@TechConnectify It's cool that YouTube seems to have figured out upload notifications again, after years of struggling with it. (Not sarcastic, it's genuinely better recently.)

@TechConnectify@mas.to ah, evening entertainment ​:neofox_3c:​ yay

@TechConnectify I still have the indentations in my thumbs!

@TechConnectify At least it's a charged topic, but not in a bad way

@TechConnectify remember? My fingers still hurt from pressing 😄

@TechConnectify Ho yeah! I found those so interesting but they fade out super quick and nobody around me seems to remember.

@TechConnectify you mean like this Duracell that had march 2024 expiry date?

@TechConnectify Oh delightful! I always wondered how they worked (and why they were designed to destroy finger(nail)s).

@TechConnectify Get well soon :)

@TechConnectify 100% agree - it's a cool idea but the problem it solves just isn't that big of a deal. I know batteries are dead because the thing using the batteries doesn't turn on.

@TechConnectify suddenly my fingers hurt (thx for making neat videos)

@TechConnectify Oh yeah I remember this showing up, then going away, showing up and then going away again.

@TechConnectify I *do* remember those!

Excited to find out how everything I thought I knew about them is wrong.

@TechConnectify
What a blast to the past. Thanks for that!

Yes, they were pretty hard to press. I remember that. I do remember them to be useful, but mostly because so many devices used them that there were batteries everywhere, and sometimes some got lost and it was useful to know their charge.

As you said, thankfully we are past that.

@TechConnectify Ooh, looking forward to it!

@TechConnectify I am the exact right age for this video! Fascinating and nostalgic. Thank you

@TechConnectify thanks for the nostalgia trip! love that the tech turned out to be really cool, but also (even as someone who keeps around half-used batteries) yeah as you said I just keep a separate battery tester around

@TechConnectify Woohoo! thanks :)

@TechConnectify powerful stuff!

:blobcatpeek:

@TechConnectify just wanted to add my sentiments that I appreciate you still posting here even with the misgivings you've had with the platform.

@TechConnectify I loved that feature! And was actually sad when they went away and I had to buy an actual battery tester xD

(I am one of those people who has use cases that involve taking batteries out of things used rarely but for important purposes, as in, exactly their target market and I bought them preferentially. Obviously, a dedicated battery tester is more useful... but still.)

@TechConnectify
When I was a kid, we had such a 4-pack packaging with such a test strip. I kept it precious as it was such a unique and magic thing.

@TechConnectify Thanks for the great video! As always, it’s a fantastic introduction to a fun technical topic. I’ve never seen these batteries, but my grandfather gave me a multimeter when I was a child so I could test whether the batteries were still charged.

P.S. For those like me who prefer not to visit Google sites in the same browser they're logged in to, here's an article about battery power meters that's cited in the video: https://tedium.co/2021/01/20/on-battery-power-meter-history/

@TechConnectify i went as one of these batteries for halloween as a child one year! my father and i (mostly him) made a simple strip of leds on prototype board that lit up sequentially at the push of a button, and mounted it on the front of an overturned garbage can w/ head and armholes, and of course the spray-painted copper top 😹

@TechConnectify but it's so much easier to just check your battery by licking it!

no sore fingers!

@TechConnectify Yesss, I thought these were so cool as a kid. I had an original Game Boy so I went through a lot of AAs.

@TechConnectify not long? Check the expiration date on this battery. Got it with a Google TV dongle thing, two years ago I think.

@TechConnectify @LaserdiscTurtle I just remember it never working! 😄

@TechConnectify Gosh, that's nostalgic! I remember when I was too young and too weak to press them properly, being fascinated by how and why it worked the way it did. Thanks for the video!

@TechConnectify Those were sooooo hard to press enough to make them do anything

@TechConnectify clearly the solution is to include a bt/wifi chip in every battery so you can download a junky app to be told this is no longer supported

@TechConnectify I don't remember the built-in tester on the battery itself, but I do remember the battery tester built into the packaging for Duracell batteries. I used it all the time.

These days, I use a dedicated battery tester to test my old batteries.

@TechConnectify thank you :3

@TechConnectify It took so much muscle strength to squeeze those batteries. I was amazed by the feature, though — felt magical. I can’t remember exactly when I first squeezed those Duracells. 1996, maybe. 🤔 I will obviously watch this video to learn more!

@TechConnectify Oooh, excited for this one. I used to wonder how they worked.

@TechConnectify Nice!

@TechConnectify This is great. Apart form the shot of nostalgia, a great demo of a very clever solution to a non-problem.

#design

@TechConnectify Wow, I don't think I had even realized that Duracell batteries don't have a tester on them anymore.

I guess in a sense, the tester still works: if it has a tester, it's definitely dead.

@TechConnectify They still make those “powercheck” batteries in Europe though. I remember this feature presented as something “new” in 2010’s ad even.

@TechConnectify I'm kinda shocked that so many people used normal batteries in battery hungry devices. I remember as a kid when friends had RC cars and whatever, they'd run out of batteries and then they'd be paper weights until their parents would buy them more batteries. Both my grandpa and dad had several sets of rechargeable AAs, that I used everywhere. When they ran out, there were charged ones waiting. I can't understand this wasn't what everyone did.

@TechConnectify Nice, I remember those. not easy to test, you're right! It required nails!

@TechConnectify Those strips were like magical to me.

I forgot about them and I'm grateful you made a video about it, now I know how they work.

@TechConnectify I had totally forgotten about these until I saw the thumbnail.

I'd never have guessed that's how it worked, but it makes complete sense when you think how it looks as the bar fills up

@TechConnectify it's a great video, and i completely agree on the uselessness of the feature.

But did you really use one time batteries in a walkman? I thought that was the moment to get rechargeables for everyone

@TechConnectify
I have fond memories of these. That, and the finger pain that came with using them.

I also recall them trying this concept a few times, at least in some stores you could get a more modern version.
Neat to see how they work! :blobfoxfingerguns:

@TechConnectify actually I found that you can still buy them brand new. here is an example from Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/Duracell-Ultra-Advanced-Battery-Power/dp/B0036QSKP2