Also, TIL that Bosch also makes files. I was under the impression that they only made powertools (or electronic measuring devices, or other things with a battery or power cord).
Bosch dates their appliances using a thing called the Fertigungsdatum Number. The first two digits represent the year of manufacture, the second two are for the month. Except the year doesn't align with the actual year, you first have to add 20. Why 20? Well, Bosch first started using their internal dating system back in 1920 and appliances from that year started with the code "00". I had an oven that had a date of "7808", which means it was manufactured in August 1998 (it lasted almost 30 years before we finally had to replace it last month).
In 2020 the system wound back around and started with "00" again.
Bosch's logo is something like a sparkplug (the thing used in internal combustion engines). To this day, the 'mobility' division is the biggest one. See https://www.bosch.com/stories/creation-of-the-bosch-logo/
Decades ago I actually had an offer to work for them as a research student working on optimising internal combustion engines.
Bosch used to do the first magnetos / dynamos in the early 1900s motorbikes / cars. The principle is similar to this day - one rotating magnetic field within one static. You can do all kinds of shenanigans and combinations of permanent magnets / coils where it's either the electric current generating a magnetic field or the magnetic field generating an electric current. Depending whether You want the movement to generate electricity or the electricity to generate movement.
In the first magnetos (the thing that uses the engine rotation in order to generate a current that then makes a spark in the spark plug) they used permanently magnetized exterior plating and a rotating winding. That's sort of what You see in the logo - two coil windings rotating in their housing.
The "sharp edge syndrome" here to me seems to be a good thing then as it acts as a reminder for proper ergonomics / posture.
First Google AI search result on the topic:
"Never rest your wrists on your MacBook while typing. Instead, let your palms rest gently on the laptop body only when you pause. Hover your hands as you type. This prevents you from bending your wrists and protects the nerves in your carpal tunnel."
That also pretty much exactly mirrors the way we learned typing / posture at school in Austria.
From how I use the trackpad, the bottom of my thumb always feels sore-ish after a day's work and it took me a while to trace this to the sharp cornern of my macbook.
I don't like to be precious about my tools either, scratches and so on are evidence it's being used for what it's made for!
This is part of the fun of reading other peoples writing - thanks for sharing your work!
Sigh.
Like those fancy luxury cars some people buy but are too expensive to drive, maintain, insure, or repair. One scratch wipes out their savings so the car sits in the garage.
Thanks to both authors for sharing the work!
My 2015 MBP has this exact same issue.
I got a plastic MacBook eventually which I filed down too because the edges were really sharp there. And plastic is easy to file. Also replaced the screen with a matte version, on the plastic MacBook that was also easy because the screens were readily available and there was no glass overlay.
Then I had a unibody MBP 15" matte. Less sharp and with off factory matte display. Not great keyboard though.
The current MBP I find abhorrent. Even after they switched from the horrible butterfly mistake the travel is still way too shallow. I just can't work with that anymore. These days I just don't buy laptops anymore. Only desk PCs.
(This is particularly true if it's a book that's still in print, or was in large enough print runs it's easy to buy another second-hand copy when the one you have falls apart. It's still somewhat true even when that's not the case.)
I never thought about blogging about it though. Perhaps something to consider.
Next version: edge sharpness detectors. Or body resistance measurements.
What? You can damage even the most robust and simple tool by using it wrongly or inattentively.
Even still, I'm looking forward to the day where I can run Asahi on this
At the time they called this crazy and unproductive, but those obsessions with control of my tools built the foundational skillsets that drove my career.
Amazon link to a debuting tool. It uses sharp harder metal to cut off sharp metal edges.
These tools are made to remove burrs resulting from machining processes. They are very useful for quick&dirty jobs on bore holes or rough edges where optics don't matter, but they lack the precision for sensitive work.
Anybody who's not very well versed in using a deburring tool is just about guaranteed to produce a terrible result that will only take longer to sand out than approching the task with files and sandpaper.
https://www.andar.com/products/the-helm?variant=397924980491...
Pricey, but the lip covers the edge. My current one is 4 years old and lasted a couple of generations of Macbooks.
That's just not the definition of the word "tool" at all but okay... whatever
Some people would like to pretend means of production are holy assets you're supposed to value and trade (INVEST!!! making value is for losers and _these_ workers), when it's just a consummable that should serve a purpose right now.
A computer is a tool and customizing the case is not unheard of.
Thank you for desmystifying the Mac. Users know best.