I love this idea. Convenience + environmentalism. Of course, you're going to see a lot more waste initially if this takes off, as people would have to upgrade their existing sockets.

@revolution-inc: We already have universal adapters, so importing foreign products is not usually a problem.

KCHii

Not going to happen. Not when you have corporations like Apple who patent their power adapters and lock them down to prevent competition.

That's right kiddies - the MagSafe connector is patented and only Apple has the right to sell you one. For $80 plus tax. And no, it's not covered by warranty.

Apple's not the only one with a dog in this fight. I don't think that companies like Belkin and uGo will take to kindly to it either. Companies like that depend on you losing your proprietary adapter.

The Incredible OMG! Ponies!

it would be a great idea, but then imagine how many people would import products not sold in their country for a lower price-but this can be solved by having universal currency

revolution-inc

Green Plug actually sounds kind of like a good idea... I doubt that it will ever be adopted by everyone unless larger companies sign on.

Lstormy10

what a great idea!

chaos421

Hopefully if a few big companies sign onto this, the others may follow suit as well.

It's nice to see a tech company think of the consumers for once (even if only because it will save them money as well).

dnzperson

This is GREAT!

Nice one!

altus

Cool, it even displays the name of the device and its charge percentage. Looks like a really great product.

mcknn

I can't see this catching on. I imagine cell phone companies make a large portion of their profits from charging $30+ for car/wall chargers and even more for sync cables.

Reiji

Aw man! I just decorated my house to match all my wall warts!

SpeakerToThirdGraders

And here I thought the major companies would want to keep their proprietary adapters to make as much money on accessories as possible. At $30 for an AC adapter for a phone, you know that someone is making money.

Obviously, this is a huge benefit to consumers, but it has an uphill battle against some of the major companies out there that notoriously ignore standards. Like, all of them.

Monty

I wonder if the reduction in the number of power wart SKUs a manufacturer would have to carry would offset any reduction profits.

Monoplex

ok, I have already been trying to get most of my stuff to run on USB (5 V) and Firewire (12 V). What I, for one, cannot understand is, why camera companies do not use the USB already included in their devices for charging? That should be a real no-brainer. And all those cell phone companies who are still using their proprietary AC adapters and plugs, although they also usually provide USB data and even charging cables. Why not just charge their machines right from the start with mini-USB?

yogibimbi

Yeah, if you guys click to the link in the story, they go into the challenges GreenPlug is facing over this tech. Power adapter replacements are a great money maker. :(

Elaine Chow

That'll be the day when Sony or Apple sign on for this.

Trevorblanco

Futurific.

skulldriveshaft

@yogibimbi: I agree totally with the camera point, as for phones though surprisingly not everyone owns a computer, that is a minor problem for charging, this can be remedied by supplying a little plug that the usb cable could plug into. Also if i seem like an idiot for saying this i apologise for misreading your comment.

DozeUser

This is a great idea! I hope they're able to convince other electronics companies to sign on. Anything to help the environment and make my life better at the same is a winner for me.

drb023

Douglas Adams had this same idea 15 years ago. Way behind the times.

podzilla

I go to great lengths to ensure than many of the gadgets I buy can be recharged via USB. 'Course, with the new iPhone I'll have eliminated the extra chargers for the phone, ipod, GPS, P&S camera, movie player, and portable game player.

ghmlco

@The Incredible OMG! Ponies!: He's right, too many companies have a healthy business model of selling power adaptors to people who lose them. The closest thing we have right now to that is the fact that a whole slew of devices are finally charging off of USB. The prices for laptop chargers, not just Apple's, are nothing short of obscene.

It perplexes me why a third party can't make an aftermarket Magsafe plug, but there's tons of regular iPod chargers from all manner of no-name manufacturers.

And yes, it would really rock if I could charge my Rebel XTi off of USB. Again, it comes to the business model. Canon's battery charger is quite cheap and plasticky, but it costs a staggering $60. Nintendo is another company that really loves proprietary connectors in general.

markarian

A universal power adapter sounds great, but you know what will happen? Every maker will include one with every product sold and soon you'll have scads of identical transformers that nobody needs because they too have lots of them .... and off to the landfill they go.

Brau

Nice try, but...

What we really need is a efficient(!) universal power adapter that can replace five to ten of todays cheap power supplies at the same time.

Here at my desk I have an uncountable number of small and cheap power adapters for printers, scanners, external disk drives, battery chargers for phones, digital cameras and rechargeable batteries, another telephone, a network-switch and two usb hubs. All do their best to suck the electricity-grid dry.

Sometimes I wish there would be a worldwide ban of inefficient power adaptors.

torax242

But I thought "Universal" meant "Utopian"!

It's quite possible they will universally suck as well you know.

strider_mt2k

@KoRnholio8: But that's the point of reusing USB: your power hub is immediately useful with your existing "dumb" devices that can be powered over their USB port. When a device uses the new protocol, it can go further to tell the hub to deliver more power or shut off its power altogether.

skierpage

this is some great news right here!

the only problem i see is that the connector is identical to mini-usb, which could be confusing (considering that all green plug compatible devices have to be made from scratch, they could desing an unique plug too)

KoRnholio8

If y'all [justfuckinggoogleit.com] for "Green Plug universal adapter", you're pointed to [www.greenplug.us] where they say:
Unmodified, standard USB cables can be used to connect Green Plug™-enabled power supplies to low-power devices that get power over their USB connectors. Since USB provides for low-power only, Green Plug has extended the connector in a very innovative way such that high-power devices can all use the universal connector for power.
So they've already listened to your suggestions!

@torax242: They listened to you too: each Green Plug-enabled power hub is designed to power multiple devices.
Also, this could provide a more compelling reason for small solar panels — one can power your single power hub without the expense of a grid-tied inverter to pump out 120V AC to all those %$#@! wall-warts.

They also solved the vampire Watt-sucking of those wall-warts: Green Plug-enabled power hubs eliminate this phantom power waste through collaboration with devices to determine when they do not need power.

Very cool, they deserve our support!

skierpage

Its an excellent idea, but I can forsee some stiff competition from them big hude, cord making machinoids.. (is that a word>)

prabh1602

bag of wank,

ichi1

everyone get ready for the plug format war

tuckertuck

Yet another in the long list of things that 1) ARE GOOD, 2) PEOPLE WANT, 3) BUT CORPORATIONS DON'T.

leMel