USB

The next version of the iPhone will probably have a Lightning USB cord with USB-C on the other end - but after that? Imagine a world without cords. Now that we've got the ability to transmit power from one device to the other without cords, with wireless charging pads, what's left for reasons to keep cords at all? Surely only speed - since we can also transfer all the data we'd like with technologies like Bluetooth.

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This Spring a developer by the name of Lexie Dostal hand-constructed an Android 3DS gaming phone. This device doesn't run 3DS games from Nintendo, but it does look a whole lot like a 3DS handheld gaming system. It actually uses some salvaged 3DS parts, as it were - but it runs an open hardware Android SBC called KitePhone.

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Chinese company Fiio has launched a new high-res audio player called the M7. The new Fiio M7 model has a stylish, blocky design with both a touchscreen and physical buttons, as well as one big, important feature: USB-C. With this, buyers can use a pair of USB-C headphones with the audio player rather than traditional 3.5mm headphones.

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The folks at Massdrop announced that they'd be coming correct, officially, with a Hasbro collaboration to make a Scrabble Keyboard. This keyboard is mechanical, which is neat, but it's mostly made because the keys look slick. This Scrabble-themed keyboard doesn't just make its user appear smart, it makes its user feel like they know all sorts of words and such, too.

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The cross I wish the iPad pro came with in the first place is set to be delivered by the folks at ILOVEHANDLES. They've created NODE, a "multi-charger" that has two outs and two ins - that's 2x Lightning plugs and 2x Lightning jacks. Plug it in to basically any iOS device and it'll allow more than one device to be plugged in after it.

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The folks at myCharge make a battery called AdventureUltra that outputs to USB and AC adapter. This monster has a battery capacity up to 13400mAh, and it's made for camping. Of course you can use it anywhere, as over the last few weeks I've tested and confirmed. It's a lifesaver when I'm working on a bus or making a trip across the country in a car with no outlet.

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In the future, cords will only be used to run power across long distances and to facilitate the transfer of data only when the fastest transfer will do. Aside from those two items, everything else will be done without the ubiquitous USB, or Lightning plug, or headphone jack. No company can stop this from happening, and only the most extremely rare company will stick around to create retro hardware.

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The Yubico YubiKey 4C Nano is the perfect way for you to lose access to your computer because of it's miniature size. The image of this device you see above and/or below should give you an accurate sense for scale - it's just about the size of most USB/Bluetooth dongles. The difference here is that this device is the key to your crypto and touch-to-sign, FIDO U2F, one-time password, smart card (PIV), and smart card (OpenPGP) authentication - important stuff.

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This week the folks at OWC have a new super-duper-dongle that they call the USB-C Travel Dock for Mac and PC. This device rolls with five ports, extending the abilities of the meager USB-C port well beyond its original, single-ported existence. Of course this device would be nothing if USB-C wasn't able to provide the connections - it's a teamwork sort of situation.

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This year is the year of fingerprints for security - if it weren't already abundantly clear, here's another bit of proof. This is the VeriMark Fingerprint Key by Kensington. This device is just about as simple as a fingerprint scanner gets - or as simple as a fingerprint scanner gets when it's not already embedded into a device. This fingerprint scanner is a USB dongle - and it lets the user log in to their notebook.

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For something that has “universal” in its name, the USB standard is anything but. It is honestly all over the place. USB Type-C, a.k.a. USB-C, was supposed to become the end all and be all of USB connections but, that is only true in an ideal world. In the real world, devices still use non-reversible USB 3.0, even much older USB 2.0, connections. And to keep things moving forward, the USB 3.0 Promoter Group has just proudly revealed the existence of yet another one: USB 3.2.

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The folks at Satechi have revealed a couple of new USB-C accessories for those device users that wish to output video from small screens to big screens. Two devices were shown today, one a dongle, the other a cable. The cable has USB-C on one end, and a full-sized HDMI plug on the other. The smaller device is the adapter which has a full-sized HDMI port on one end and USB-C on the other.

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