000 laptop batteries, as that is the size of the manufacturing lot involved, spokesmen from the companies said.

The recall is unrelated to the much bigger recall of Sony-made li-ion batteries last year.

A Toshiba spokesman said the recall would affect 10 different notebook models sold worldwide. He said the company knew of three separate incidents where the laptop battery packs had overheated and damaged notebooks, and all three came from the lot in question.

A Sony spokesman said all of the batteries involved had come from the same lot the company made in December 2005, and so the companies had decided to recall all batteries from that lot.

He said Sony was still investigating the cause of the problem, but that it was limited to that specific lot.

Both companies expect the financial impact from the recall to be minimal

News source: MarketWatch.com

Gateway today recalled 14,000 batteries used in its notebook PCs after four customers reported that their computers had overheated, a similar condition to the massive laptop battery recall that swept the industry in 2006.

Dell, Apple, Lenovo Group, and other vendors recalled more than 8 million batteries made by Sony when customers began complaining that the rechargeable lithium-ion cells could overheat and catch fire after being dropped. Gateway recalled 35,000 notebook batteries in that episode, beginning in October 2006.

However, the new recall affects battery cells made by Samsung Electronics and assembled into laptop battery packs by Simplo Technology, of Taiwan, Gateway spokeswoman Lisa Emard said today.

Gateway, the third-largest PC vendor in the U.S., expects both vendors to help cover the cost of the action.

“We’re working with our suppliers to cover the cost of replacement battery packs and other direct costs. We expect our costs to be limited to incidental expenses associated with administering the exchange program,”

Emard said.

Simplo and Samsung did not return calls for comment.

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