Are you looking for an inexpensive iPhone cable? This is a common search on Google because those cables go missing, get taken by your kids or co-workers, or possible break. It is as-though we need an endless supply of them. I don’t recall the last cable I had which lasted more than four months. There is an article out there, somewhere, that claims for each iPhone made, the user will need at least three cables for charging it. The link to that article escapes me, but I do believe it speaks the truth. From personal experience there is one needed for the car to charge while driving. One needed at work to charge while working, need that TV back-ground noise {wink}, and one needed at home for charging overnight.
iPhone cables or lightening cables are expensive. Go to Amazon and you will find a decent six foot cable costing nearly $20. Couple that cost with our observation about needing three cables, we are now looking at a $60 dollar expense. No thanks! We want an inexpensive iPhone charging cable.
This cable problem actually gets worse, not better, here is why:
You need microUSB cables to charge your portable battery packs. Okay, so we have our three cables for charging an iPhone. The work one, the car one and the home one. Of course we all have portable batteries to charge our phone, when away from said places. How do you charge those portable batteries? With a microUSB cable. At least those are cheaper than an iPhone lightening cable. Never-the-less it’s still another corded cable.
We all need the portable battery for charging – don’t think otherwise! Kids baseball game could stretch to three hours. Girls softball games are usually 1.4 hours and a couple per day. A golf round with your friends, typically 4.5 hours. The point, many times we find ourselves away from the car, home and work place and have the need for charging.
How do we solve this problem of finding an inexpensive iPhone charging cable? The answer is with a combination of products. The combination will not only charge your iPhone, but also charge the portable battery packs.
Going to Amazon you can find a pack of five microUSB cables for under $10. Be sure to check the length you want. It is easy to make the mistake of buying a shorter cable because the price is a bit lower, only to find out the length is too short.
The other item you need is a microUSB to Lightening adapter. This are little adapters that sit at the end of your microUSB connector and transfor the connection to a Lightening connection for your iPhone. A pack of four can be found on Amazon for less than $10.
Its important to note, these adapters only supply power to your iPhone. The adapters do not allow data transmission to your iPhone. Which is fine, when is the last time you connected your iPhone to the computer anyway for sync’ing? It’s all done wirelessly.
So with our $20 you just spent at Amazone you have three Lightening cables to charge your iPhone and you have three microUSB cables to charge your portable power pack. This is a very inexpensive iPhone charge cable solution. It would amaze me on why anyone would purchase something different, don’t you?
Given USB is everywhere, this guy gives you the ability to control the on and off power of a USB powered device.
I think for most people, there is no real difference between a WiFi outlet and the WiFi USB adapter. The only difference would be if you want to control the power of a USB gadget which is being powered from your computer. If it’s anything else, as for the power source, it will be a wall outlet.
Can you plug in your Alexa via USB? No. Can you plug in your Google Home via USB? No. Can you plug in your lamps in our family room or living room via USB? No. Can you plug in your bluetooth speaker to charge vai USB? Yes, but who cares about controlling the power of that? Can you plug in your phone via USB to charge it? Yes, but who cares, you want that thing to charge to it’s full capacity anyway. Oh wait, unless you are a super nerd, like these guys (read the comments section).
For the $6.50 that Sonoff is planning to charge you, I would put my money towards a more usable product, like the Smart Life WiFi outlets.
If you are an avid user of USB security dongles, you might know how challenging it may be to get remote access to these devices. To simplify this task, Electronic Team, Inc. has developed a dedicated software solution capable of sharing USB protection dongles over the network.
Donglify is a lightweight desktop application that allows connecting USB hardware keys to remote computers over the Internet and LAN. The software uses the 2048-bit SSL encryption to secure your connections, so you don’t need to worry that your sensitive data will be intercepted or lost.
One of the nicest things about Donglify is that it can redirect one USB dongle to several remote PCs simultaneously. In order to make a USB hardware key available for use on multiple computers, you can just connect the device to your local PC and share it over the network with nothing more than a couple of clicks. This option, currently, works with HASP HL Pro, Sentinel HL Pro, SafeNet eToken 5110, and CodeMeter CmStick security keys.
