Fuel cells are alive and well at Sony, evidenced by the kooky prototypes the shrinking Japanese giant rolled out today at the Fuel Cell Expo 2009 in Tokyo. What you see here are a couple of fuel cell-powered speakers and a charger, all performing their methanol-fueled alchemy to create power with only pure water as a byproduct.

The silver speakers play music as well as power a mobile device, and that coffee maker-looking thing is a completely wireless speaker system that can run for months on its odd-looking container of ethanol. And that blue object that looks like a mini bird bath stands ready to charge up anything with a USB port.

With their scary and explosively volatile liquid centers, good luck getting any of these aboard an aircraft. But maybe Sony had that in mind, also showing off a sugar-powered "bio battery" you can see in the gallery below. Sweet.

Kaden Watch (translated), via Engadget