Linked by David Adams on Mon 26th Oct 2009 19:32 UTC
Hardware, Embedded Systems The "wall wart" is one of humanity's worst inventions (not counting all of the inventions that are actually intended to kill and maim each other, I'll admit). AC-plug power supplies are a cheap workaround to various engineering, economic, and regulatory problems that manufacturers face, and they solve those problems by pushing them off onto end users. So what can we do about it? OSNews takes a look at an ingenious workaround to the Wall Wart problem, and some hopeful trends that might make them a thing of the past.
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aaronb
Member since:
2005-07-06

The below links seem relevant:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=16609

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8323018.stm

This standard could be used for many other small devices. Laptops and other higher power applications could use a 12V 5A standard.

Finally, in the future old copper cables will be a thing of the past and replaced by laser light delivered via fibre optics. However getting companies to agree on a wavelength would be the main challenge. ;)

Edited 2009-10-26 22:41 UTC