I think we ought to get rid of corporate tax to end this pointless charade. Tax dividends and capital gains as income and move on with life. It's not all that much revenue, and could easily be made up. As a bonus, if other countries don't follow suit, companies might shift their headquarters to the US.
Even a subsidized leaf is still about $7k (and I'm being generous) more than a Versa - full price, no discounts. That is a LOT of gas and economically pays off eventually for only extremely high-mileage drivers, and then only if the battery lasts. If gas cost more it would obviously be better for the Leaf, but right now we are under $4/gallon.
because the enter key is the thing designed to enter linebreaks in editors.
I'm pretty sure it (for computers) has always been task-dependent. On a typewriter it is a CR, but not on computers. Macs even have a Return and an Enter key, and Excel used to do two different things for those two different keys.
1) Adapters were permissible under the expired agreement. There were suggestions that this would change under the regulations imposed by the government. 2) It was just a hypothetical example meant to illustrate a point. Micro USB is not suitable to charge higher-powered devices, which is one reason that the manufacturers declined to renew the expired agreement. If you mandated Micro USB today, charge times will be longer going forward. 3) Historically, government does not have the best track record for responding to change. Regulations should be enacted with extreme care. If there is another way to achieve your goal, then it's probably worth looking into.
I agree with their goal, but I think their method is not the most effective. I think simply banning the practice of including a charger with every phone/device, followed by a tax on the wall warts themselves would go further towards the goal. It would end the practice of including a charger whether it is needed or not, and it would make your box of wall warts worthy of selling on the secondary market, in effect recycling them. It would have two negative side effects that are very obvious: 1) Wall warts would be more attractive to thieves and 2) it would hurt consumers replacing their wall warts. I think it would be a lot more effective at reducing waste, and it would leave tech decisions to the manufacturers - who would now have more of an incentive to match a standard since people might be reluctant to buy a device that requires a new kind of wall wart.
The USB charging spec and the micro USB connector specifications allow for 7.5 W of power (1.5A @ 5V nominal).
Which is why the manufacturers let the agreement expire. They already sell over-spec 2 amp chargers that get you around 10 watts, but that's the limit. As phones get more powerful, they need to abandon the current spec (though maybe not the connector).
I just searched and can't find a Leaf for under about $20,000 of any year. I searched on Edmunds for 200 miles around me. If you know where they are $10,000 then I have a car carrier to rent, because 1 car carrier full of those will make it so I don't need to work for a few months.
I don't think it is as bad as you make it sound. Chances are your 20MWatt (why do you need such a big battery, anyway?) is actually made up of hundreds or thousands of individual cells. Thus, you wouldn't short the entire 20MWatts at once, but some tiny fraction of the total. Depending on what the batter is made of, the risk of plain old chemical fire might be the bigger concern. I'd expect the whole thing to unfold more slowly than a gasoline fire, and be more containable as a result.
Now, electrocution of first responders... that's another matter.
Hell, if the Leaf cost what a Versa did, I'd have one in my driveway right now. I don't need more than about 20 miles of range per day, but I need money:)
I don't like semantic arguments. Here, I'll apologize, retract my original statement and replace it with:
Which connector does the EC-sponsored Memorandum of Understanding specify? USB. Why? Because it is popular. Why is it popular? Because the EU got tired of all the different proprietary connections and initiated the EC-sponsored Memorandum of Understanding.
Incidentally, the EC-sponsored Memorandum of Understanding expired in 2012, and not just because of Apple. You cannot get enough power through micro-USB at 5 volts. You either have to up the voltage or change the connection type. I suspect they will just up the voltage eventually. There is a standard for this called USB-PD, but it involves 12 (or even 20!) volts, and it would let micro-USB charge even a tablet. The 12-volt part has a prayer, since the PC already has 12-volts. Lookout for crappy car chargers when this happens!
