Hasta La Gadget!

With the introduction of the new Magic Keyboard accessory for the iPad, Apple is certainly looking to turn the iPad into a potential laptop alternative. This is because not only does the accessory come with a trackpad, but iPadOS has also been updated to support external devices like a mouse and trackpad-related accessories.

If you do plan to use the iPad Pro as a laptop alternative, then you might be interested to learn that Microsoft is working on bringing trackpad support to its Office apps. Through Apple’s beta testing service TestFlight, Microsoft is now beta testing trackpad support for both its Word and Excel apps on the iPad.

From what we can tell, it seems that this will bring it more in line with the desktop version of the apps. For example, the cursor on the display can change according to the field you’re hovering over, but it will also have the ability to disappear when your finger is not on the trackpad to help make it less distracting.

There’s no word on when this feature will be pushed out to the public, but if you are a Word or Excel user on the iPad, it seems that both apps are about to get a whole lot more functional with this upcoming update.

Microsoft Testing Trackpad Support For Word And Excel For iPad

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Image credit – iFixit

One of the drawbacks of current battery technology in our electronics is that they don’t last very long. Our smartphones and laptops barely get a day’s worth of battery, or even less if you’re a power user. Stuffing larger batteries inside them could fix the problem, but it’s not necessarily a long-term solution.

A long-term solution would be to come up with better battery technology, and that’s what Apple seems to be doing. In a patent discovered by AppleInsider, it seems that Apple is exploring the idea of maybe using hydrogen fuel cells to power future iPhones and MacBook laptops. The company cites environmental concerns of using current battery technology, and also the advantages of hydrogen fuel cells.

According to Apple, “Our country’s continuing reliance on fossil fuels has forced our government to maintain complicated political and military relationships with unstable governments in the Middle East, and has also exposed our coastlines and our citizens to the associated hazards of offshore drilling.”

They add, “Hydrogen fuel cells have a number of advantages. Such fuel cells and associated fuels can potentially achieve high volumetric and gravimetric energy densities, which can potentially enable continued operation of portable electronic devices for days or even weeks without refueling.”

However, given that this is only a patent, it’s hard to say if it will come to fruition, but an iPhone or a MacBook that could last for days on a single charge certainly sounds rather appealing.

Apple Could Turn To Hydrogen Fuel Cells To Power Future iPhones And MacBooks

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The former vice president went full “dad joke” just before the first presidential debate with Donald Trump.

If you haven’t been playing your Nintendo Switch for a while, there is a chance you might have packed it away somewhere. However, it seems that according to a tweet by Nintendo Japan, the company is actually recommending that gamers charge their Switch consoles at least once every six months.

The company is warning that consoles that go for longer than six months without charging might somehow get spoilt and that when gamers try to charge it again, it won’t work. If you are actively playing your Switch, there’s a good chance it’s left in the dock which means that it should always be charging, so this isn’t an issue.

However, we imagine that there might be some gamers who are concerned about the battery life of the Switch and are worried that the console being constantly charged could degrade the battery life. This is a legitimate concern as the problem with lithium ion batteries is that over time and with constant charging and discharging, it starts to lose its maximum capacity.

ゲーム機に内蔵されているバッテリーは、あまり長い間、充電も使用もしていない状態が続くと、充電できなくなることがあります。

半年に一度は充電してあげてください。 pic.twitter.com/Je8QNH5SNT

— 任天堂サポート (@nintendo_cs) September 28, 2020

This means that like our smartphones, eventually a 100% charged Switch when taken out of the dock might not last as long as it did when it was brand new. Nintendo has acknowledged this, but they also note that it is safe to do so. We should also point out that the Switch’s battery can be replaced worst comes to worst, so you don’t have to worry about the console being rendered completely useless.

Nintendo Recommends You Charge Your Switch At Least Once Every Six Months

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