Microsoft has demonstrated remarkable ingenuity in a truly unexpected place. The company's
latest and arguably most useful advancement of the year is not a motion-control system for the Xbox 360 or a new, streamlined design for Internet Explorer, but a simple redesign of the battery holders we've all taken for granted.
Most battery compartments have a single contact on either side: one positive and one negative. For any device to work, you must insert the batteries in very specific directions, so the positive ends of the batteries face the positive contacts and the negative ends face the negative contacts. Making sure the batteries are properly aligned is an inconvenience that has plagued us for decades.
Microsoft's new InstaLoad technology changes that.
Instead of one contact at either end, InstaLoad compartments have two contacts: a flat contact for the negative end of the battery and a recessed contact for the positive end. If the positive end of a battery is inserted against the contact, its narrower, protruding end only touches the positive contact. If the negative end is inserted, its flat end only touches the negative contact. It's a remarkably simple design that forces us to ask why nobody has thought of it before.
According to
Microsoft's documentation, InstaLoad technology is new but could show up in wireless mice and other Microsoft-made devices in the near future. However, thanks to several announced licensing deals, InstaLoad might show up in a number of non-Microsoft products. Eleven firms have announced partnerships with Microsoft to use InstaLoad in their products, including Duracell and Spectrum Brands (the company that owns the Rayovac battery brand). While Wired is skeptical about InstaLoad appearing in non-Microsoft products due to Microsoft's licensing policies, the already impressive list of partners indicates that we could see InstaLoad flashlights and remote controls available in every convenience store in the near future.
