Let's be a little forgiving towards Sony regarding its exploding computer batteries. Apparently, Sony is not the only company that's had problems with those Lithium-ion batteries. Matsushita, best known for its Panasonic brand, also recalled 6,000 PC batteries just this month for the very same reason: overheating. Kyocera Corp. also recalled a million cell phone batteries on the same account.

From this, it can be gleaned that the problem isn't necessarily the fault of the manufacturing company, but probably with the technology itself. According to Peng Lime, Chief Executive of MTI Micro Fuel Cells, a unit of Mechanical Technology Inc., "Battery technology is energy technology (and) it is n ot growing as fast as compared to  microprocessors of hard drives."

What seems to be the biggest challenge of the Lithium-ion batteries is that it is currently unable to keep up with the revolutionary changes in consumer gadgets. Laptops, for example, are now used not only for documents and spreadsheets, but also for power-eating tasks such as video conferencing, hosting websites and interactive games. Even portable digital players and mobile phones also play host to full-length movies already.

The next generation of batteries that they are looking into are those from fuel cells, but admittedly, that would be a long way to go, say, 5-10 years.

Although these fuel cells will be able to supply 10 times more power, and will be instantly recharged, it' still too early for us to be rejoicing that there may now be a solution for those exploding batteries because, according to analysts, mass deployment is years away, after a long period of testing and tweaking.

"We are very cautious and we don't rush anything to the market. We want to make sure things are working properly and safe," said Brian Kimberlin, director of marketing for Panasonic Battery Corp of America. Got it. Better safe than sorry, definitely.