Designer Wonchul Hwang has come up with a novel design for a rechargeable AA battery. Unlike other batteries, this one pulls double duty as a 4GB USB drive.

The idea here is that it's primarily a USB drive, one that you presumably keep hooked to your computer most of the time, but can serve as a AA battery in a pinch. What's more, it's a rechargeable battery that's juiced every time you plug it into your PC's USB port.

"Students or office workers mostly carry a memory stick," Hwang explains. "If a memory stick could be used as an emergency battery, its use would be versatile, ranging from cameras to lanterns to speakers and other devices in outdoor activities."

View the schematics here, and then hit the jump and tell us whether you think this is a novel idea or about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

You have an Android phone. Your wife has an iPhone. And your kids? They're rocking basic cell phones. That's all well and good, but wouldn't it be great if all them shared a single type of charger?

Such a scenario could be a reality in 2011, the UK's Telegraph reports. Apple, Nokia, Samsung, Research in Motion (RIM), and 10 other big name mobile manufacturers have received details from the European Commission on a new standard connection.

"Now is the time for industry to show its commitment to sell mobile phones for the new charger," said Antonio Tajani, Vice President of the European Commission. "The common charger will make life easier for consumers, reduce waste, and benefit businesses. It's a win-win situation."

According to the EC, the lack of a universal standard puts a major damper on the environment, as "users who want to change their mobile phones must usually acquire a new charger and dispose of the old one, even if it is in good condition."

A team led by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Jianyu Huang have developed a battery that, if dropped, you're never going to find it. It's the world's smallest battery with an anode one seven-thousandth the thickness of a human hair, which was formed inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM) at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT).

"This experiment enables us to study the charging and discharging of a battery in real time and at atomic scale resolution, thus enlarging our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms by which batteries work," Huang explains. "What motivated our work is that lithium ion batteries have important applications, but the low energy and power densities of current LIBs cannot meet the demand. To improve performance, we wanted to understand LIBs from the bottom up."

The battery consists of a single tin oxide nanowire anode 100 nanometers in diameter and 10 micrometers long, a bulk lithium cobalt oxide cathode three millimeters long, and an ionic liquid electrolyte. What this does is allow the research team to observe changes in atomic structure during the charging and discharging phase.

"Our observations — which initially surprised us — tell battery researchers how these dislocations are generated, how they evolve during charging, and offer guidance in how to mitigate them," Huang said. "This is the closest view to what’s happening during charging of a battery that researchers have achieved so far."

Plenty more geeky details here.

Duracell's new myGrid USB charger purportedly offers plenty of power for all your mobile gear in a pinch. It comes with enough juice to provide at least four hours of run time for your smartphone, at least 100 hours of reading time on your Kindle or other eBook reader, and at 30 hours on your MP3 player.

"The mobile lifestyle isn't just about cell phones. From iPhones, GPS systems or portable games like the Nintendo DS series, consumers rely on a number of devices to stay connected, entertained and informed," said Bob Jacobs, Duracell marketing director, North America. "Duracell, through our Smart Power portfolio of products, is dedicated to providing consumers with the power solutions they need. USB Charger is a great example of this vision that gives you freedom to use your devices when away from the power grid."

Duracell says the myGrid works with hundreds of popular devices and virtually anything that can be connected via USB. It's also compatible with Duracell's myGrid charging pad.

The myGrid USB charger will in stores in time for the holidays with an MSRP of $35.