Are original batteries covered by warranty?

Got a warning when i booted into ubuntu that my battery has only 47% capacity left is this normal? Are batteries covered by warranty, the computer is only 8 months old! Here's my batteries readout:

Battery #1 : present
Remaining capacity : 1045 mAh, 100.0%
Design capacity : 2200 mAh
Last full capacity : 1045 mAh, 47.50% of design capacity
Capacity loss : 52.50%
Present rate : 0 mA
Charging state : charged
Battery type : rechargeable, LION
Model number : UM08A73
Serial number : 0D98
(is there any tool available in ubuntu to try recover some of the batteries health?)

One final question, what is the best way of preserving the battery, i generally run the battery down once or twice a day and the rest of the time it's on AC.

 

You should NEVER run down the battery. It is extremely bad to do so.
Yeah, just phone up acer, they'll send you a new battery

 

When i say run down I mean running it down to 10% charge where it is set to shut down the computer, I have tried doing support via email, but so far after nearly three weeks i have received one email telling me to update my bios, did that surprise surprise it didnt help, last time i check i had like 500 maH capacity!! I guess i might try phonin them it would seem there is definitely something wrong with the battery!

 

YOU MUST phone them, their emailing service is extremely bad. When phoning em', tell them that you're a technician, so that it makes you sound smarter.

 

The battery is only covered for 6 months, it's as if they know the batteries are gonna crap out, pretty shady customer service if you ask me, is it ev en legal to sell anything without at least a years guarantee?!

Well I've since received a 9 cell 7800mah from a honk kong ebay seller, getting 7-8 hrs with wifi on, only on the second charge so i'm pretty impressed so far, more details in the "ebay sellers" thread( hardware>>batteries section )