The fact that it’s been out for a year and federation is still only half-implemented suggests to me the decision to add it was pretty late in the development process, even if it was early in the marketing process.

Threads is for whoever Meta can sell it to, and I think it was pretty far along in its development before they actually committed to ActivityPub support.

Having used a butane iron before, I don’t think it would. They don’t have the temperature control modern digital irons can, and they’re forbidden on flights.

Signal and WhatsApp work with the free messaging option. I was a little surprised by Signal.

I’m inclined to agree, and said so in the linked thread.

Lemmy thread and link.

Basically, anyone who can read your home directory could decrypt your Signal database. That’s about typical of traditional desktop applications, but questionable for security-oriented software. Mac OS and (sometimes) Linux have more robust credential management options, and Signal signaled (yes, pun intended) its intent to adopt them.

That’s similar to the iFixit iron, as is the less expensive Pinecil.

Those are probably the best options currently available, but I want something more compact and self-contained.

I would not want multiple cells for reasons of ergonomics and convenience.

I probably don’t need 100W for most field soldering. 60 is plenty, and temperature-controlled soldering irons usually don’t need to pull high current continuously. It would need 60W for maybe 10 seconds when powered on, and when heating something large. The rest of the time, it takes relatively little power to keep the tip hot.

What I’m describing is, of course not the right tool for production soldering. It’s for field work.

Assuming the M12 CP1.5 battery pack, it’s probably three 18650s. Specifically, it’s probably three LG HB series 18650s, which handle high burst loads well, but hold only 1500 mAh. A single Sony VTC6 holds 2/3 the energy of one of those packs. Wait… why am I speculating? Youtubers tear down power tool battery packs on video all the time, and someone did that one. They’re Samsung 15Ms, which are a little worse than HBs.

Anyway, short runtimes are fine for most field repairs, which is the whole point of something entirely self-contained. Spare batteries can extend it indefinitely, but a battery soldering iron is probably not what I’d pick for extended soldering sessions.

I would accept a bit of an awkward balance for being self-contained.