ten-hour Macbook battery mighty fine, but we're happy to say
that Cupertino's not quite satisfied. AppleInsider spotted a
pair of Apple patent applications detailing a improved way of
juicing up those lithium-polymer cells, which should greatly
increase the number of recharge cycles they can endure -- or,
optionally, allow Apple to use denser batteries that last longer
on a charge. We'll break it down for you: the graph in the
upper-left shows how Li-ion batteries currently charge, first
very rapidly (constant current, increasing voltage) and then
more slowly (constant voltage, decreasing current) to top the
cells off. What Apple's proposing is the multi-step method
depicted on the right, where current and voltage trade off, to
charge the battery while being far less harsh on the physical
chemistry of the electrodes inside. As you can see in the bottom
graph, the multi-step CC-CV cells lose much less of their
potential after 300 recharge cycles, but that's not all Apple's
cooking up -- the company figures tha