Marco Ament addresses laptop battery myths, disputing tips from an article appearing on TUAW. He says:
The “memory effect”, or the need to “refresh” or “deep-cycle” the battery by completely discharging before recharging, is stale knowledge from the time of NiCad and NiMH batteries.
But also states:
Due to their chemistry […] laptop batteries usually lose most of their useful capacity 2-3 years after manufacture (not initial use).
Which is, I think, where much of the confusion lies. Most people want to believe there are clear and easy ways to circumvent loss of capacity – the “deep-cycle” technique used to be one of those ways.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as confused as the next guy. Battery technology is one of those strange, abstract sciences that I just don’t understand.