As I was packing this morning for a weekend trip to Chicago, for the C4 developers conference, I found myself finally noticing the effects of convergence. No, it wasn’t my iPhone and my iPod—I still packed both of those for the trip.
But I did have to pack significantly fewer cables. Because since the iPhone uses the same dock-connector port as the iPod, it means I just have to pack one power adapter. Not only that, but Apple’s made it so tiny that I barely notice it’s there. And the cable that connects the power adapter to the iPod or iPhone is a standard dock-connector cable, which means if I need to sync my iPhone or pop a song on my iPod, I’m covered.
So thanks, Apple, for making it so that I have to carry around fewer cables and power adapters. Now if only that recessed jack didn’t mean that I have to carry my iPhone earbuds and my headphones.
I agree. Normally use Airport Express when traveling and that allows me to not bring any additional charger for my iPhone or Apple Headset since it can charge them through the USB port. Plus, just the one cable for both the phone and headset. I wouldn't seem like a big deal, but saves me 2 cables.
I've starting doing this as well...I use my iPhone charger to power my iPhone, my g/f's Sansa, my PSP (thru a USB charger cable), my Moto Bluetooth headset, and my TomTom. Pretty convenient.
I took the charger (shown) and cable as well as my laptop to a convention in San Antonio recently. In the Marriott I stayed in, it would not charge using the wall adapter. It was the strangest thing...I thought maybe I had gotten one that crapped out quickly (it had worked at home the night before)and I had to leave my computer on and not asleep and the iPhone connected to it to charge over night or I had nothing. Thank goodness I had taken my iBook and it's power cable!
Here's the really strange thing - when I got home and plugged it all back in here, no problems! Weird!
~C
Benford, are you sure the outlet was working?
Many hotel rooms have a split outlet: one is always on, the other is controlled by a wall switch.
May have been a switched outlet controlled by a light switch across the room or something.
Oh, I know. My dad is an electrical engineer and I've been drilled principals of electricity since I could sit up and crawl. Funny thing - I was at work today (yeah, a Saturday) and needed to charge my iPhone (it didn't tell me the battery was low last night) so I took the charger and again, it wouldn't charge using the wall charger. I plugged it into my desktop (a Dell - I'm not spoiled at work) and it charged right up. Strange, huh? It's like it knows my home and refuses to work anywhere else. I need to find time to go see an iGenius.
~C
speaking of cables/power, anyone have trouble with the XtremeMac InCharge Auto Charger? I bought two and neither work, the Griffin works fine.
Sammy at Personafile
The future is wireless.
All the technology exists to do data transfer and other PC/mobile connects without cables.
We were working on it during dotcom at InterCell with Microsoft.
However, Apple will probably be the one to really bring it to market for real.
shawn kalin
I welcome the day when I can use one set of cables to charge all my devices and transfer data between them. The number of cables and adaptors I carry around when I travel is crazy.