I don't disagree with the goal, I disagree with the methodology. I think they would have the same effect if they (a) banned the bundling of phone and charger and (b) taxed the hell out of the charger. This would do two things: 1. Chargers would not get sold automatically with every phone and 2. It would create a secondary market for chargers, making it worth people's while to sell the used ones.
The disadvantage is that chargers would become more valuable and so charger theft would increase. It would also make it more expensive to replace a lost, stolen, or broken charger. The tradeoff is that it would not limit innovation or technology improvement, and companies like Apple would be under no incentive to toss in even more garbage (in the form of converters) just to meet the letter of the law.
I just went searching for Nokia's latest and greatest - it looks like they've switched to micro-USB only on phones that meet the EU directive (they must use the data network). So technically, their dirt-cheap phones like the 108 don't have to comply (and they don't) but their almost-as-cheap 301 uses data so it has micro-USB.
Let's suppose that the EU decided to mandate a connector in 2005. They very well may have settled on the mini-USB connector. This was the slightly larger connector used in a lot of cameras and some phones (in particular, Motorola). Micro-USB may have never been rolled out, let alone standardized upon, and the consumers of the EU would be stuck with a crappy connector.
In other words, what incentive to phone manufacturers have to improve the state of the art, if the technology they use is dictated by the government? This isn't Ayn Rand stuff, this is just a basic case of setting up incentives to get the result you desire. If they wanted less waste from chargers, forbid the selling of included chargers and tax the hell out of them. The problem will solve itself without mandating specific types of technology.
Yes, the keyboard is thankfully mostly still usable as a way to navigate Windows 8 - especially if you stick to Desktop apps.
There was one area that sucked, even with the keyboard, though... on Windows 7 I made heavy use of the "Search for Programs and Files" feature in the Start Menu. Sure, you can still hit the Windows key and start typing the name of your program - but this no longer works for documents or control panels. Now you have to select the sub-category instead of all results populating one big list. It's a pain if you are used to typing "hours" to bring up your contracting hours spreadsheet, for example.
Even with that, I was willing to put up with it until my backup fiasco.
I'll tell you why this is so consumer-unfriendly. Sure, on the surface it seems convenient to re-use your chargers. But the state of the art now cannot change. What incentive does a manufacturer have to build a better connector? What if they had passed this stupid law in 2005, before micro-usb was invented? We'd be stuck with that horrible mini-usb port that only lasted for a couple thousand insertions by design.
I'm sorry, but you are wrong. While the EU did allow the manufacturers to dictate the standard, they implemented the standard in late 2010 specifically because there were so many different phone charging connectors. If it was all free love and unicorns, the EU never would have stepped in to force the manufacturers to standardize. Every phone I had prior to 2010 had some odd-ball connector: Motorola used a weird mini-USB that wouldn't charge from a computer, Apple had the "dock" connector, Samsung had an assortment of different connectors, Sony-Ericson had something long with exposed contacts, Nokia used the classic round connector...
They would put themselves at a competitive disadvantage, especially given how obsessive they are about aesthetics. Everyone else sells a phone with one connector and they sell one with two? How exactly is that feasible? In reality, Apple will probably put some ugly little adapter thing on the EU version of their phone to meet the letter of the law. I suspect most users will just discard it. Either that or EU users will get the privilege of owning a region-specific version of the iPhone, which is incompatible with all of the accessories out there.
USB is by far the most popular combined power/data cable standard around
That's a circular argument.
Which connector does the EU mandate? USB. Why? Because it is popular. Why is it popular? Because the EU got tired of all the different proprietary connections and mandated USB.
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What in the world is so primitive about taxing the people instead of the pretend economic entity? Are you honestly happy with the current situation?
No, I said I'd buy a whole bunch of them at $10k to resell at $20k as arbitrage. I said I'd buy one at Versa prices.
I think we ought to get rid of corporate tax to end this pointless charade. Tax dividends and capital gains as income and move on with life. It's not all that much revenue, and could easily be made up. As a bonus, if other countries don't follow suit, companies might shift their headquarters to the US.