USB hardware keys of other types can also be shared over the Internet but you’ll be able to access them from one remote machine at a time.
Donglify is available by subscription and comes with a 30-day free trial. When the trial period is over, you can continue using the service for $19.99 a month.
USB-C is a great technology, offering ultra-fast data transfer rates close to 10Gbps and increased power delivery for charging laptops, monitors, and TVs. However, the power advantage of USB-C diminishes over longer cable lengths. According to the USB-C (USB 3) specification, optimal power and transfer rates are maintained only when the cable length is under two meters (about six feet).
Power over Ethernet (PoE) is a proven way to deliver both data and power over long distances via cable. PoE Texas has introduced a product that extends USB-C connections using this technology.
“As a standard, USB-C offers amazing speed and power delivery. Unfortunately, USB-C can only transmit power less than ten feet (three meters), and the cable infrastructure comes at a cost premium. Ethernet cable, nearly ubiquitous in modern construction, can transmit power and data up to 328 feet (100 meters). USB-C power and data transmitted over Power over Ethernet significantly lowers the cost of adopting USB-C by eliminating the need for new electrical infrastructure.”
Extending USB-C Connections with Power over Ethernet
Real-World Example of PoE USB-C in Use
A user has a workstation located about 30 feet away from the production unit it needs to communicate with. The production unit is a USB-C duplicator by Nexcopy. The workstation manager controls the data to be loaded onto USB-C flash drives, while the production manager physically connects and disconnects the USB sticks during the duplication process.
Because a standard USB-C cable cannot cover the required distance, the user can employ the USB-C Power over Ethernet solution to deliver both power and data effectively to the remote device.
Conference Room Setup: A USB-C monitor is mounted 40 feet away from the docking station. Using PoE to USB-C allows both video data and charging power to reach the display over a single Ethernet cable.
Security Camera Installation: A USB-C powered 4K security camera is installed 80 feet from the control room, receiving both power and data via PoE without additional electrical wiring.
Point-of-Sale Terminal: Retail stores can power USB-C tablets located 50–75 feet from the main server rack using PoE, avoiding the need for extra outlets and USB hubs.
Industrial Automation: A USB-C duplicator or machine placed 60 feet from the workstation uses PoE adapters to maintain stable power and high-speed data transfer without costly long USB cables.
I came across an interesting article today from Dr Gough, a tech nerd. and thought it good enough to summarize here:
The USB specifications for power from a port vary from 100mA to 1.5A and up to 100W of power for USB Type C, but the cables and connectors used in a cable might not align with the power specifications of the product being designed and used. Cables are typically rated for about 1.8A of current, which is most common for cables used for charging.
The 1.8A rating is based on safety limits for resistive heating of the cable and connectors. The rating is no guarantee your +5V at 1.5A setup will get you the maximum level of power. The important point here, the cable and connector combination is simply a rating to deal with heat, and ensures nothing melts. Going a step further, most specs ensure nothing gets noticeably warm to the human touch.
Every wire that’s not a superconductor has some finite resistance. Said another way, resistance is transferred into heat. Ohm’s law tells says that E = IR, where E is voltage, I is current, and R is resistance. So when you put power through a wire, the current X resistance gives me the voltage that will be “consumed” across that wire, power that turns into heat, and thus, never makes it to your phone.
I want to end this blog post with the above paragraph as that is the real takeaway here. The more inefficient (or cheap) a cable is, the warmer it will get. So if your iPhone cable is warm to the touch, it sucks. If your wire charging your power bank is warm, it sucks. Get a better cable. From what I can tell, there is no rating posted on all these cables you see on Amazon at cheap prices, so word to the wise using your tactile feel!
With USB gadgets like this, it’s hare to imagine companies like ADT stay in business for residential customers. This working USB charger includes a miniature camera which acts like a surveillance camera. You can plug any USB gadget into it for charging, all the while record or stream video for what is going on within it’s view.
Use your Android or iPhone you may stream directly to your connected app or stream to a group of people you’ve authorized within the app. The spy camera records 1080p HD footage and will also record that video to the 32GB microSD card (included). Bonus: You can set the surveillance camera to record only when it detects motion.
