Microblog Memes

I still see these in the gym!

As an anarchist I'm so glad we also made the word universal useless by making all kinds of different power and data transmit standards that ports and cables may or may not support. As a Satanist I also love that there is no system for labeling anything to know what cable will support what protocol.

Yeah. This is the problem with trying to enforce standards on industries that historically move at glacier speed, with standards used by tech moving at breakneck speeds.

The only happy part of USB-C in this context is that, at least right now, the USB-C connector doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, so if things get updated to USB C, we should be okay for a while.

Personally, I carry a whole assortment of USB cables with me everywhere. C-to-C, A-to-C, even A-to-lightning, and A-to-microB. I don't use an iPhone, nevermind one that needs a lightning cable. And I have moved away from most accessories that require micro.

I also have a power brick in my pack with the cables, it's a GaN power brick from Anker, with over 100W of output, two USB-C outputs, and one USB-A. At least one of the type C ports supports enough power output to charge my laptop, the other USB C port for my phone, and the USB A port for anything else that might need it. I don't recall the exact power capacity of it, but if memory serves, it will take 100-240V, 50-60hz AC input, so at most, I just need to get one of those cheap converters for the receptacle type used wherever I may find myself.

I work in tech, so being without power is a huge problem. My work laptop also takes USB C for charging, so I don't need to have two power bricks with me. I usually have both, but I don't need to have both.

As long as there's power available and is sufficiently clean and stable, I'm good. I have a few accessories that are not USB C compliant, some have USB C ports but won't trigger a proper USB C charger to deliver any power, which is why I have USB A to C cables, and there's two devices I have that uses a proprietary cable (a Bluetooth headset and my smart watch), which I've obtained spares for which I keep one charging cable at home and one in my kit. My kit also includes a USB A/C power bank. It's not powerful enough to charge my laptop, but it's fine for everything else.

USB C has simplified the cables I carry. I still have a few odds and ends for edge cases, but for the most part, I'm okay with it.

My only big issue with USB C at this point is that it's not just for power+usb data anymore. It's thunderbolt, and display port, and... Ugh. So many things using the same connector that I don't know what will work anymore when I get to a new device, because though it looks like USB C, it might be USB C QC, or PD, or thunderbolt, or display port, or....... FML.

That's what USB-A to USB-C cables are for. Most of those outlets don't provide any fast charging anyway.