The Medis 24/7 Power Pack is a pretty cool little device but I'm less interested in what it is now than in what it could someday become. So...what is it now? Well, I'll tell ya; it's a fuel cell battery. Pretty cool, huh? What...you mean that still doesn't explain just exactly what the thing is and what it does? Okay, here's the lowdown.
A fuel cell battery is a device that uses something like alcohol or hydrogen to create an electrical charge when combined with an oxidant. Batteries perform in a similar manner, using a chemical reaction to create an electrical charge, but batteries must be recharged and, once their chemical supply is used up, the battery's a toxic candidate for the trash heap. (Well, yeah, they can be recycled, kind of, but does anyone really do that? Okay, you do, but hardly anyone that I know does. Two people, at most.)
Fuel cell batteries, on the other hand, can, at least in theory, be recharged an infinite number of times simply by inserting a new chemical cartridge. And, even though they might run a bit hotter, they're less likely to catch fire than, say, a lithium-ion battery. Of course, recharging by inserting a new chemical cartridge means doing something with the old one (hopefully, recycling, but in actual practice I imagine most will be tossed) and then purchasing a new cartridge.
The Medis 24/7 Power Pack cannot, as its currently offered, be replenished by the user. It can, however, be recycled; presumably to be replenished and resold by the manufacturer.
But now we get to the interesting part - what this could all come to. The real future for this kind of power source will come when 1) its liquid power source can be replenished by the user and 2) it can be used to power just about anything and everything that currently uses a battery. A quick visit to their web site will give you an idea as to what is in the works and when they expect it all to happen. A unit like this would seem, at least in my estimation, to be preferable to the currently available battery choices.
For now, I like the idea that I might be able to use this handy device to power my iPod when the battery bites the dust. Using the Media 24/7, even in its current configuration, makes more sense than tossing out an old dead unit that would otherwise be perfectly suited to continued use.
If you're interested in purchasing one of these things you can get more information here and you can get a partial list of the devices it'll power here.
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