In Our Lifetime: The Fuel Cell for Phones

I thought this was going to be one of those things like moon colonies or the home colonoscopy, and going to be here in just three to five years.

But no. It's finally happened. You can buy a portable fuel cell to run a phone.

T-Mobile has begun to offer the 24/7 Xtreme Portable Power Solution from Medis Technology to run its phones. The Home Shopping Network has a demo.

Fuel cells do have some advantages over batteries. First, they require very little recharge time. You just fill up the vessel with methanol or snap in a new fuel cartridge and you are set. There's no waiting around for batteries to charge. If you are a fashion photographer who doesn't want to lug around extra battery packs or you will be camping and need a phone, fuel cells make sense. The downside? You have to remember to carry around bottles of a substance that's somewhat similar to Ronson lighter fluid.

Technical details and consumer skepticism have hampered the rollout for years. Toshiba has been showing off fuel cell prototypes for phones and TVs since at least 2003. Earlier this year, PolyFuel, a membrane maker, bit the dust.

So let's salute progress where it occurs.