Leading U.S. military battery vendor EaglePicher has introduced a breakthrough innovation for its military batteries that many of us have gotten used to on our personal electronics: a power meter.

Added military benefit: perhaps they blow up
like grenades when tossed into a fire?

Soldiers can now press a button to have LEDs light up showing the remaining charge in the battery. Which means they now have a better idea of when to throw them away (or at an enemy.)

Yes, throw them away. These batteries, while based on a high-energy lithium sulfur dioxide (Li/SO2) compound, are intended to be disposed of in the field.

In a statement, the company acknowledged that "previously, mission-critical batteries may have been discarded prematurely due to the inability to know the remaining capacity." 

The company is to deliver 40,000 of the new batteries to the Department of Defense in the first quarter of 2007.

No wonder the military is so interested in fuel cells.

EaglePicher struck us as a prophetic name for a company that so dramatically illustrates the worst of American disposable culture: "Just pitch 'em away when done!"