Cheap USB cable destroys Chromebook Pixel

Trying to save a few bucks can quickly destroy thousands, as a Google engineer recently found out while testing USB cables.

ZNAPS turns microUSB and Lightning into easily attachable magnetic plugs

Tired of the daily dance routine when trying to plug your micro-USB cables to your smartphones? Worried an unexpected yank may pull them into a nasty fall and shatter their screens? ZNAPs will fix all that, with the power of magnets.

Statement High Quality Lightning Cable

Apple may have simplified its cables and connectors with the Lightning system, but that didn't make their own cables any better. Just like the old ones, they're prone to "desintegrate" under heavy use, in part thanks to the lack of adequate strain-relief protection (because, as it's used to say, adding it would "ruin" the cable's design). But now Statement wants to change that, providing high quality and certified Lightning cables for your Apple devices.

Torso - flexible USB cable that is also a smartphone stand

No one doubts how capable our smartphones have become in the past couple of years. But yet... they still rely on something we only notice when we need to keep our hands away from them: our hands holding them. Just you try and capture a short timelapse where you have to keep it absolutely still, or something as simple as taking a group photo without asking someone to take the shot for you. This Torso might seem a odd looking USB cable, but it will save you from holding your smartphone for these (and other) tasks.

Torso has already surpassed its objective in Kickstarter and should become a reality in the coming months. It''s secret is that it is made of a flexible material that you can shape according to your needs. Do you want to keep you smartphone steady so you can engage in a videocall without holding it by hand? Or maybe recording a time lapse video of that amazing sunset you're witnessing, or maybe even just keep your smartphone at an angle so you can watch a video.

The micro-USB version costs just $17 (you can also get iPhone versions for a bit more), and if all goes according to plan, you should have it in your hand by April.

The First Honest Cable Operator

It's not April's 1st (yet), but this video deserves to stand on its own, as a testament to the thing most subscribers feel when dealing with cable operators. High prices, packs with hundreds of TV channels with absolutely no value at all, the few TV channels you're likely to be interested in will more often than not be only available at extra charge; internet velocities that are nowhere near the "theoretical" speeds you're paying for; and lots of hidden extra costs no one can figure out why or how are being charged.

Powerless USB Cables

I've had a few issues with cables then and again, but this weekend I found myself getting to the bottom of an annoying issue I was suspecting.

Having to do a lot of reviews on my portuguese website "Aberto até de Madrugada" I usually prefer to use my own charger and micro USB cables to charge most devices - that way I won't have to deal with "which cable belongs to which box".

However, this past week I had a lot of devices coming in, and I had to use some "new" micro USB cable from the "cable drawer" that I had barely used before.

After leaving a smartphone and a tablet charging for a while, I noticed something odd... They were exactly at the same battery level they were in the first place! They were not charging at all!

At first I suspected it might be the power supply (although its rated at 2Amps)... but after a few experiments - and to cut a long story short - the problem was the cheap micro USB cables I was using!

To be absolutely sure, I even tried a Apple micro-USB adapter on those to try and charge an iPhone - and it  immediately complained "charging not supported on this device". Just by replacing the cable, everything charged as it should.

I didn't get to splice up the cables, but I suspect that if I do I'll find hair-thin conductor cables inside - with lots of plastic surrounding it, to make it appear "high-quality". And some friend have also reported that in some cases they noticed other cheap low cost USB cables getting really hot when trying to charge devices... which might become a real fire hazard in case they melt and/or short out.

So... next time you're considering buying those sub-$1 USB cables, you better think twice and see if it really worth the risk!

Elastic Electric Cables

Just as certain as we still have to rely on cables to power up (or recharge) our devices - at least until wireless energy transmission becomes mainstream - there are lots other things one just assumes to be as it is: electric cables, for power and/or data, can be  more or less rigid... but one thing that's for sure is that they don't stretch!... Or can they?

We're not talking about that coiled headphone or phone cables that can "stretch"; we're talking about really stretchable electric cables.

It's no secret how these elastic power cables can be used in... well... mostly everywhere! Its developers created it with a stretch factor of 1.5, similar to the human skin, making it ideal to be used in "wearable" computing devices, as well as body sensors, and also for robotic applications.

Check the following video... and get ready to see what no other electric cable could do before.

Cable-Less Computer

For a lot of people, the inside of a computer is a messy affair of cables and wires dangling around in precarious way.

But... it doesn't have to be that way. Ever wondered if it would be possible to build a clean and tidy computer with no messy cabling?

Here's one such example of  a "cable-free" computer. Although it obviously has all the required cables for perfect operation, it's all neatly hidden away from sight.

Hope that will inspire everyone assembling their own computers.

Denon Ultra Premium Rip-off Cables: Part II

Do you remember when, a few days ago, I talked about those absurdly priced Denon Ethernet Digital Audio Cables promising the "purest digital audio" ever?

Well, if there's one thing you can't deny is that there are lots of people out there with a caustic sense of humor! :)

Check out what some people have said about said cables on Amazon's Customer reviews:

"If I could use a rusty boxcutter to carve a new orifice in my body that's compatible with this link cable, I would already be doing it. I can just imagine the pure musical goodness that would flow through this cable into the wound and fill me completely -- like white, holy light."

“A caution to people buying these: if you do not follow the ‘directional markings’ on the cables, your music will play backwards. Please check that before mentioning it in your reviews.”

"The first time I downloaded a picture to the printer over this cable, the bits moved so fast the printer collapsed into a naked singularity, right there in my office.”

"I accidentally dropped one end of my Denon cable into a glass of Tuscan whole milk I was drinking. Later when I finished my milk (yeah, I still drank it; should I not have done that?), my right arm (lost in an accident in 1987) spontaneously grew back. Is that normal?"

via [Boing boing]

Denon Ultra Premium Rip-off Cables

I can't understand how someone can fall for this stuff...

Denon has introduced a set of Ethernet "Ultra Premium" AK-DL1 59 inch cables to connect to their Denon-Link components.

The issue is: they cost $500!

That's right, half a G for a set of ethernet cables transporting digital information - something that any sub $5 Cat5 Ethernet cable can do.

As if it wasn't enough all the "hocus-pocus" going around on the analog hifi cable debate - with the alleged audiophiles not being able to tell the difference between cables costing thousands of dollars and a coat hanger - now they're trying to do the same in the digital world?

Are their Zero's and One's better than any others? Geeeezzz...

[Denon via Gizmodo]