Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible 408
TheRealHocusLocus writes "Extreme bandwidth is nice, intelligent power management is cool... but folks should be spilling into the streets in thankful praise that the next generation miniature USB connector will fit either way. All told — just how many intricate miracle devices have been scrapped in their prime — because a tiny USB port was mangled? For millennia untold chimpanzees and people have been poking termite mounds with round sticks. I for one am glad to see round stick technology make its way into consumer electronics. Death to the trapezoid, bring back the rectangle! So... since we're on roll here... how many other tiny annoyances that lead to big fails are out there?"
The new connector will be smaller too.
Re:Even worse... (Score:2, Informative)
You aren't making sense. No fancy hardware is required for a reversible connector. Put a full set of contacts on the top edge of the connector, put a full set of contacts on the bottom edge. Take all the same cables going to the top, split them, and connect them left to right instead of right to left.
Maybe you are talking about a reversible cable, which is different. Even then we have ethernet cables and whatnot, so it is just handled by having send and receive lines criss cross going to the other connector.
Re:USB cables are 4 dimensional (Score:5, Informative)
In human society we have this thing called "humour", and one of its functions is to obviate the stress of common irritations by acknowledging them in an ironic or unexpected fashion, such that the next encounter with the irritant brings the joke to mind and is therefore less irksome. If your own society hasn't reached that level of nuance yet I dare say it is you, sir, who is the ape.
Re:another design cue from apple? (Score:5, Informative)
Wrong. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_laptops [wikipedia.org]
The Apple PowerBook series, introduced in October 1991, pioneered changes that are now de facto standards on laptops, such as room for a palm rest, and the inclusion of a pointing device (a trackball).
Re:another design cue from apple? (Score:2, Informative)
then the trackpad, then the clean designs etc etc...
.. then the addition of indiscernible hieroglyphics. "No mom, the thing that looks like a crooked T... next to the clover.... thing.. " That's one cue I'm glad as hell never got released into the PC space. For all of Apple's touted wisdom, they do some equally idiotic things sometimes just to "be different".
Re:Safely remove device (Score:4, Informative)
(Protip: write caching is off by default in modern Windows, so you can actually just yank the USB stick when it finishes what it's doing without ill effect.)
Re:Atari would be proud (Score:5, Informative)
No one is saying SIO is USB, just it shared some DNA and a designer. On your feature list, Hot plugging, no. Auto-load drivers, yes it could. Some of the modems used that. Hubbed? Sort of. Atari didn't release anything but third parties did such as the Quintopus that turned one SIO into 5. http://nleaudio.com/css/products.htm [nleaudio.com]