Microsoft Announces InstaLoad Battery Technology

[damiano13mg]

NOW I CAN PUT MY BATTERY IN MY MICROSOFT CORDLESS MOUSE ANYWAY I WANT!

 

[damiano13mg]

MICROSOFT. SOLVING THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS ONE AT A TIME..

 

[dEAne]

Wow that is great.

 

[The Greater Good]

[citation][nom]rmmil978[/nom]Simple tech that'll probably turn more of a profit for them in the long term than the Xbox 360.[/citation]

FTA:

If companies want to license the technology for accessibility products aimed at people with vision or learning disabilities, Microsoft is willing to license the technology royalty-free.

Microsoft is giving this away. That's what royalty-free means, at least... that's what it's supposed to mean.

 

[gagyilaszlo]

Instaload: for when you're too f-ing stupid to put batteries in correctly.

 

[jaoreill]

[citation][nom]the greater good[/nom]FTA:Microsoft is giving this away. That's what royalty-free means, at least... that's what it's supposed to mean.[/citation]
I read it as the license is free as long as it is an accessibility product for handicapped people, I assume they will still want royalties from other third-party groups.

 

[schmich]

I'm sorry but wtf. Putting in the batteries the right way isn't hard...at least not after 2 tries!

 

[poorya_user]

It is so cool.But if they cost me more than 4$ I wont by them.I am not fool and I can put them right.

 

[teodoreh]

What will happen if you mix conventional batteries with MS batteries? ;D

 

[rakisama]

simple but ingenious?

 

[annymmo]

Here is an even better idea.

No extra contacts or rectifers required.
Make the physical contacts shape the shape of batteries so that you can only put them in the right way.

Upsides: cheaper than Microsoft and rectifier idea.
no extra contacts required, same electrical scheme.

Downsides: extra material in the shape. (can be a cheap material e.g. some polymer/plastic)

And I'm giving this for everybody royalty-free for everything, everyone for any purpose whatsoever including but not limited to stuff I don't and do know.

What do you people think of this superiour unpatented technology that I have come up with in two minutes?

 

[dargon_supreme]

Just make conical battery contacts, and you will never put them in the wrong way. It´s cheaper than Microsoft´s solution.

 

[r0x0r]

[citation][nom]annymmo[/nom]Here is an even better idea. No extra contacts or rectifers required. Make the physical contacts shape the shape of batteries so that you can only put them in the right way. Upsides: cheaper than Microsoft and rectifier idea. no extra contacts required, same electrical scheme. Downsides: extra material in the shape. (can be a cheap material e.g. some polymer/plastic) And I'm giving this for everybody royalty-free for everything, everyone for any purpose whatsoever including but not limited to stuff I don't and do know. What do you people think of this superiour unpatented technology that I have come up with in two minutes?[/citation]

Business 101: Patent anything before you tell anyone about it.

You may wish for it to be used for free but I can almost guarantee that if someone else sees real merit in this idea then they'll charge for it.

Get a patent and give away the idea (at your discretion) so that when Apple inevitably infringes it you can make money then.

 

[segio526]

[citation][nom]gagyilaszlo[/nom]Instaload: for when you're too f-ing stupid to put batteries in correctly.[/citation]
Or blind, or mentally impaired, or missing a hand, or are always working in dark places.

I'm fine without instaload, but I have shorted out devices by putting the battery in backwards, so a system like this would have been helpful (seriously, who the hell puts the spring for the positive contact!?!?!).

 

[eyemaster]

My stupid Kodac (first mistake) camera is very confusing about batteries. The tabs look like they could accept any side of the camera and there's no clear diagram on how to put them in!

It's not always the user's fault.

 

[segio526]

[citation][nom]teodoreh[/nom]What will happen if you mix conventional batteries with MS batteries? ;D[/citation]
[citation][nom]poorya_user[/nom]It is so cool.But if they cost me more than 4$ I wont by them.I am not fool and I can put them right.[/citation]
The technology isn't for the battery, it's for the devices. You still use regular batteries, but you can put them in the device any way you want. How do you design a battery for special needs people?

 

[JPHD]

never thought I'd say this but... Microsoft FTW. The best solutions are usually the simpler ones.

 

[bobusboy]

Great more technology that doesnt require humans to actually have to know how to do anything.

How many generations before people forget how to use a switch, or plug something in the properway.

 

[segio526]

[citation][nom]bobusboy[/nom]Great more technology that doesnt require humans to actually have to know how to do anything.How many generations before people forget how to use a switch, or plug something in the properway.[/citation]
I don't really see a problem. If there are no more switches, I don't think people wouldn't be able to learn to flip a switch if they came across one. People figured out how to plug in appliances when they made one prong bigger than the other. Just because we make things easier, doesn't mean we won't be capable of more difficult things in the future. Another example, no one uses rotary phones anymore, but if you found a 8 year old and told them how to use a rotary phone, I'm sure he could master it immediately.

 

[Djhg2000]

This is so useless it's not even funny...

 

[jay236]

I could see this being useful in hospitals...in case backup generators fail and there's no lights to shove batteries into equipment, you can shove them in any way you like!

 

[victomofreality]

Old tech my ex's vibrator could already do this!

 

[smashley]

Pretty smart, and shocking MS isn't charging royalties for implementing it.. they could have made a killing off of it, but this ensures wide adoption by manufacturers relatively quickly. I've never had problems myself, but members of older generations and less tech-savvy will certainly appreciate it.

 

[Guest]

This will be useful for law enforcement / military / emergency response equipment where a battery change needs to be as fast and foolproof as possible - and one doesn't always have a calm, collected presence of mind to be squinting at little battery diagrams.

 

[danlw]

[citation][nom]Emperus[/nom]Correct me if i am wrong but rectifiers as i understand them are basically used for ac to dc conversion.. I can understand using diode(s) on a reverse current (dc line) protection role as diodes block dc.. But this very nature would make them unsuitable to be used in forward dc current paths.. And batteries do produce dc current..[/citation]

I once stuffed and soldered circuit cards for a company in the medical industry. One of their products was powered by a 9V battery, but had no polarity indication. Instead, it indeed used a simple 4 diode bridge rectifier so that the device would get the correct polarity of DC voltage no matter which way the 9V battery was installed.

So indeed, this is nothing new. However, the article says there are two contacts per battery. So I am guessing that this is not a bridge rectifier. Especially since you would need a bridge for each battery, and each bridge would drop .8-1.2V of the batteries 1.5V (two active diodes dropping .4-.6V each), leaving only .6-1.4V of battery power available, assuming brand new batteries. Instead, this looks like there is some sort of polarity sensing logic involved, since there are two sets of contacts per battery. A bridge network would only require one set of contacts per battery.