Finally! One charger for (most?) mobile devices

At last, many cell phone makers have agreed to use a common standard for the charging of their mobile devices. By 2012 (really, can't we do better considering how quickly companies turn around their designs these days? Three years???>) companies including Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson will be joined by telecoms T-mobile, AT&T, and Vodaphone to adhere to a standard universal device charging standard. What that means is that when you forget, lose or otherwise misplace your cell phone charger somewhere, you should be able to borrow a friend or family member's charger so you don't run out of juice.

I'd like to see this taken even further. I have a BlackBerry and a GPS unit that both can charge from the same charger, but my iPod nano doesn't get enough of a charge from the same unit. Why shouldn't most or all of the portable devices manufactured use the same standard? Imagine being able to check into a hotel and borrow a universal charger that works for your cell phone, portable media player, GPS unit, or other decide. Better yet, why not just allow all items to be charged off of said cord type plugged directly into your computer's USB port? Road warriors rejoice!

I keep two different cell phones (one personal, one business) and this would make a big difference in the way I do things.

This is a little design decision that could have a big impact. Imagine now, that when you buy a new device, the cable and charger are sold separately because you probably already have one at home? Less packaging, less junk to ship with every single item sold, less waste, etc. And you won't need to keep a million chargers around!

Here's the original article, and here's to 2012!

Red State, Blue State

It's not what you think.

The New York Times recently posted an article concerning the effects of color, specifically red and blue, on cognitive tasks.



In the study cited in the article, participants performed tasks with words and images shown on a computer screen against fields of a red, blue, or neutral background. Red correlated with better performance in attention-related tasks while blue correlated with better performance in creative tasks.

There's another neat study cited involving room color and its affect on how partygoers chose a room, whether or not they stayed a long time, and how thirsty or hungry they were while in the room.

The New York Times article is a good read and if you're really intrigued, check out some of the studies and detailed articles:

Blue or Red study

Spatial Color Study