if you're on cohost (and especially if you're following this account), you might be a fan of devices, and you might even be the proud owner of a couple of devices yourself!
now, we don't really make devices anymore because they've all been replaced by phones, dab pens, and The Cloud, so all your devices are probably somewhat outdated, like 20-30 years old.
we all know of the dangers of leaky electrolytics, AAs left in battery compartments, the horrors of corrosion, etc. etc., but today, i learned of a new horror i had never considered. the internal backup battery. you know how on pdas and similar devices it's generally very nice not to lose your data? and how we didn't really have flash storage figured out yet when those devices were relevant? well. that's where these fuckers come into play.
i knew this pda relied on battery backed memory to prevent data loss in the event of a power failure, but I never really bothered to check up on it. it ran out years ago and by then this pda had been relegated to be nothing but a toy to occasionally pull out and look at. i guess i should have bothered to check up on its internals before but it's been in the family since it was new, i knew it was well cared for, so i never really felt the urge to do so.
