Your charger can get broken or lost easily so what's your point?
Duh. If I lose a USB charger I pretty much always have several at hand that can do the same job. Or I can beg some power from my neighbour. Leave your wireless charger in the hotel room and you are screwed unless you also have USB charging.
the only real problems I've had were caused by plugging blindly into a USB-C connection that goes through some random conference room table at work, only to find out that it is a 15W cell phone charger that obviously won't power a laptop.
The problem is the laptop, not the charger. Wintel has just fallen pitifully behind in terms of form factor. Displays are way more efficient than they used to be, processors too unless you are paying the Intel CISC tax. Are you running Fortnite on your laptop in the conference room? No? Then it is pathetic you can't run it on 15 watts.
The USB-Micro standard is fragile, uni-directional and has skinny-ass wires that can't cary much current for fast charging. The USB-C standard is anything but standard.
USB-Micro is evil, I'm happy to see it in sunset. USB-C is sweet, good job guys.
I had to invest in a new set of cables, but the new connector is so much better, it's worth it. I have not had one bit of trouble with third party cables. I am careful to avoid the crap ones. That has always been a problem with cable suppliers, USB-C is hardly the worst. When I pick up a USB-C cable I'm looking for 3.1 gen 1 compatibility, at least. If I ever get a device that actually needs gen 2, I really don't mind if my phone and tablet cables don't run it at full speed.
So far, I only have one USB-C device so I don't have any immediate data about cross-device compatibility. With decent cables in good condition I just never have big issues with USB. Maybe my experience is partly due to Linux, because sometimes it's hard to tell whether you've got a cable issue or a software issue. With Linux, it's pretty much never the latter.
If you plug in a usb 3.1 external drive that has one of those strange-duck double-wide 3.1 connectors, but use a standard micro-B cable instead, it just works. Not as fast, but usable. Of course, with the right cable it's as fast as an internal SATA drive, and if that ever matters then I will hunt around for the right cable. Better, in future any external drive I buy will be USB-C and I will just grit my teeth about the oddball one I have now.
In short, I find the article you linked to be alarmist clickbait. In the real world, USB-C compatibility is looking good. Big shoutout to everybody involved.
The source of much waste is the excess numbers of cables and chargers, not the type. I already have dozens of USB dongles and cables. I don't need yet another included with every gadget I buy. They should be sold separately, so only those who need them can to buy them.
Not going to happen. The retail package needs to include everything you need to actually turn on and use the phone, so the power supply has to ship with it. As far as the cable goes, it's sweet that it's just a normal USB cable now, usually a good quality one. Never seem to have enough of those, they do die you know.
These days, you can't even count on people having a PC with usb ports to power your phone. PCs are getting rarer and usually can't deliver enough current for high speed charging.
Maybe some discounters will eventually offer phones shipped in plastic bags with no accessories at all for a few dollars off. Some market sliver might be receptive to that. Otherwise get used to it, you might accumulate some chargers yourself, the rest of us need them. Try offering your spare ones around, I'm sure you will find takers. I like to have a few sitting around in various locations: study, bedroom, kitchen maybe. If you travel you're eventually going to lose a couple. And I always keep a USB charger in my carry on. Forgetting your charger is easy and can be highly inconvenient.
Also, there is steady progress in power supply technology. I appreciate getting a beefier, sleeker, more power efficient one with each new phone. Now you can realistically operate a tablet with your phone charger too, that's really sweet. It was not too long ago I would typically travel with four or five different power supplies. The weight really adds up and the cables like to weave themselves into a knot. Now, two biscuit-sized usb chargers is enough, assuming I leave the laptop at home. BTW, that is why tablet-as-laptop-replacement is such a big deal for me.
I disagree that there are already too many USB chargers in the world.
Liberal arts are as important as engineering, indeed. Where would we be without our artists, our philosophers, musicians, playwrites and humanists? But if you do pursue liberal arts, please don't expect to earn the same amount of money as STEM. On the other hand, a four year liberal arts degree is generally more fun, a bit easier and you get laid a whole bunch more. Fact.
If you can possibly manage it, consider a combined STEM + liberal arts path. The technical term for it is "renaissance".
Dude they own your president. That is as workable as anything gets....
