A Hidden Threat To Handhelds

Logic Bomb writes: "An article from the San Francisco Chronicle focuses on a lawsuit against Palm, but talks about a larger issue: static and handheld computers. Basically, as computing equipment becomes smaller and more likely to be carried around, major damage from static becomes a serious threat. As the blurb at the end of the article says, it takes 3500 volts for a human to feel a shock, but only 200 to potentially scramble a microchip." We already mentioned the lawsuit, but this has more information about the supposed risks to your motherboard.

Comments

Gimme a break - what about water?

[Brento]

"As the blurb at the end of the article says, it takes 3500 volts for a human to feel a shock, but only 200 to potentially scramble a microchip."

You can say the same thing about water - it takes quite a few drops for humans to notice that it's raining, but just one well-placed droplet will fry your motherboard. Do you see me suing Toshiba because I can't use my laptop by the pool?

Wall sockets Vs. Palm Pilots

[StikyPad]

From the Just-Because-You-Disagree-Doesn't-Make-It-Wrong department, this just in:

It's not about AC vs. DC at all. The article is referring to static discharge, which is the equilization of differing voltage levels. Here's the google cache of the first decent explanation I dug up on google. I'm sure you can find more yourself.

How is this different or than any other device?

[OS24Ever]

Have you shocked yourself on a speaker? A Mouse? A Keyboard? Each of those devices can roast the computer it's attached too. I don't remember seeing people run around sueing the manufacturers of those devices. The same 'ground yerself before you touch' principle holds up for any device attached to a computer.