6 ms·
With new USB connector, no more wrong-way-up cables
- fiatmoney 13y agoSounds like a Lightning connector.
- omonra 13y ago$2 < $30, innit.
- MBCook 13y agoIt's nice that they're finally fixing this, but I feel like Gruber's take [1] is probably right. It's a little odd that there are no pictures, but this won't be released until 2016. As he points out that's four years after the Lightning connector came out. It's been dead obvious since USB first came out that having a cable that worked either way would have been easier to plug in. We've been through a couple of revisions of the smaller connectors (A, mini-B, micro-B, the new USB3 version) but you won't start to see this for another two+ years. [1] http://daringfireball.net/linked/2013/12/04/usb-lightning http://daringfireball.net/linked/2013/12/04/usb-lightning
- salient 13y ago2016 definitely seems late. I also would've expected the speed to be more like 20 Gbps by then, but it's just double the USB 3.0 speed. That doesn't seem like a huge improvement.
- sp332 13y agoUSB 3.1 is already finished. The Type-C connector will be used for several future versions, it's not tied to a single protocol or speed.
- GalacticDomin8r 13y ago> I feel like Gruber's take You have expressed a thought, not an emotion. http://www.wildmind.org/applied/depression/distinguishing-thoughts-and-emotions http://www.wildmind.org/applied/depression/distinguishing-th...
- seiji 13y agoWow, that page is full of garbage. Use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-message http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-message instead.
- sanskritabelt 13y agoHi! Welcome to the english language, is this your first week?
- verbin217 13y agoI looked at the page you linked and I realize there are people like those described there. That being said: I think some people (at least one :) use "I feel" to express a notion that is too intuitive for a concrete statement like "I think". I feel like that's what MBCook intended. ;)
- lcnmrn 13y agoIf Gruber's take is true, then why Mac doesn't have a Lightning port? Or at least a Lightning to Thunderbolt cable.
- protomyth 13y agoThey have a USB to Lightning since Lighting isn't that fast yet and the USB connector on the Mac side is a heck of a lot easier to plug into then the Thunderbolt.
- verbin217 13y agoThat is the single best thing I've ever seen Gruber write. His blog is so pro-Apple that it often fails to express their genuine merits and instead betrays his contempt for their opposition. Meanwhile that is a very incisive synthesis of each perspective that brought clarity to the legitimacy of Apple's position and the situation as a whole.
- MBlume 13y agohttp://xkcd.com/927/ http://xkcd.com/927/
- neil_s 13y agoCame here for this. I don't even buy that many electronics, and I still have a dozen different (normal/macro/mini) USB cables. Now I have to throw them all into a landfill to get basic connectivity? Or worse still, hang on to both the old ones and the new ones to connect different devices, and buy adapters? First world problems, yes, but taking 1 minute of 10 million people's time is arguably as bad as taking a 100 minutes of a 100,000 people's time.
- fairydust 13y agoHow is this different/better from Apple's connector?
- pkulak 13y agoI'm sure it'll be very different. Probably not better, except that it'll be open.
- protomyth 13y agoAs open as USB is. There have been a few articles on HN showing what the limits of that is.
- ChuckMcM 13y agoIt won't be patented by Apple. Which is a hindrance to a 'universal' connector design. Of course Apple started patenting its connectors in part to give it a weapon against inferior cable/accessory makers (or so I'm told).
- protomyth 13y agoI think the iPod / iPhone chargers that caused fires was a concern.
- mindslight 13y agoIf a company isn't worried about fallout from negligently designed mains equipment, they certainly aren't worried about patent lawlers.
- protomyth 13y agoIf I remember right, and it started with golf clubs of all things, patents give you a way to stop the import of these items. I figure Apple patents everything anyway.
- analog31 13y ago
- riobard 13y agoThey should have designed and released it with USB 3. 2016 is way too late. The damage has already been done.
- toggle 13y agoDamage to what? The "USB name?" I don't think it's going anywhere, even if we do have to wait until 2016 for a better design. Two years isn't long, considering we've been dealing with this since 1997 or so. Unless you mean physical damage to your USB ports...then, yeah.
- derefr 13y agoPresumably, the damage to the possibility of any new standard taking hold, given how many USB2 devices are now out there in the world.
- pkulak 13y agoAs soon as I started using wireless charging I stopped caring about USB/Lightning, whatever. Since what you need 99% of the time is power only, if the data connector isn't the most convenient thing in the world, I don't really care. No connector can beat just dropping my phone down on a pad.
- hayksaakian 13y agoEven then, Bluetooth can help you there. I want to see a no socket device
- jfb 13y agoIt's always been baffling to me how bad consumer connectors are. Lightning is the best from a UX standpoint, but why'd it take until 2012? Do the people who sit on these standards boards ever actually plug anything in?
- zellyn 13y agoWell, it's not just a simple plug: "The plug itself incorporates a processor which detects the plug's orientation and routes the electrical signals to the correct pins." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_(connector) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_(connector) Depressingly... "Official Lightning connectors contain an authentication chip that makes it difficult for third-party manufacturers to produce compatible accessories without being approved by Apple."
- jfb 13y agoAll that's true (FULL DISCLOSURE: I work at Apple), but the physical plug that Lightning uses is fantastic. Nothing in there seems to be particularly dependent on the state of technology in 2012. I mean, USB is better than the physically identical but electrically distinct PS/2 ports, but that's not setting the bar particularly high.
- seiji 13y agoFULL DISCLOSURE: I work at Apple Unless you got your message vetted through PR, you're in danger of termination now. (Completely not joking. It's happened before.)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- davepage 13y agoUSB (a relatively novel rectangular connector) is physically identical to PS/2 (a historically standard round mini DIN connector)? This sort of reasoning is completely alien to me, which is probably why I'll never be as rich as Jobs.
- kosei 13y agoAm I the only one who hates the idea of having to deal with an entirely new plug paradigm for USB? It's one of the few things that has been able to remain a constant on PCs of mine for the past 10 years, along with Ethernet cords.
- bcoates 13y agoDoes the unpleasant physical shape of the USB connector improve the electrical properties somehow? I've always been curious why the 3.5mm jack isn't used for more things, it's small, easy to use, makes a sturdy connection, and handles way more plug-unplug cycles than micro-usb.
- sudont 13y agoProbably because it's known as an audio connector, unfortunately. Still, there are other uses: http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~prabal/projects/hijack/ http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~prabal/projects/hijack/ 8.5kb/s isn't great, but for low-resolution data sampling it's not bad. (I assume.)
- mindslight 13y agoThe shape matters, yes.. especially as the frequency goes up. Even audio has the RCA connector for better shielding and a notion of controlled impedance. Not that 'unpleasant' is a requirement for these things :P
- moreati 13y agoFlipper USB, a US company sells cables/adaptors with USB-A plug that works both ways. I've no experience of them though, and it still leaves the Micro-B connector with a wrong way up http://www.flipperusbsales.com/flipperhome.html http://www.flipperusbsales.com/flipperhome.html
- jyf1987 13y agoi have just thought it yesterday, and i think it could be done for the current type of usb. i have a model in my brain currently