Dude, read my post again and notice I that that it is about the Soviets. Russia 2 is about the mob and the corrupt kleptocracy. It's a do-over of the old Soviet police state apparatus, with mafia instead of communists this time. It does work somewhat better economically but is still terribly inefficient.
To distract the long suffering Russian citiizenry from their miserable economic state, Putin sets out on his foreign adventures. Yes, they did manage to put their man into the office of the presidency of the United States. That's a remarkable achievement. technically, much like a string of serial murders might be an impressive achievement, but is not to be admired except perhaps by another serial murderer. This was just one of a string of horrific achievements by Russia 2, which must not go unpunished.
Compare the Chinese economic miracle to Russia's stagnation. China is also a police state, but it is not run by the mob, it is run by the police. This has proved to work pretty well, growing faster than America or Europe or any other major industrialized power for many years. Because the Chinese government recognized that the capitalist system inherently outperforms a planned economy and they simply legalized it, that's all they had do do, along with mechanisms to regulate foreign exchange, capital flow, things like that. They had the bright idea that maybe capitalism is not incompatible with a centralized police state too. So far they are right.
Russia does not have a capitalist system, they just have a massive state sponsored racketeering operation. I will step out here and say, this is not as unworkable as the old dead Soviet system, but is still unworkable. We shall see.
According to Techcrunch the TSMC virus episode was a vicious attack from China
Not quite right. According to Techcrunch, cyber attacks from China have been increasing. Not a surprise. But Techcrunch did not directly finger China for this one. Even if the Chinese government did it, which seems totally plausible, TSMC shares part of the blame for allowing Windows machines get on their network. Totally unbelievable for IT to be unaware that Windows is the primary attack surface.
To be sure, many or most of those IT guys are Windows sysadmins with a vested interest in keeping the status quo no matter what the cost to the company. Execs should get out of bed and show those guys the door immediately. (Google let them stay and retrain after the Chinese gov got caught penetrating Googleplex by way of Windows. Now you have to get approval from a VP to put a Windows machine on the network. Google does their business on Ubuntu and MacOS now.)
Wow, it is posts like yours that make it worth wading through all the sludge.
Now we only use windows PCs for prototyping
Right, a lot of good engineering software runs only on Windows, but you don't need a Windows PC to run it, virtualization is highly effective and seamless these days. You do need a Windows license but only the most basic and the cost is trivial.
Beyond that, a lot of engineering tools come from small coding shops. Just pay for a Linux port. The big boys are already on Linux (BTW, more than a little interesting that ARM shows up in the selected support category.)
Given a choice between malware outbreak and killer multi-patterning issues I would take the malware outbreak every time. But I would also instantly ban Windows inside the corporate perimeter, it's a simple cost benefit thing. Lord help them if they store primary engineering assets on Windows machines.
It only took a single full day meltdown for the London Stock Exchange to learn this lesson.
You do know that. The few and far between cases where Linux gets exploited tend to receive gleeful and widespread press coverage of the name and shame kind. Causing Linux guys to double down and work twice as hard to make that not happen again. Never perfect, but undeniably damn good.
When the exploit vector isn't named in the article, you know damn well what it was.
Obligatory: ditch Windows for Linux or at least MacOS inside the corporate perimeter like Google did. Whatever the perceived value of Windows, it just is not worth the never ending parade of fiascos such as this.
Yes, well, that is really nothing more than an additional compilation stage, now is it?
No, a 4GL is a program writing program wrapped in a bunch of template and forms bullshit only capable of writing programs that had already been written and otherwise just emitting unmaintainable garbage. The input was not a language so a 4GL is not a language translator, therefore not a compiler.
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Just let Apple sort this out for iPhones (if they even care that much) or force their hand to do it
Third alternative: just let Apple continue to suck, fine them from time to time, and let the marketplace punish them.
It's pretty difficult to blame Apple for changing away from standards...
For you? Not for me, but hey, Apple customers enjoy pain, there is no other explanation.
You're the one who never runs youtube on their phone.
You will eventually leave that pad in a hotel room.
Your charger can get broken or lost easily so what's your point?
Duh. If I lose a USB charger I pretty much always have several at hand that can do the same job. Or I can beg some power from my neighbour. Leave your wireless charger in the hotel room and you are screwed unless you also have USB charging.
