brejc8's Journal: USB power with everything

When I was making the webcam the only way to get the power out of the PC was to do this. I was wondering why there is no external power connectors for things such as modems, hubs, external zip drives etc. I concluded that none of the companies would agree on the standard and there wouldn't be that much demand for it anyway.
A couple weeks ago I decided to buy a tiny ikkle network hub. I went for the Gigabyte SW005 and as a very cute feature it not only comes with a power adaptor but also with a usb power lead. As you can very easily use up two extension leads to plug in two computers along with all their peripherals I thought the idea was great.
And what happened to my theory that there simply isn't any demand for power from a PC connections? Well how far can I get from the truth. You can now get lights, toothbrushes, heat blankets and hot drinks cups (note it works on Mac as well as Win!). All all wasting valueable USB ports (only one or two on a laptop).
So what does Mr "No one will want those" have to say? I think they will start making USB power only connections on planes, in hotel bathrooms, and coffee shops. Everything will be USB powered. One of my least liked connectors powering everything and me being frustrated because I can't tell which way is up on the things. Ah well, at least I don't have to carry those plug converters.

better than phone jacks

[js7a]

Think of how many tip/sleve/ring three-connector microphone jacks have put five volts with plenty of current across an electret element by accident. Everything is suboptimal in some way, and in another decade you will have a different, better flawed connector.

Charlie, have you ever been to Malvern Science Park in Worcestershire? They used to have this great thing [udel.edu] going on which could really use some low-power [bovik.org] asyncronous cores to get going again. I've been corresponding with Rob Series; you can read an update of his work, "The STAR system: an interactive pronunciation tutor for young children," in Computer Speech and Language [sciencedirect.com] (2000) vol. 14, pp. 161-175. His email is r dot series at 2020speech dot com.

I don't know whether you would consider it worth the 4+ hour round-trip by car [yahoo.com], but it is apparently near a rail station [nxtsound.com], too.

Re:better than phone jacks

[brejc8]

The problem is that I'm not that sort of asynchronous engineer. My circuits are very low level and consume two to five times more power than synchronous versions.
There are some very low power asynchronous things out there but I cant do them. I did hear about asynchronous pace makers and pagers which were very good in their area.
Sorry I cant help you

Re:better than phone jacks

[js7a]

How are you with analog? Do you like Nakamura, Yamato, Kouno, and Takashima in IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals, vol. E84-A, no. 4 (April 2001) pp. 975-83? Check out the d=3cm circuit on page 981.

Best wishes,
James