I don’t often get to post about practical developments that directly apply to home appliance design, so news via Wired of A123 Systems new product, the M1 battery, is more than welcome. Read this part from the article (Link):

Cofounder Yet-Ming Chiang, a materials science professor, succeeded in shrinking to nanoscale the particles that coat the battery’s electrodes and store and discharge energy. The results are electrifying: Power density doubles, peak energy jumps fivefold (the cells pack more punch than a standard 110-volt wall outlet), and recharging time plummets.

Maybe now we’ll finally see a cordless clothes iron that’s worth a damn. I know that when I spent a couple years designing irons, that option would have been a blessing.