The folks who decide such things are finishing up the specs for the next generation of USB (Universal Serial Bus). This is going to fundamentally change your life.<\/p>\n
Back in the early days of electricity (1890s) there was a tug of war over whether we would use Direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC). AC has lots of benefits for long distance high voltage transmission, but its value in your house is not so obvious. TV and clocks were built to rely on the 60 hertz (Hz) flip flop and AC motors sync to the 60 cycles.<\/p>\n
But look at that power strip behind your computer. Everything in your computer and connected devices runs on DC and each device needs its own transformer, with no standard on voltages or polarity.<\/p>\n
By now you likely have some devices that use the feature of USB that allows devices to draw several watts of power from the computer – illuminated keyboards, optical mice, desk fans – but the low power of USB makes it difficult to do things like power an external USB hard drive.<\/p>\n
In addition to the blinding speed, the next generation will support power consumption up to 100 watts, with the power supply negotiating demands for power if one device has a temporary demand that would overload the power supply.<\/p>\n
What this means is in the future your power outlets will likely be USB ports with one central AC to DC transformer. Devices that use 100 watts or less and don’t need the AC time sync will be built to plug into USB, and this USB will be a global standard. No more 110 vs 220 volts, 50 vs 60 hz.<\/p>\n
No more crashing your web server when you accidentally pull the power plug off your disk drive \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The folks who decide such things are finishing up the specs for the next generation of USB (Universal Serial Bus). This is going to fundamentally change your life. Back in the early days of electricity (1890s) there was a tug … Continue reading