You can send Sony PS3 controllers right to Sony to have them replace the battery for a small service charge (about $10, I think, as many have already stated here).
Typically, the controller battery will store a usable charge for a good 5 years after purchase, assuming you use it and recharge it, a lot. It can be like 6-8 years if you only play casually, which should take many users through the entire console generation, and you can always, always play with a USB cable attached, of course.
Contrast this with the X360 controller, which uses AAs (which cost a fortune over that same time period... hundreds of dollars just to power that one controller), or a crappy $15 "charge-n-play" pack, which not only bumps the controller cost past the PS3 controller overall, but also uses a proprietary cord (rather than any USB cable), and has some reliability issues with identifying a discharged controller properly.
What a backwards joke this article is.
