A Swan Song For USB

usb I think that USB is a pretty awesome little technology.

I love it because for the most part, the cables  are standardized. The same cable can be used to transfer photos from my camera to my computer, charge my BlackBerry or transfer data from computer to my external hard drive.

I also think that there are some ways that they can be improved.

The way most USB cables work is that they have a larger end that plugs into computers and a smaller end (I've heard it termed "mini USB") that plugs into devices. However, not all devices use the same mini-USB on the other end, and that means that I end up having to use a bunch of different cables.  I'm able to use a regular USB cable to transfer data to and from my phone (a Nokia 6301) but am unable to charge my phone via USB. In order to even get the above photo onto my computer from my camera (a Sony Cybershot), I had to use another, non-standard USB cable - the one that can be seen in the top left of the picture. That meant that I had to unplug my iPod, a device that uses still another type of USB cable.

At least it seems like those Europeans are doing something about standardizing cables. According to BoingBoing, the European Commission is going to make all phones be manufactured so that they can use a standardized charger, and it would be great if they settled on USB as the standard.

I also think it would be great if someone developed a USB cable that also functioned like a memory stick such that you could use it to transfer data between devices, simply use it to store data. I think it would also be a great idea to have these cables work more like standard electrical cables, with a "male" end and a "female" end. That way, cables could easily be extended.

475px-usb_iconsvgAnother option would be to have both ends the same so that it would be easy to transfer data between two devices without using a computer in the middle. For example, a short USB cable like the one in the photo above with both ends the same could be used to transfer all of the photos off of my phone onto my friend's USB memory stick.

Alas, I fear that advances in wireless device charging and data transfer might render the underrated USB cable obsolete.

If you still want to read more about USB, be sure and check out the in-depth Wikipedia article about it.