Even a subsidized leaf is still about $7k (and I'm being generous) more than a Versa - full price, no discounts. That is a LOT of gas and economically pays off eventually for only extremely high-mileage drivers, and then only if the battery lasts. If gas cost more it would obviously be better for the Leaf, but right now we are under $4/gallon.
because the enter key is the thing designed to enter linebreaks in editors.
I'm pretty sure it (for computers) has always been task-dependent. On a typewriter it is a CR, but not on computers. Macs even have a Return and an Enter key, and Excel used to do two different things for those two different keys.
Ask Apple, who apparently needed to reduce connector size.
1) Adapters were permissible under the expired agreement. There were suggestions that this would change under the regulations imposed by the government.
2) It was just a hypothetical example meant to illustrate a point. Micro USB is not suitable to charge higher-powered devices, which is one reason that the manufacturers declined to renew the expired agreement. If you mandated Micro USB today, charge times will be longer going forward.
3) Historically, government does not have the best track record for responding to change. Regulations should be enacted with extreme care. If there is another way to achieve your goal, then it's probably worth looking into.
"Sure, baby, l'll be right back. I've got to go to the printers."
Watch what you ask for :)
I agree with their goal, but I think their method is not the most effective. I think simply banning the practice of including a charger with every phone/device, followed by a tax on the wall warts themselves would go further towards the goal. It would end the practice of including a charger whether it is needed or not, and it would make your box of wall warts worthy of selling on the secondary market, in effect recycling them. It would have two negative side effects that are very obvious: 1) Wall warts would be more attractive to thieves and 2) it would hurt consumers replacing their wall warts. I think it would be a lot more effective at reducing waste, and it would leave tech decisions to the manufacturers - who would now have more of an incentive to match a standard since people might be reluctant to buy a device that requires a new kind of wall wart.
The USB charging spec and the micro USB connector specifications allow for 7.5 W of power (1.5A @ 5V nominal).
Which is why the manufacturers let the agreement expire. They already sell over-spec 2 amp chargers that get you around 10 watts, but that's the limit. As phones get more powerful, they need to abandon the current spec (though maybe not the connector).
I just searched and can't find a Leaf for under about $20,000 of any year. I searched on Edmunds for 200 miles around me. If you know where they are $10,000 then I have a car carrier to rent, because 1 car carrier full of those will make it so I don't need to work for a few months.
I don't think it is as bad as you make it sound. Chances are your 20MWatt (why do you need such a big battery, anyway?) is actually made up of hundreds or thousands of individual cells. Thus, you wouldn't short the entire 20MWatts at once, but some tiny fraction of the total. Depending on what the batter is made of, the risk of plain old chemical fire might be the bigger concern. I'd expect the whole thing to unfold more slowly than a gasoline fire, and be more containable as a result.
Now, electrocution of first responders... that's another matter.
Hell, if the Leaf cost what a Versa did, I'd have one in my driveway right now. I don't need more than about 20 miles of range per day, but I need money :)
I don't like semantic arguments. Here, I'll apologize, retract my original statement and replace it with:
Which connector does the EC-sponsored Memorandum of Understanding specify? USB. Why? Because it is popular. Why is it popular? Because the EU got tired of all the different proprietary connections and initiated the EC-sponsored Memorandum of Understanding.
Incidentally, the EC-sponsored Memorandum of Understanding expired in 2012, and not just because of Apple. You cannot get enough power through micro-USB at 5 volts. You either have to up the voltage or change the connection type. I suspect they will just up the voltage eventually. There is a standard for this called USB-PD, but it involves 12 (or even 20!) volts, and it would let micro-USB charge even a tablet. The 12-volt part has a prayer, since the PC already has 12-volts. Lookout for crappy car chargers when this happens!
