University of Michigan researchers have come up with a new "subconscious" mode that sips power while keeping Wi-Fi active - while other research shows that computing doubles in power efficiency every 18 months.

These days, almost every smartphone user has felt the pain of their battery giving up the ghost — often at the worst possible moment. Sure, maybe you didn’t have to play Angry Birds or Words with Friends when the battery was at an 89 percent charge, but now that it’s at 1 percent (with no USB or wall power in sight), you’re desperate to receive that critical text or email message.

We’ve all been there.

New research from researchers at the University of Michigan and Stanford University may help stave off these battery woes — at least, eventually. University of Michigan researchers have developed a new "subconscious mode” for smartphones and other devices that could enable continuous monitoring Wi-Fi networks while consuming only a tiny sip of power.

Plus, if history is any indicator, power ought to take future devices much farther than it does now. For the first time, researchers have established that not only does processing power of computers double roughly every 18 months (Moore’s Law), but the energy efficiency of computers doubles at the same pace. In other words, in a year and a half, devices will be able to do the same work they’re doing today with only half the battery power.

Both these development could have tremendous near-term and long-term implications for the future of mobile devices.