Hitachi has brought back the look of its original dry-cell alkaline AM2 battery after more than 40 years to celebrate its introduction of the technology in 1963, the year of the Kennedy assassination and the debut of Doctor Who. Its 'core' is set to operate at 1.5V.

And here it is, the original AM2:

The new models sport more up-to-date interoperability specifications - namely AA, AAA, etc -and they'll be offered under the Maxell brand. Buy 12 standard-look batteries, and you get a pair of AM2-style units free.

The new battery packs go on sale in Japan on 25 May, two days after AMD is expected to announce its own AM2 product. ®