You have to draw a line somewhere
I don't disagree with the goal, I disagree with the methodology. I think they would have the same effect if they (a) banned the bundling of phone and charger and (b) taxed the hell out of the charger. This would do two things: 1. Chargers would not get sold automatically with every phone and 2. It would create a secondary market for chargers, making it worth people's while to sell the used ones.
The disadvantage is that chargers would become more valuable and so charger theft would increase. It would also make it more expensive to replace a lost, stolen, or broken charger. The tradeoff is that it would not limit innovation or technology improvement, and companies like Apple would be under no incentive to toss in even more garbage (in the form of converters) just to meet the letter of the law.
When a government says to an industry that they should self regulate or be regulated, it amounts to a mandate.
I just went searching for Nokia's latest and greatest - it looks like they've switched to micro-USB only on phones that meet the EU directive (they must use the data network). So technically, their dirt-cheap phones like the 108 don't have to comply (and they don't) but their almost-as-cheap 301 uses data so it has micro-USB.
Let's suppose that the EU decided to mandate a connector in 2005. They very well may have settled on the mini-USB connector. This was the slightly larger connector used in a lot of cameras and some phones (in particular, Motorola). Micro-USB may have never been rolled out, let alone standardized upon, and the consumers of the EU would be stuck with a crappy connector.
In other words, what incentive to phone manufacturers have to improve the state of the art, if the technology they use is dictated by the government? This isn't Ayn Rand stuff, this is just a basic case of setting up incentives to get the result you desire. If they wanted less waste from chargers, forbid the selling of included chargers and tax the hell out of them. The problem will solve itself without mandating specific types of technology.
Yes, the keyboard is thankfully mostly still usable as a way to navigate Windows 8 - especially if you stick to Desktop apps.
There was one area that sucked, even with the keyboard, though... on Windows 7 I made heavy use of the "Search for Programs and Files" feature in the Start Menu. Sure, you can still hit the Windows key and start typing the name of your program - but this no longer works for documents or control panels. Now you have to select the sub-category instead of all results populating one big list. It's a pain if you are used to typing "hours" to bring up your contracting hours spreadsheet, for example.
Even with that, I was willing to put up with it until my backup fiasco.
I'll tell you why this is so consumer-unfriendly. Sure, on the surface it seems convenient to re-use your chargers. But the state of the art now cannot change. What incentive does a manufacturer have to build a better connector? What if they had passed this stupid law in 2005, before micro-usb was invented? We'd be stuck with that horrible mini-usb port that only lasted for a couple thousand insertions by design.
If you read up the comment thread, I was the one saying just use the superior connector and to hell with patents. That is pretty company unfriendly.
Of course, mandating a standard connector is pretty consumer-unfriendly - but that's just my 2 cents.
I never had a Nokia smartphone - did their candybar phones also switch to USB prior to the 2010 agreement?
I'm sorry, but you are wrong. While the EU did allow the manufacturers to dictate the standard, they implemented the standard in late 2010 specifically because there were so many different phone charging connectors. If it was all free love and unicorns, the EU never would have stepped in to force the manufacturers to standardize. Every phone I had prior to 2010 had some odd-ball connector: Motorola used a weird mini-USB that wouldn't charge from a computer, Apple had the "dock" connector, Samsung had an assortment of different connectors, Sony-Ericson had something long with exposed contacts, Nokia used the classic round connector...
Here's what a 2010-era universal adapter looked like.
They would put themselves at a competitive disadvantage, especially given how obsessive they are about aesthetics. Everyone else sells a phone with one connector and they sell one with two? How exactly is that feasible? In reality, Apple will probably put some ugly little adapter thing on the EU version of their phone to meet the letter of the law. I suspect most users will just discard it. Either that or EU users will get the privilege of owning a region-specific version of the iPhone, which is incompatible with all of the accessories out there.
USB is by far the most popular combined power/data cable standard around
That's a circular argument.
Which connector does the EU mandate? USB. Why? Because it is popular. Why is it popular? Because the EU got tired of all the different proprietary connections and mandated USB.