What To Do With All of My Gadget Chargers?

legoman666 writes "On my desk I have chargers for the following gadgets: Nokia N810, LG Chocolate, Sony Ericcson Z310a, Canon Powershot SD1000, Cowan iAudio X5L, Lenovo Thinkpad, Logitech MX1000 and my Nintendo DS. Not a single pair of them share a similar connector. I have two power strips whose singular purpose is to energize these chargers. My question to Slashdot is: How do you organize all of your different chargers? Please, share your secrets."

Comments

USB

[Anonymous Coward]

Pack them all away and get USB charging cables for them all. Much easier and takes up much less space.

Serious issue!

[Swizec]

It does raise a serious issue of why the flying fuck in the sky don't gadgets simply have the same bloody connectors for charging? There's no excuse! If all manufacturers could agree on the USB standard then why can't they make a charger standard?

Re:Serious issue!

[Fishead]

All devices should have over-voltage protection by default. Even if the device you are manufacturing comes with a super-wahzoo psu that is absolutely limited to 5Vdc output, your device should be able to handle 30Vdc and not have a problem. Simple electronics design, not complicated rocket science. Varistors are cheap. Resetable surface mount fuses are cheap. Voltage regulators are cheap.

Re:News for nerds?

[Max Romantschuk]

Some of use nerds have "wives", and desks messed up with mountains of chargers has a low WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor)... Anything with a low WAF will lower the chances of wife-provided entertainment, a.k.a. sex.

It matters, my friend. It truly matters. ;)

Re:News for nerds?

[PopeRatzo]

Yes, because the government should mandate things like that.

That's the first insightful comment you have ever made, #1345021.

That's exactly the kind of thing government should mandate, just like the shape of the plug that goes into the wall and the gauge of wire that should be built into new houses.

USB is the answer

[d3ac0n]

Simple.

Chuck all the stupid crap toys you have that use proprietary connectors.

I have made a decision: In the small electronics area, I will ONLY buy devices that use the mini-USB style connectors. I flatly refuse to buy anything that cannot be charged or connected via USB to my PC, or a USB base station.

Yes, this does mean that I will miss out on some "hot" tech items. For example, I do not have an iPhone. Why? Not because I think it's a bad device or because I cannot afford it. I think iPhones are very nice and I can certainly afford to buy one. I don't have an iPhone because it uses a 30 pin proprietary dock connector. The means that I would have to buy all sorts of expensive connecting devices from Apple that I have no intention of spending money on like a moron.

The same goes with most other phones. I selected my Motorazr cell phone because I can charge it with a USB connector. I selected my Creative Zen MP3 player because I can charge it with a USB connector (the same one I charge my phone with) Should the need for any other small devices come along, I will select the one I can recharge with a USB connector. If no devices have that option, I will forgo the device altogether. NO device is so important that I should have to clutter my life with useless connectors and chargers, when a simple mini usb 2.0 connector will do everything these idiotic proprietary connectors will do AND MORE.

It's time we as consumers put our feet down. Manufacturers need to stop trying to follow the "give away the razor handle and sell the blades at a 500% markup" model and start selling their devices, unlocked, with a standard unified connector at a reasonable price.

It starts with each one of us deciding to change this one thing in our lives by only buying devices with USB connectors. I have made the change, who will join me?