Add: more expensive, not only because it's nonstandard.
You already can't, as headphones for recent iPhone models plug into the charging port.
Correction: you already can't, not me. I'm fine because I avoid Apple.
Not worried about long term effects of bathing yourself in RF? I am, you can suit yourself. Wireless video for example is a pretty hefty flux density.
the only real problems I've had were caused by plugging blindly into a USB-C connection that goes through some random conference room table at work, only to find out that it is a 15W cell phone charger that obviously won't power a laptop.
The problem is the laptop, not the charger. Wintel has just fallen pitifully behind in terms of form factor. Displays are way more efficient than they used to be, processors too unless you are paying the Intel CISC tax. Are you running Fortnite on your laptop in the conference room? No? Then it is pathetic you can't run it on 15 watts.
This is Microsoft's doing.
The USB-Micro standard is fragile, uni-directional and has skinny-ass wires that can't cary much current for fast charging. The USB-C standard is anything but standard.
USB-Micro is evil, I'm happy to see it in sunset. USB-C is sweet, good job guys.
I had to invest in a new set of cables, but the new connector is so much better, it's worth it. I have not had one bit of trouble with third party cables. I am careful to avoid the crap ones. That has always been a problem with cable suppliers, USB-C is hardly the worst. When I pick up a USB-C cable I'm looking for 3.1 gen 1 compatibility, at least. If I ever get a device that actually needs gen 2, I really don't mind if my phone and tablet cables don't run it at full speed.
So far, I only have one USB-C device so I don't have any immediate data about cross-device compatibility. With decent cables in good condition I just never have big issues with USB. Maybe my experience is partly due to Linux, because sometimes it's hard to tell whether you've got a cable issue or a software issue. With Linux, it's pretty much never the latter.
If you plug in a usb 3.1 external drive that has one of those strange-duck double-wide 3.1 connectors, but use a standard micro-B cable instead, it just works. Not as fast, but usable. Of course, with the right cable it's as fast as an internal SATA drive, and if that ever matters then I will hunt around for the right cable. Better, in future any external drive I buy will be USB-C and I will just grit my teeth about the oddball one I have now.
In short, I find the article you linked to be alarmist clickbait. In the real world, USB-C compatibility is looking good. Big shoutout to everybody involved.
The source of much waste is the excess numbers of cables and chargers, not the type. I already have dozens of USB dongles and cables. I don't need yet another included with every gadget I buy. They should be sold separately, so only those who need them can to buy them.
Not going to happen. The retail package needs to include everything you need to actually turn on and use the phone, so the power supply has to ship with it. As far as the cable goes, it's sweet that it's just a normal USB cable now, usually a good quality one. Never seem to have enough of those, they do die you know.
These days, you can't even count on people having a PC with usb ports to power your phone. PCs are getting rarer and usually can't deliver enough current for high speed charging.
Maybe some discounters will eventually offer phones shipped in plastic bags with no accessories at all for a few dollars off. Some market sliver might be receptive to that. Otherwise get used to it, you might accumulate some chargers yourself, the rest of us need them. Try offering your spare ones around, I'm sure you will find takers. I like to have a few sitting around in various locations: study, bedroom, kitchen maybe. If you travel you're eventually going to lose a couple. And I always keep a USB charger in my carry on. Forgetting your charger is easy and can be highly inconvenient.
Also, there is steady progress in power supply technology. I appreciate getting a beefier, sleeker, more power efficient one with each new phone. Now you can realistically operate a tablet with your phone charger too, that's really sweet. It was not too long ago I would typically travel with four or five different power supplies. The weight really adds up and the cables like to weave themselves into a knot. Now, two biscuit-sized usb chargers is enough, assuming I leave the laptop at home. BTW, that is why tablet-as-laptop-replacement is such a big deal for me.
I disagree that there are already too many USB chargers in the world.
Liberal arts are as important as engineering, indeed. Where would we be without our artists, our philosophers, musicians, playwrites and humanists? But if you do pursue liberal arts, please don't expect to earn the same amount of money as STEM. On the other hand, a four year liberal arts degree is generally more fun, a bit easier and you get laid a whole bunch more. Fact.
If you can possibly manage it, consider a combined STEM + liberal arts path. The technical term for it is "renaissance".
