Toshiba presents first methanol mp3 players, 35 and 60 hours on a refill

"No, no gasoline's harder to ignite.......AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGHHHGAHAGAH!!!!! but hey, a bargain at 2.99 a gallon!"

Get your refill in the tabacco shop. _________________________________________ Usenet Zone Free Binaries Usenet Server More than 140,000 groups Unlimited download

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Fuel-cell powered gadgets have been announced regularly for decades, but none have made it to market.

What do you do with the waste products? Water vapor and the inevitable methanol leakage will corrode any electronics nearby. Leave it in a suitcase for a week and everything will be smelly and moldy.

For a piddling (puddling?) 3.5 w-h, this is plain silly.

John

Fuel cells were invented in the 1960s by NASA for space flights.

You can get those anywhere right now.

The mini fuel cell? Those are coming on market next year.

--
The Texeme Construct, http://www.texeme.com
360, http://360.yahoo.com/manfrommars_43

Methyl-alcohol is common as a gasoline additive in the north east USA. Commonly used as drygas. Isopropyl alcohol is actually a better choice, and if you look around, you can find it.

Are you kidding me? Gasoline in a lamp? Are you insane? You need a stable fuel oil.

Shame they're not ethanol-powered, or they could double as a hip flask.

(Corny joke count: "You are no 384716 to make this joke")

I wonder what the output voltages and discharge curves look like? A fuel cell in the same form factor as a standard 9v battery would be nice.

-Art

Toshiba presents first methanol mp3 players, 35 and 60 hours on a refill:

Get your refill in the tabacco shop.

Three things hit me:

1. It was the industrious Japanese that invented it, not lazy_ass Americans. 2. The MP3 flash player is tiny, the size of a stick of gum. 3. You can't buy it anytime, anywhere $oon. F.Y.I., there are at least 6 tobacco shops near me, in Seattle's U_District, ...I kid you not... and I'm sure none of them sell pure methanol. Safeway sells pure ethanol, though.

Speaking of ethanol and tobacco... Only use Naphtha or gasoline in you trench/Zippo lighter, ethanol is too hard to light, the flash_point is too low.

Kerosine, used in charcol lighter_fluid, is even harder to light. That's why kerosine is so much safer than gasoline and suitable for lamps.

Speaking of lighters... This is what a WWI_era trench_lighter looks like:

Trench_Lighters could be thought of as an European_Zippo.

Speaking of tobacco... My thick cigar smoke has chased many a hot_babe out my room, like last night. Likewise, my peculiar music selection, always playing, drives people away.

That's why I think everyone should always have their own room... Sleeping together is incredibly over_rated.

Hows that for topic drift ? E = M * C ^ 2, Linux is a Kernel.

Just what you want on an airplane :-(

On a sunny day (Sat, 17 Sep 2005 13:38:05 GMT) it happened "Arthur Harrison" wrote in :

From the picture at that site I think it is smaller, so it would fit (larger tank). As -over lifetime- I suspect these things to be constant till fuel runs oout. Does it use some switchmode to get a reasonable constant voltage, or does it power the mp3 player directly? I think I remember fuel cells have very low Ri, but we will have to wait for the first 9V ones in the shops. I think it is a cool idea (or hot, how hot do these things run?) to have one in a standard battery form. Could use a couple of A type for flashlight too. _________________________________________ Usenet Zone Free Binaries Usenet Server More than 140,000 groups Unlimited download

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Great now youll have to produce proof of age to listen the spice girls!

*hides*

Most polymer-barrier fuel cells will run on ethanol, at lower output. In a pinch, you'll be able to recharge your laptop with Smirnoff. Just don't recharge yourself at the same time, at least not if you're working.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

Kerosine, used in charcoal_lighter fluid, is even harder to light. That's why kerosine is so much safer than gasoline and suitable for lamps.

And you replied:

Are you kidding me ? Gasoline in a lamp ? Are you insane ? You need a stable fuel oil.

You misunderstood me... Let me rephrase that:

Kerosine is suitable for lamps because it's harder to ignite, compared to gasoline, i.e. it's flash_point is lower.

On a sunny day (Sat, 17 Sep 2005 10:07:22 -0700) it happened John Larkin wrote in :

Mm I think 'water vvapor' .. well when you breathe out it is a lot more. Condensation in electronics we have had to live with for a long time, think moisture sensors in VCR (I remember drying one with an electric heater when we HAD to make that recording, it had been in a truck overnight).. As for leakage, do lighters leak? I had a refillable one, and it did not leak. So maybe there is hope.

Some plusses: These things would be always ready (if not leaking ;-) ). Very useful for a power source in emergency flashlight or radio for example. Very fast 'recharge'.

You can make your housing for the electronics so any leakage cannot get to it. I think small [battery like] fuel cells have a market. _________________________________________ Usenet Zone Free Binaries Usenet Server More than 140,000 groups Unlimited download

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Do you understand the meaning of "flash point"?

>

I wonder how they will package the fuel? I imagine something like an inkjet cartridge, with embedded chip, that enables the fuel cells output for 20% longer than has been transferred from the filling device.

Of course, this will be due to safety worries about people spilling it on their children while filling, and setting them on fire.

Not to mention that >50 hours on an AA cell has been done.

Also known as methylated spirit (or meths) here in the UK - this reminds me of of my experience of stupid UK laws last time I tried to buy some. I noticed a local chemist had bottles of it behind the counter and asked for the price and as well as the price I was told they were unable to sell it without proof of identity (and only 1 bottle per customer and they need to know what you intend to use it for) so I tried a small hardware shop a couple of streets away - as well as being 1/4 of the price they sold me a bottle twice the size (labelled as for cleaning and lamp use) off the shelf with no ID needed.

Typical crap UK laws - if something is sold that may be used for medical use it's heavily controlled as to who can buy it and how much you can buy but if the same item is sold for general household use you can buy as much as you want with no questions asked (I assume the price difference was mainly due to chemist meths being sold in glass bottles and hardware shop version sold in cheaper-to-produce plastic bottle).

Kerosine is suitable for lamps because it's harder to ignite, compared to gasoline, i.e. it's flash_point is lower.

And you asked me: Do you understand the meaning of _flash_point_ ?

Big deal bozo, you know I meant to say that Kerosine has a higher flash_point.

Dictionary.COM says the flash_point is:

The lowest temperature at which the vapor of a combustible liquid _can_be_made_to_ignite_ momentarily in air. __

e.g. Diesel has a much higher flash point than gasoline, i.e. it's takes more heat to ignite the vapor... it's safer.

Diesel and kerosine would not work in a wick_flint lighter, and Isopropyl_alcohol doesn't work as well as naphtha or gasoline.

Speaking of wick_flint lighters... My European trench_lighter doesn't seem to like American, Zippo, flints, there isn't enough pressure on the flint when it's half gone, I have to add a second flint when it's half gone, to increase the pressure.

I should use Dunhill_Red flints instead, but they cost 5 USD instead of just .75.