OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/21748/Standardised_Mobile_Phone_Charger_Coming_to_EU_Apple_Joins Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2010, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:09:59 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com Even Apple? http://osnews.com/thread?370764 http://osnews.com/thread?370764 I wonder, is this the end of the nefarious 30-pin iPod cable? Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (DaveDavtropen) Comments Comment by ThanhLy http://osnews.com/thread?370772 http://osnews.com/thread?370772 The US could learn a thing or two from this move. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ThanhLy) Comments Unbelievable http://osnews.com/thread?370777 http://osnews.com/thread?370777 This is so unbelievable I'll believe it when I see it. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (segedunum) Comments hope for global standard http://osnews.com/thread?370778 http://osnews.com/thread?370778 now, that's news! (...and not the 2nd page type...)

I hope this move will not only be beneficial to EU users, but the hole world.

(I wish luck to Apple fans too. So they can use the micro USB cable for data too!) Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JrezIN) Comments Yankee doodle dandy http://osnews.com/thread?370779 http://osnews.com/thread?370779 I live in the U.S. What the hell are *we* supposed to do?

I know. We've made our bed: Lie in it.

Kudos to the EU, who have always been smarter than us, over my lifetime, at least.Edited 2009-06-29 23:14 UTC Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sbergman27) Comments That's progress! http://osnews.com/thread?370780 http://osnews.com/thread?370780 Best news I have seen in years! I wouldn't expect those companies to agree on today's date let alone phone charger standards. It's got to be a f'n miracle. Speechless. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bringbackanonposting) Comments RE: Even Apple? http://osnews.com/thread?370782 http://osnews.com/thread?370782
I wonder, is this the end of the nefarious 30-pin iPod cable?

Doubt it. More likely Apple will just include free iPod to MicroUSB adapters. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (darknexus) Comments RE: hope for global standard http://osnews.com/thread?370783 http://osnews.com/thread?370783 ACTUALLY, it's not that good news.
Manufacturers can provide a stupid dongle instead of the micro-USB connector... It was too good to be true.

Anyone hoping for Apple using standard connections can cry now:
"UPDATE: Apple's responded, and in a statement told Pocket-lint: "As we've said in the past, we are committed to the Apple dock connector and this initiative will not require us to change it. Today's memorandum gives manufacturers the option to provide an adapter that connects with the universal charger"
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/25149/next-iphone-charge... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JrezIN) Comments RE: Yankee doodle dandy http://osnews.com/thread?370784 http://osnews.com/thread?370784
I live in the U.S. What the hell are *we* supposed to do?

Get the hell out of here ASAP maybe?
MOre seriously though, this might affect us here as well if it proves to be easier to just standardize on MicroUSB altogether for these companies instead of producing one sort of connector for the US, another for the EU, etc. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (darknexus) Comments Vindicated http://osnews.com/thread?370797 http://osnews.com/thread?370797 Re: http://www.osnews.com/thread?370253

Thank God for strong Govt. Industry alone would not have sought let alone brought us a solution (waves EU flag with pride). Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (orfanum) Comments RE: Vindicated http://osnews.com/thread?370808 http://osnews.com/thread?370808
Thank God for strong Govt. Industry alone would not have sought let alone brought us a solution (waves EU flag with pride).

Right, because this is what the governments should be concentrating on, not fixing unemployment rates, or housing problems, or any number of problems we're actually facing. sUre, next to that, the kind of charger your iPhone or whatever has is just so important. Sounds like they've got their priorities a bit mixed up to me, not that any government has their priorities straight at the moment it seems. And be careful with that "strong government." It's a fine line between strong government and totalitarianism and, once crossed, not easy to pull back. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (darknexus) Comments RE[2]: Even Apple? http://osnews.com/thread?370813 http://osnews.com/thread?370813
"I wonder, is this the end of the nefarious 30-pin iPod cable?

Doubt it. More likely Apple will just include free iPod to MicroUSB adapters. "

The standardization calls for a Micro-USB port on the device itself. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:34:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JAlexoid) Comments RE[2]: Vindicated http://osnews.com/thread?370814 http://osnews.com/thread?370814 Don't forget that the government is not a single entity, in any form. So there are people that actually do everything they can to solve your described problems, but there are people who look to how to improve on other things, when not in crisis. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JAlexoid) Comments Absolutely http://osnews.com/thread?370828 http://osnews.com/thread?370828 Interest rates and housing prices should be left to the market. Some government setting them is what you call 'central planning' and we have seen where that leads to.

When it comes to standardisation a government can really do some good by pushing through a convention here and there. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ThomasFuhringer) Comments RE[2]: Vindicated http://osnews.com/thread?370829 http://osnews.com/thread?370829
"Thank God for strong Govt. Industry alone would not have sought let alone brought us a solution (waves EU flag with pride).

Right, because this is what the governments should be concentrating on, not fixing unemployment rates, or housing problems, or any number of problems we're actually facing. sUre, next to that, the kind of charger your iPhone or whatever has is just so important. Sounds like they've got their priorities a bit mixed up to me, not that any government has their priorities straight at the moment it seems. "

This IS important issue. Ecology isn't any less important than unemployment, in my opinion. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vlstefanovic) Comments RE: Absolutely http://osnews.com/thread?370833 http://osnews.com/thread?370833
Interest rates and housing prices should be left to the market

Nothing anywhere is ever wholly left to the markets.

