Battery life in consumer electronics not long enough to meet public's demand

• Purdy, 26, had chosen the Kodak DX7590 for its quality and design.
• Finding a new battery --- a special Kodak model that sells for about $28 --- wasn't realistic in the resort town.
• Purdy's dazzling, dead camera for which he paid $370, represents one of two boring-but-crucial problems for consumer electronics: In an age of stunningly fast computers and sophisticated gadgets, battery life and storage capacity --- its equally crucial cousin --- can't keep up.
• At the same time, consumers are always demanding more.
• Demand for longer batter life is increasing faster than technology is improving, says Raj Doshi, a product manager for personal digital assistant-maker Palm.
• Before digital technology became popular, many cameras needed only a set of AA batteries and a roll of 35 mm film.
• Most cameras come with tiny storage cards, so consumers must immediately purchase more.
• Nowhere does it guarantee how many pictures a card will hold, because that varies wildly depending on the camera being used and how it's set.
• Laptops, MP3 players and other electronics often use different batteries and storage devices.
• The cord Purdy brought on his honeymoon was designed only to power the camera while it was plugged into the wall, for editing and transferring pictures to a PC.
• When the chemicals react, they release electrons eager to escape the container.
• Simply, a disk or similar object is covered in a special material that can detect a magnetic charge.
• Since annoying battery and storage problems aren't going away, manufacturers design products to compensate.
• For example, the liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) found on laptops, cellphones and other electronics suck up battery power at a surprising rate, so electronics makers tone them down and turn them off.
• As a general rule, the higher quality a digital photo, song or movie is, the more storage it takes.