Covering two days of news in one post. There continue to be evacuations in parts of Northwest Canada due to the fires. This was in response to an update on the continued steady growth of US Solar generation, up 20% YoY. We absolutely need to scale the solar part, but it's good that we're reaching the point where batteries are becoming the weak link. Meanwhile, there are
It sometimes irks me when someone wants to make a point and gets basic technical details wrong. For the Magic Mouse, the older version took AA, not AAA batteries. This isn’t that interesting by itself, but what is much more relevant is that Apple also sold rechargeable AA batteries for the Magic Keyboard, Mouse, and Trackpad. However, what they didn’t do was account for the fact that the discharge curve for NiMH batteries is not the same as alkaline, which would cause the Mac to report low batteries very quickly and persist for months, all while not offering a user-selected option to pick a battery type. Worse, if an alkaline battery leaked into the Keyboard or Trackpad, the batteries would become stuck in the tube, rendering the device useless. Using NiMH batteries, which did not leak (at least, it’s never happened to me) meant dealing with this charge level issue, which was persistently annoying and could not be disabled.
All of this is to say his point about not being intended to be used in a wired fashion for battery reasons is invalidated by the Keyboard 2 and the Trackpad 2, both which can be used constantly connected with accessible ports. The strain relief issue is interesting, but it’s not something that’s as universal as he claims. There are plenty of particularly Logitech mice without custom cords that can be used while wired and charging.
It sometimes irks me when someone wants to make a point and gets basic technical details wrong. For the Magic Mouse, the older version took AA, not AAA batteries. This isn’t that interesting by itself, but what is much more relevant is that Apple also sold rechargeable AA batteries for the Magic Keyboard, Mouse, and Trackpad. However, what they didn’t do was account for the fact that the discharge curve for NiMH batteries is not the same as alkaline, which would cause the Mac to report low batteries very quickly and persist for months, all while not offering a user-selected option to pick a battery type. Worse, if an alkaline battery leaked into the Keyboard or Trackpad, the batteries would become stuck in the tube, rendering the device useless. Using NiMH batteries, which did not leak (at least, it’s never happened to me) meant dealing with this charge level issue, which was persistently annoying and could not be disabled.
All of this is to say his point about not being intended to be used in a wired fashion for battery reasons is invalidated by the Keyboard 2 and the Trackpad 2, both which can be used constantly connected with accessible ports. The strain relief issue is interesting, but it’s not something that’s as universal as he claims. There are plenty of particularly Logitech mice without custom cords that can be used while wired and charging.