Some government setting them is what you call 'central planning' and we have seen where that leads to.

There is a lot a government can and do do to control house prices without actually setting them. The obvious one is to pass legislation and change taxes to make it cheaper and easeir (or more expensive and harder) to build new houses and renovate old houses. They can also change laws governing how banks can lend money to potential buyers. Basically maniuplating the supply and demand in the housing market.

They can also control rents by changing the laws governing landlords and tennants.

It is not a binary system with free market and central planning being the only two values. It is a fuzzy continuum and no country is at either extreme. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (dagw) Comments RE[2]: Vindicated http://osnews.com/thread?370836 http://osnews.com/thread?370836 This initiative was started long before the financial crisis.

Besides, governments can't all just stop doing the normal stuff they do, just because there is a crisis going on. The crisis is just a situation that is an additional concern next to the normal running.

Totalitarianism? We are talking about a sane standard for phone charging. Where are the protests about the dictatorship over wall sockets? Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (r_a_trip) Comments RE[2]: Vindicated http://osnews.com/thread?370846 http://osnews.com/thread?370846 Perhaps I was getting carried away, who knows? Perhaps 'effective govt.' or 'a govt. that works' would suit you better?

The financial crisis wasn't caused by governments being too tough, it was caused by their being too soft, and in some cases political parties (note, not the state) seeking to gain from short-term economic boom conditions.

The EU works slowly but surely - it's at least a 10-yer gap between conception and implementation in many cases but take a look at what they are doing on preparing for new technology, digital assets, and - you cannot have forgotten - fixing tech industry dominance by this or that company (notice I didn't use the word 'monopoly' so that we don't spend the next few hours quibbling about semantics - life's too short :-). Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (orfanum) Comments Comment by Maki http://osnews.com/thread?370853 http://osnews.com/thread?370853 Hooray, another victory for standards that make sense and make life easier Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Maki) Comments RE[2]: Vindicated http://osnews.com/thread?370922 http://osnews.com/thread?370922 That's precisely what government is for. It's not for creating wealth directly but for making good environment for private companies and individuals to operate in. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ndrw) Comments RE[3]: Vindicated http://osnews.com/thread?370954 http://osnews.com/thread?370954 I dare say we have by far too many different types of wall sockets in Europe.

It is a nightmare, 1500 km from here, and all the electrics are useless unless one has a bunch of adapters.

Standardizing them AND forcing every electrical equipment maker to support them (+ adapter for plugging them into today's sockets). would be a fine thing. Unfortunately no Politician has the guts to pull off this stunt.

By the way, it would be a really good thing, if USA finally took up the metric (SI + derivatives) system of units. Not doing that will cost loads of money in the long run. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (gustl) Comments RE: Yankee doodle dandy http://osnews.com/thread?371020 http://osnews.com/thread?371020
I live in the U.S. What the hell are *we* supposed to do?

I know. We've made our bed: Lie in it.

Kudos to the EU, who have always been smarter than us, over my lifetime, at least.


You must be very young, but then again so is the EU. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (tyrione) Comments RE[2]: Yankee doodle dandy http://osnews.com/thread?371021 http://osnews.com/thread?371021
You must be very young, but then again so is the EU.

Not young. But slightly lazy in my phrasing. I wondered if anyone would point that out. There was a Europe before the EU. And I've always been impressed by it. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sbergman27) Comments RE: Vindicated http://osnews.com/thread?371026 http://osnews.com/thread?371026
Re: http://www.osnews.com/thread?370253

Thank God for strong Govt. Industry alone would not have sought let alone brought us a solution (waves EU flag with pride).


There was no force used; it was a voluntary measure (although the degree in which it was voluntary is up for debate though) to which the various companies signed up for.

I don't want to sound that I am going off on an Ayn Rand/Friedman/Hayek/Von Meises tangent but do you really think that it is appropriate to use the coercion and the threat of violence of the state simply to implement policies that could be otherwise accomplished through free association? where commissars stand on their pulpit talking about the 'good of the people' and the rights of the individual are crushed in favour of this more important collectivist notion of society they're selling but in reality it is just another power grab.

When ever I see, "Thank God for strong Govt" I'm always waiting for the inevitable "thank goodness the collective have corrected my ways, without them I might have fallen into the sin of individual thought and deciding for myself". Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kaiwai) Comments RE[4]: Vindicated http://osnews.com/thread?371091 http://osnews.com/thread?371091
I dare say we have by far too many different types of wall sockets in Europe. It is a nightmare, 1500 km from here, and all the electrics are useless unless one has a bunch of adapters.


The thing is though, I like my wall sockets and plugs. I'd rather have a converter in some other country than have another country's socket/plug forced upon me. Before you know it, we have these ugly US ones, or the humongous UK ones (with fuse to go) ;^(

And to call it a "nightmare" that something over 1500km is different - this is Europe, 1500km will land you at the other far side. Noone travels that much, regularly.


JAL Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jal_) Comments Not new http://osnews.com/thread?371092 http://osnews.com/thread?371092 All the news items make it seem that the USB thing is completely new. However, my 10 euro Alcatel has just such a connector.


JAL Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jal_) Comments RE[2]: Yankee doodle dandy http://osnews.com/thread?371285 http://osnews.com/thread?371285
You must be very young, but then again so is the EU.


And so is the U.S.A. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Soulbender) Comments