No larping?
It's a reasonable guess, but it's a guess.
It is a guess, but it's a damn good guess.
Dude they own your president. That is as workable as anything gets....
Dude, read my post again and notice I that that it is about the Soviets. Russia 2 is about the mob and the corrupt kleptocracy. It's a do-over of the old Soviet police state apparatus, with mafia instead of communists this time. It does work somewhat better economically but is still terribly inefficient.
To distract the long suffering Russian citiizenry from their miserable economic state, Putin sets out on his foreign adventures. Yes, they did manage to put their man into the office of the presidency of the United States. That's a remarkable achievement. technically, much like a string of serial murders might be an impressive achievement, but is not to be admired except perhaps by another serial murderer. This was just one of a string of horrific achievements by Russia 2, which must not go unpunished.
Compare the Chinese economic miracle to Russia's stagnation. China is also a police state, but it is not run by the mob, it is run by the police. This has proved to work pretty well, growing faster than America or Europe or any other major industrialized power for many years. Because the Chinese government recognized that the capitalist system inherently outperforms a planned economy and they simply legalized it, that's all they had do do, along with mechanisms to regulate foreign exchange, capital flow, things like that. They had the bright idea that maybe capitalism is not incompatible with a centralized police state too. So far they are right.
Russia does not have a capitalist system, they just have a massive state sponsored racketeering operation. I will step out here and say, this is not as unworkable as the old dead Soviet system, but is still unworkable. We shall see.
According to Techcrunch the TSMC virus episode was a vicious attack from China
Not quite right. According to Techcrunch, cyber attacks from China have been increasing. Not a surprise. But Techcrunch did not directly finger China for this one. Even if the Chinese government did it, which seems totally plausible, TSMC shares part of the blame for allowing Windows machines get on their network. Totally unbelievable for IT to be unaware that Windows is the primary attack surface.
To be sure, many or most of those IT guys are Windows sysadmins with a vested interest in keeping the status quo no matter what the cost to the company. Execs should get out of bed and show those guys the door immediately. (Google let them stay and retrain after the Chinese gov got caught penetrating Googleplex by way of Windows. Now you have to get approval from a VP to put a Windows machine on the network. Google does their business on Ubuntu and MacOS now.)
Wow, it is posts like yours that make it worth wading through all the sludge.
Now we only use windows PCs for prototyping
Right, a lot of good engineering software runs only on Windows, but you don't need a Windows PC to run it, virtualization is highly effective and seamless these days. You do need a Windows license but only the most basic and the cost is trivial.
Beyond that, a lot of engineering tools come from small coding shops. Just pay for a Linux port. The big boys are already on Linux (BTW, more than a little interesting that ARM shows up in the selected support category.)
Some idiot running Window probably opened an email attachment and hello ransomware!
FTFY. You know it's true.
Given a choice between malware outbreak and killer multi-patterning issues I would take the malware outbreak every time. But I would also instantly ban Windows inside the corporate perimeter, it's a simple cost benefit thing. Lord help them if they store primary engineering assets on Windows machines.
It only took a single full day meltdown for the London Stock Exchange to learn this lesson.
You don't know that.
You do know that. The few and far between cases where Linux gets exploited tend to receive gleeful and widespread press coverage of the name and shame kind. Causing Linux guys to double down and work twice as hard to make that not happen again. Never perfect, but undeniably damn good.
When the exploit vector isn't named in the article, you know damn well what it was.
Obligatory: ditch Windows for Linux or at least MacOS inside the corporate perimeter like Google did. Whatever the perceived value of Windows, it just is not worth the never ending parade of fiascos such as this.
Yes, well, that is really nothing more than an additional compilation stage, now is it?
No, a 4GL is a program writing program wrapped in a bunch of template and forms bullshit only capable of writing programs that had already been written and otherwise just emitting unmaintainable garbage. The input was not a language so a 4GL is not a language translator, therefore not a compiler.
"At first". Then the reality of slavery by any other name set in.
Whoops, I read an ambiguous interpretation of the GP post, seeing sarcasm that wasn't there. Please mod the above to oblivion.
"We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us" is funny hyperbole.
It was not hyperbole in the slightest. Saw it with my own eyes.