I don’t know how this one slipped by me, so apologies that I’m late to the party on reporting this one, but better late than never.

The Xcore86 is an amazing little board because the entire computer is embedded within it. And one of the best features it’s that since it only uses 1.2 watts, it can run without fans.

Even better is that a netbook with this board can be configured to run on 8 AA NiMH batteries for a full 4 hours! And no power brick, just a cord! Amazing? You bet.

And I thought Mini ITX and Nano ITX was cool.. ha! This is better.

See video for yourself. It’s rather amazing. Make sure to watch it all the way thru – it’s totally worth your time.

After checking out the video, does this interest you? Would you buy one?

It’s an ever-increasing mobile world, and with it comes all the tech stuff we need to get things done. Being mobile means your tech will run off a battery or two. However there are certain items when you should care and other times when you don’t have to.

Point-And-Shoot Digital Cameras

Should you care? Yes.

I won’t buy a point-and-shoot digital camera unless it runs off AA batteries. It is the best and cheapest way to keep taking pictures. Yes, it does add bulk to the camera for the battery compartment, but that small inconvenience is more than worth it.

Camcorders

Should you care? Yes.

It’s always smart to purchase a secondary battery for your camcorder. If possible, buy the secondary with the camcorder at the same time.

Automotive GPS

Should you care? No.

Battery life for automotive GPS devices such as from Garmin, TomTom, Magellan or any other have always been terrible, and it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon. With the screen at full brightness (required for daytime driving use) and the speaker volume at 70% or higher, you’ll get at most 2 hours out of the battery no matter who made the GPS. Furthermore it’s always used in the car, so when the battery dies you just plug in the charger and keep on going.

Battery life on GPS matters for units other than for automotive use, such as for trail or maritime. The Garmin Oregon 550t for example runs off 2 AA batteries, and that matters a lot for a GPS of that type given its particular purpose (it does both trail and maritime).

Cell Phone

Should you care? No.

I know no one that carries around a spare cell phone battery with them. All wireless phones today have a relatively decent talk time concerning battery life. And yes, if you talk for three hours straight, of course the battery will die on you. But for shorter calls and texting, the battery should last for days so it’s not a huge consideration.

What’s more important with a wireless phone purchase is the rated talk talk time and standby time. This doesn’t necessarily depend on battery type, because two phones by two different manufacturers that use the same type of battery will have different talk/standby times.

General rule of thumb: The less features a wireless phone has, the longer the battery will last due to the fact the phone doesn’t have to "think" as much. This is why 10-dollar TracFones have unbelievably good standby times, since the phone has only the most basic of features. It’s also the reason older less-featured cell phones with a new battery in them seem to "last forever".

Laptop Computers

Should you care? Depends on type.

With laptops there are basically three flavors: The netbook, standard and the gamer.

With the netbook (9 to 12-inch screen), yes, battery options definitely count because it’s meant to be ultra-mobile. You should stuff a netbook with longest-lasting battery possible.

With the standard (13 to 15-inch screens), yes it counts. You should stuff that one with a 9-cell. Yes it will cost a pretty penny but it’s more than worth it.

With the gamer laptop (17-inch or higher with a powerful graphics card), no. Gamer laptops are well known to have inferior battery life because of the horsepower required to run them. And even if you stuff in the best battery available, you’d be lucky to get more than 2.5 hours of life before it needs a charge.

Yesterday evening I picked up an item arrived via an internet order, that being a very plain battery-powered digitally-tuned AM/FM radio with built-in speaker. The one pictured in this article is the one I purchased (listed here if you want to buy one yourself). The cost is under 10 bucks.

This is a very small radio and is only slightly larger than the size of a box of Bicycle Rider Back playing cards.

Bear in mind I had to custom order this thing. It was not available on any store shelf anywhere. Custom ordering it via internet was my only option to get one.

What’s the big deal about a battery-powered radio?

Ask yourself: When you lose power, how do you stay informed?

Sure, some of you may have a battery backup in your cablemodem (as I do), but that doesn’t do much good since the router requires power (you know, that thing that gives you wireless internet?) And yes, I know there is such a thing as a battery-powered router, but it’s not cheap by any means.

Basically put, you’re up the creek without a paddle when the power goes out. All your normal sources of live information  for weather reports, school cancellations, etc. are gone. The television is out as is the internet. Anything that requires power from the wall is not an option.

Radio to the rescue. Now you have a source of live info and a darn good one at that.

Trust me when I say everybody needs a battery-powered radio. Sure, it’s old-tech but it works well.

Where to find local stations?

Use Radio-Locator. Type in your ZIP (or town/state) and you’ll get all the AM and FM stations there.

Other uses of small battery-powered radios

If you work in a cubicle, you’re probably under the watchful eye of management where anything wi-fi is "banned", so your options for entertainment are seriously limited. Little radios like the one above are the only kind that can be operated at a volume low enough where you can hear it and not bother anyone else. Furthermore it has a small enough footprint where you can put it just about anywhere.

For anywhere you work at your home where televisions or computers can’t go (under the car, in the garden, in the shed, etc.), radios can.

Yes, it’s true, there are other portable music players that have AM/FM capability, but most don’t have a built-in speaker. And you’ll probably pay at least double the price for one.

Remember, electricity is obviously not infallible. It can and does go out due to storms and other weather phenomena from time to time. Do yourself a favor and flip out ten bucks for one of these. You’ll be glad you did.

The Iphone is the cool gadget of the times. And proof of that is that when I wanted to go look at (buy ) one recently I found that both Tampa Apple stores and all local AT&T stores were out of the Iphone 3G. Damn.

But, the device is not without issues and one of those issues is battery life.

Continued