[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Universal Chargers are a Good Start: 5 More Things That Need Conformity here

[mmopcw]

One glaring omission: optical media! One walk down the CD/DVD aisle at the computer store should show a problem similar to the adapters: a deliberate choice to bring more products to force the consumer to buy more while making the purchase more complicated and error-prone.

[mammetancalore]

I took them a long time to realize this, holy moly.
Seems like people running the UE are a bunch of brainless idiots, they wake up one day with the greatest idea ever, hot water, really revolutionary.
The next thing in my opinion and this would really help to reduce the amount of garbage we produce... extra packaging, why would you pack something and pack it again where there no need, plus the extra fancy packaging is gonna increase the final price.

[socalbrit]

"However, these handset makers deserve recognition for trying to simplify our lives and reduce the number of obsolete adapters that get thrown away."
Nice level of sarcasm there, Jeff.
They had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to this position by the EU. They were most reluctant to give up the revenue stream from selling us replacement, proprietary, adapters.

[mathion]

Laptops can stand some standardization. I'd LOVE to see the entire laptop industry go the way of the PC - standardized sizes (say three of them - tiny, moderate and large), standardized screen sizes (to fit the chassis) and standardized internals that can be replaced and upgraded as desired.
Every laptop today comes with a one-type-fits-none mentality where you have to tweak and sacrifice and play with the specs before you get anything approaching what you want - and sometimes not even then. With a desktop, you have your choice of everything that goes into it and can create a weak workstation or a world-dominating "tower of OC'd death".
Why can't we make our own laptops like we can desktops? I, for one, would love to build my own laptop and get it without all of the BS crapware manufacturers infest them with these days.

[andrewriver]

You say "people running the UE are a bunch of brainless idiots" - but why? Of course this idea had been around forever, nothing revolutionary in the idea itself. What's new and commendable is that the UE finally managed to get those companies to set aside there short term advantage and agree to this standard. I'm US, not UE, by the way, and I wish our guys would have done something about this sooner. But then, we're so "exceptional" and "patriotic" that we haven't even adopted the metric system ...

[funkyjam]

The thing that always annoys me is that the interface for debit card readers are different everywhere you go. You have to slide the card facing different ways, pressy yes or green or enter buttons that may be on the pin pad or on the screen or both, you get asked different questions, etc. Why can't they all work the same way and be on a standard?

[jwildhair]

Printer ink cartridges

[ulic14]

yeah....this already happened in south korea more or less. some phones have a a different plug type, but you get a small adapters for the charger plug that you hang like a phone charm. and all subway stations and most restaurants/bars have free chargers....

[palli]

And how about languages? If everyone in the world spoke the same language then we would not need lots of wasted paper with instructions and manuals in 8 different languages for every appliance / gadget. We would not need 40 editions of most books to be printed and lying in storage... think of the number of forests we would save... Then how about standardizing everyone's height and weight so that only one design of clothes will fit all people in the world --- think of the huge savings in design, inventory and production costs then. Perhaps, we should also standardize the food that everyone eats worldwide, that will lead to enormous savings and solve the world's hunger problem. And how about...

[JillAgain]

As a road warrior, I appreciate the ability to use standard connectors whenever I can, and eliminate carrying the damn things around. But when we do standardize, let's at least pick a good standard. The micro USB is a bad connector, difficult for elderly people to use, and it's hard for people with less than stellar vision to see which direction it should be faced. There's not much difference in size for the headache. As for other things using a common standard, as another reader pointed out the metric system should be #1 on the list. Then AV connectors, with a built in standard language for device negotiation that can intelligently understand what's on the other end of the cable and adapt appropriately. The HDMI standard is a good beginning.

[Garrek99]

Can we add earphone jacks and cellphone batteries to this list of things to be standardized.

[Tudza]

It's called Esperanto. Everyone speaks their own language and Esperanto.

You print all your manuals, international laws, etc in whatever native language you want and Esperanto. Really, a big savings.

Shoot, choose something other than Esperanto, just pick one that works at least as well as Esperanto.

[FocusedWolf]

Standardization is so European...
Just think of it... we can just have one type of car and one type of religion and one government...
We can call it the "Cocteau plan", and anyone that doesn't go along with it can be placed in concentration camps where their bodies will be pulverized and recycled in order to make more standardized---government approved :thumbs up + tin foil hat on: components...
all hail the EU Fuhrer

[Fireaxe888]

As an EU citizen,I can say that european integration and especially the eurozone and schengen has done wonders for our economies.Europe today is a stable,prosperous place (at least in western and now central europe), and our governments are not fascist.Individuality is good,but sometimes a little mutual cooperation can help a lot.

[gundark]

Our free-thinking author writes:
"My suggestion: Have Apple design a TV remote, and make it a standard."
Yeah, so we can have an over-priced remote control that doesn't allow us to replace batteries when they go bad. I can already see the lines forming for the midnight release...

[anshassi]

yeah I totally agree, but I don't think that this universal wireless thing is gonna happen coz every gadget requires a certain type due to many factors such as battery, simplicity bla bla bla but there's a step forward there's now bluetooth version 3 technology which is compatible with the wi-fi and it's a gr8 step

[chevrolet1994]

Defiantly overdue!

Every cell phone manufacturer HAD to
have their own charger(additional cost)
to go with every cell phone model they manufactured.

A group proposed that Esperanto become
the global language about 80 or 85 years ago,nothing ever came of it.

[kitsune17717]

a quick side note to all of the sarcasticly speaking commentors here, you can't just standardize everything because the end result will result in something more efficient. You have to also consider how much it would cost to actually implement that change.

In that respect, cell phone chargers, printer ink cartriges and such are relatively easy to implement. Changing the language that people speak- or did I hear something about making the height and weight of people the same- would be very "costly." (I know you were sarcastic there palli) I'm just saying- that's basically the principles of engineering.

Gawd, I do hate the americas. Those capitalists with their crazy non-standard living. The EU, the orientals, they are so much better in standardizing stuff.

[palli]

I agree with the notion of standardization (coming as I do from Asia that has benefited from this...), but I believe that standardization has to be implemented cautiously, else we could quickly slip into a socialistic approach... Standardization is a must for any utility or scarce national / natural resource -- to result in public good. Therefore, all states in a country would have the same electric system (tho' I don't ever see the EU getting to that ideal) or regulators would allow wireless spectrum to be used based on an allocation plan and with standards based equipment,.. also, education systems for instance... or PSTN telephone systems...

Where individuals are making choices about discretionary items (e.g. game consoles), I see little value in absolute standardization. That would kill any incentive to innovate and create new models or features. Don't game console remotes or TV remotes form part of the overall design and feature set of a gadget? Why force the manufacturers into group think? There are products that work with "universal remotes" and we know how limited the experience can be...

Cell-phone chargers (particularly now that mobile phones have become ubiquitous and therefore, a utility) are peripheral to the device and its experience and should be a prime candidate for standardization. USB is another good example of where interface standardization has helped create new accessories and peripherals for most gadgets and enabled "interconnection"...

Hopefully convergence will be kept away from both capitalism and communism.