Comments by "Mikko Rantalainen" (@MikkoRantalainen) on "Duracell PowerCheck: A genius idea which didn't last that long" video.

  1. Pro tip: many multimeters have a separate battery voltage measurement option that applies semi-small load to test the battery under load which gives you more realistic understanding of the true state of the battery.
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  2. I think the true use case for this tech was to verify that every one battery in newly opened package is good. If you purchase a pack of 20 batteries nowadays and actually measure every one under load, it's not uncommon to find 1 or 2 bad batteries straight from the factory.
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  3. The big problem in this story is not that USPTO accepted both patents. The big problem is that USPTO cannot invalidate the patents when it figures out that accepting both was a mistake. And I'd argue that if two independant patent applications for the same thing come through nearly at the same time, the whole thing is probably too obvious and shouldn't result in a patent for neither party. The minimum bar for a patent should be insanely high in modern world, but somehow USPTO has been constantly lowering the bar for decades now.
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