Panasonic releases more capacious, less explosive laptop batteries

Panasonic has begun mass-producing a lithium-ion battery for laptop batteries that's rather more capacious charge-wise than current offerings. The battery is built to the so-called "18650" form-factor, which is the standard size - 65mm in length, 18mm in diameter - for the cylindrical cells laptop power pack makers build into the box-like units notebook users will be familiar with.