Apart from the processors, I'm amazed/bewildered that USB is now complex enough, that the power component of it has its own serial communication protocol (USB-PD), which also has a vendor registry and is extensible with proprietary messages - and by the looks of it, is already in widespread use for all sorts of things that have nothing to do with power delivery. Isn't this sort of reinventing USB on top of USB?
The good thing is that I could now fast charge my pixel 4a with my MacBook charger as the protocol allowed the charger to pick the right output.
Apart from the processors, I'm amazed/bewildered that USB is now complex enough, that the power component of it has its own serial communication protocol (USB-PD), which also has a vendor registry and is extensible with proprietary messages - and by the looks of it, is already in widespread use for all sorts of things that have nothing to do with power delivery. Isn't this sort of reinventing USB on top of USB?
Yes, Apple seems to be very confused in this regard. They’ve committed to USB-C for all of their computers, but then are continuing to push lightning for all the other portable devices. It’s hard not to be annoyed at them about this. Enough to not buy Apple again? No, not yet, but I’d be lying if it’s not a reason why I’ve delayed purchasing a new device. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and makes me grumpy. So I’l…
I think they're keeping lightening to help their 'eco' brand. They just removed chargers from the iPhone box because 'everyone has one' - if they suddenly changed to USB-C on iPhone it would create a LOT of ewaste. I still think they should switch, but I reckon it's because they'd get accused of hypocrisy if they deprecated it.
Even apple chargers are regular USB at the charger-end, right? Just include a cable then, problem solved.
Yes, Apple seems to be very confused in this regard. They’ve committed to USB-C for all of their computers, but then are continuing to push lightning for all the other portable devices. It’s hard not to be annoyed at them about this. Enough to not buy Apple again? No, not yet, but I’d be lying if it’s not a reason why I’ve delayed purchasing a new device. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and makes me grumpy. So I’l…
As I understand it, Nintendo didn't intentionally hobble their USB-C port, they just screwed up the Power Delivery implementation. (And didn't care enough to fix it.) Some chargers are tolerant of Nintendo's mistakes, others aren't.
The dock uses a non-standard implementation of USB-PD, the Switch itself can charge just fine with just about any charger, though. As I understood it, the dock randomly switches between different voltages depending on load, while portable mode uses plain old USB-PD with a consistent charge. While you can use the dock with Apple's 61W charger, it's not really recommended, since it can still get bricked with a software update. The 87W/96W charger isn't safe for the dock at all.
I forgot to take my MacBook Pro's charger with me but could still charge it using my iPad's charger (USB-A to USB-C, mind you) - albeit very slowly. Still better than nothing, though. If only iPhones had USB-C…
Yes, Apple seems to be very confused in this regard. They’ve committed to USB-C for all of their computers, but then are continuing to push lightning for all the other portable devices. It’s hard not to be annoyed at them about this. Enough to not buy Apple again? No, not yet, but I’d be lying if it’s not a reason why I’ve delayed purchasing a new device. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and makes me grumpy. So I’l…
USB-C is now a requirement for me to upgrade my iPhone. I'm holding onto my XS until they switch to that.
I'll start freaking out when radios start appearing in places like this.
The real problem I see is when IoT crap starts getting 4/5g modems with their own network plans so they can spy on you even while not connected to wifi
There should really be a database of such devices.
Aren't checksums for error detection and not error correction? As I understand it, error correction is having enough information to correct the error while error detection is only knowing an error has occurred.
Aren't checksums for error detection and not error correction? As I understand it, error correction is having enough information to correct the error while error detection is only knowing an error has occurred.
I guess checksums are ok for many applications if USB implements resending of data at the protocol level. For high-speed cameras it might be problematic though.
The real problem I see is when IoT crap starts getting 4/5g modems with their own network plans so they can spy on you even while not connected to wifi
There should really be a database of such devices.
The FCC probably has that data, though probably not in a form that you can filter by "IoT" and it's conceivable that only an internal radio module is registered for cheap devices that didn't undergo regulatory testing.
Yes, Apple seems to be very confused in this regard. They’ve committed to USB-C for all of their computers, but then are continuing to push lightning for all the other portable devices. It’s hard not to be annoyed at them about this. Enough to not buy Apple again? No, not yet, but I’d be lying if it’s not a reason why I’ve delayed purchasing a new device. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and makes me grumpy. So I’l…
USB-C is now a requirement for me to upgrade my iPhone. I'm holding onto my XS until they switch to that.
I think we’re more likely to see a port-less (read MagSafe only) iPhone sooner than a USB-C version. I will say the iPad Pro with USB-C was a revelation for usability though. Not to mention companies like Flir being able to create one product line.