Back in the Dark Ages when I was a kid, many years before Al Gore invented the Internet, we never needed no stinking rechargeable batteries — which would be a good thing now, because the Department of Transportation (DOT) has now issued guidelines banning some rechargeable lithium batteries on airline flights.
Before you get too alarmed, you should read this story and realize that we’re talking mostly about spare batteries, not batteries installed in your phone or laptop. And even some of the spares are allowed, depending on how they are transported.
I thought about this new ban and realized how fortunate I am to be able to work from home on my little laptop, instead of having a job that required me to carry it around the country and work from airplanes, airports, and hotels. (Though my wife and I really could use a vacation right now if any kind souls out there would volunteer to “gift” us with one.) Given my situation, I rarely use the battery in the laptop.
But for you weary road warriors of the written word, or business junket, I feel your pain. You, however, will feel it more if you should happen to be the victim of one of the “burst into flames for no apparent reason” batteries that prompted the ban. So be careful out there — and watch it with those spare batteries.
Technorati Tags: rechargeable batteries, laptop batteries, battery fires, Department of Transportation, just a guy who reads the papers