Fuel Cell Powered MP3 Player from Toshiba
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 09.19.05
Suck on this, Steve Jobs! what could be cooler than an MP3 player that runs 35 hours on a 3.5 millilitre shot of methanol. Now if they get it running on ethanol you could really party!
Fuel cells usually run on 30% concentrations of methanol but Toshiba developed the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) to run on pure methanol to take up less space. ::Toshiba via ::PSFK read also ::Treehugger
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Very cool, but don't get your wallet out yet - Toshiba's been workin' on this for about ten years. I remember around '98 they promised fuelcell-powered laptops by 2000.
Sounds a little messy...
And, not sure if this is a silly question, but would that device and/or its fuel re-fill containers be allowed on air planes or trains?
My Apple widget dictionary describes methanol as "a toxic, colorless, volatile flammable liquid alcohol..."
A few drops of methanol spilled on your skin will cause blindness, too. No fun. A fatal dose is 100-125 mL.
I wonder if it will run on HEET fuel conditioner. It's 99% pure methanol. Any contact with methanol liquid or vapors can result in a slow painful death.
Low power, long running devices like phones, mp3 players, GPS devices, etc are good applications for methanol fuel cells.
I'm waiting for the urine powered mp3 player.
"A few drops of methanol spilled on your skin will cause blindness, too. No fun."
This is absolute rubbish!
Here's an MSDS for Methanol.
http://avogadro.chem.iastate.edu/MSDS/methanol.htm
See sections 3 and 11.
I'm not sure why this is progress...