First up you are not going Mad we have jumped from March to May and missed April, our spin doctors tell us that we should send the newsletter at the start of the month to inspire a more positive image and forward looking ethos.

But enough of the marketing bull, I've been looking at what really matters, power! and the need to find new ways to keep portable gadgets fully charged.

First we had the old NiCad batteries which could only be charged a few times and suffered terribly from the "memory effect" which for the record is still with us today but only in the world of Politics. Advances in technology saw the release of Nimh or Nickel metal hydride batteries that lasted longer but still needed a full discharge to keep the capacity available and finally we got the answer Lithium Ion cells which are now in almost every mobile phone and MP3 player.

We've hit a point now where it is widely accepted that this development path has run its course and battery technology cannot hope to keep up with the power requirements of us pesky users! Evidence as if it was needed is Apple, spending more time on their new firmware to eek more out of the Ipods battery rather than work on extending the batteries capacity.

So what's the solution, we can't stop technology developing further and even with the best environmental controls and more efficient less power hungry kit we'll still need more power and for longer. It will come as no surprise that I venture that the fuel cell is the way forward, but its much closer than you think.

Fuel cells aren't that different from a battery, unlike the store and discharge behaviour of a standard battery a fuel cell will keep on producing DC energy as long as the required chemicals are supplied. The most common chemicals to use in a fuel cell are Hydrogen and Oxygen but there are also companies like Toshiba and Antig working with Methanol.

Commercial implementation of fuel cell technology is much closer than you might think, a number of companies have targeted the humble laptop as a device that's pushing the boundaries of battery technology. Even the best power saving laptops and high capacity batteries struggle to run a laptop beyond 8 hours where as a fuel cell can last for days without a top up.

With names such as Nokia, Sanyo and IBM all expected to produce their first rather bulky versions later this year it may not be too long before your next laptop or even mobile phone requires a methanol canister rather than a plug and charger.

I'll be producing a "fuel cells explained" item later this week for those of you who want to know just how they work.

Until next month, Take Care, LP

Highlights

	Archos PMA400 Portable media player or PDA? Archos new Linux based portable media assistant is like Money Penny seemingly suited to one role but far more intelligent and versatile than you give her credit for.
	Palmone Tungsten T5 Review There are many ways to be different and those who are fans of Linux have found one technological step and there is a group of cult like PDA users who worship the Palm OS. Well your new messiah is here pray silence for the Tungsten T5
	Navigon PNA A new entrant to the all in one market using some proven hardware and the latest version of their own software and Navteq maps.
	iAudio G3 Review It may have all the bells and whistles plus support more codecs than we can shake a memory stick at but when the battery flap feels like it may fall off....
	Garmin C320 Review Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and on the face of it Garmin are being very complimentary to their Dutch rivals, but there are a few key differences to be found.

Competitions

First up thank you for all your feedback last month, we really can't run the site without your input plus it brightens up those often dreary mornings in the office.

Competitions seem to be the order of the day with Rob from Warrington winning the Sony Ericsson HBH-300 from the March giveaway and now Cristina from Devon winning a years subscription to Traffic TV.

This month we have a few copies of Replay Radio to give away and as per normal you are already in the draw as a subscriber to the Lordpercy.com newsletter.

If there is anything you'd like us to review or even for the odd techie question (we try and answer them where we can) get in touch via our Gmail account.

Downloads

The first of our branded download items are available right now on our new Downloads page, the Lordpercy.com screensaver gives you a clear view of the time and date, plus changes colour throughout the day. We think its funky and best of all its free to download and install.

Featured Section - Dect Phones

A new section for Lordpercy.com but one we've have numerous requests for, its early days yet but we've managed to get a few handsets on test and more are arriving on a weekly basis.