The camera view is anything directly in front of the plug, so no ability to turn the camera itself, but that is a simple enough problem to solve, just use an outlet that is in-line with the viewing area you want to record.
Here are some noteworthy bullet points about what you will get for the low price of $29USD:
Motion Detection – Can be set to initiate recording only when motion is detected and then send a notification directly to your phone.
Loop Recording – Can be set to automatically record over old footage, allowing for uninterrupted video recording.
Night Mode – Can be set for recording in dim and low light environments.
Multi-Use – Allows for multiple users to connect to the same device (Supports up to 8 users)
Multi-View – Allows for multiple cameras to be connected to the same APP / Software. (Supports up to 8 cameras)
The Anker Powerhouse 200 is a product which you would say “I should have thought of that years ago.” Well this charging station, is truly that, a station of power.
I’m not even going put the features in some lofty gargon sentence, but rather list them off like a spelling test in 5th grade. After you read the following paragraph, I wonder what you will think; here we go…
Input High-Voltage Protection, Output High-Voltage Protection, Input Current Regulation, Automatic Current Matching, Input Short-Circuit Protection, Device Overcharge Protection, Static Resistance, Output Short-Circuit Protection, Output Current Regulation, Battery Overdischarge Protection, Output Temperature Control. That is an awesome sounding product.
Specifications are below, but we couldn’t find out how heavy the Powerhouse 200 weighs.
Capacity: 57600mAh/218.8Wh
Input: AC/Power Delivery
USB Output: 5V=3A (15W)
Power Delivery Output: 5V=3A, 9V=3A, 15V=2A, 20V=1.5A (30W)
Legrand now offers the XSOLARCS USB charging station for public works, schools, parks and transportation centers.
With the Legrand solution, there is no construction required in order to install the charging station. The unit is a self contained solar panel tower, with six USB charging ports pulling from the solar panel. There are three shelves which can mount in adjustable locations to the panel tower poll. Each shelf containes two USB ports with up to 3.1A of shared power between them. There is no trenching required or other expensive construction projects in order to get the EXSOLARCS going.
USB sockets are protected from the eliments with a sliding door in front of the two port socket assembly. Not only is there protection, but LED illumination at each port for after-dark identification and ease-of-use. If the light is illuminating, the station can provide a charge. This implies there is some type of battery inside the station, which we’ve emailed Legrand to find out exactly what.
The XSOLARCS was designed with the elimints in mind. The USB charging station is designed to withstand hurricane-force winds and has the full RoHS certificate compliance.
These are 1450mAh batteries that are rechargeable via
standard USB port.
This is the better way digital devices should be
designed. I am not a fan of, for
example, my portable speaker going south because the device can no longer hold
a charge. I’d much rather have my
portable speaker take batteries which I can replace, than my device going dead
and I have to throw it away.
As I type this, the four pack of double AA batteries are
going for $35. So just under $10 per
battery.
The company claims they will take 500 charges. Assuming they have over stated that
statistic, even at 250 charges… it’s a smart move.
They also claim the AA battery will last 2 to 3 times
longer than a normal battery. Probably a
direct link to the 1.2V NiMH nickel metal hydride cell technology.
For those in a situation where you plug devices into unknown USB ports, a USB data blocker is a good thing to have around. Or some call it the USB condom!
This is a physical device that sits between the USB host connection and your device. The data blocker enables the power pings of a USB socket, but not the data lines. This means your device will get the power it needs, but without the possibility of infection via data transfers.
For example, if you are at a client’s office and need to connect your device to a USB port and don’t want to risk anything, use the USB data blocker. You’ll get the power, but without the risk of spreading or getting a virus.
Not much use for those who surround themselves with a trusted environment, but for those on the move, I think it’s a great product.
You know a product is a great idea when a couple of pictures describe the entire product.
With that in mind, we’ve all seen wall outlet USB charges, but the Snap Power, in my opinion, will rule them all.
The design is clever. Installation is ultra-easy. Accessibility supersedes all others.
Take a second and just look at it:
In my mind there are three things which make this a brilliant wall charger. If you don’t mind me walking you through the obvious, here we go.
Or skip the highlights and jump right over to their website:
The design is brilliant. The User keeps both outlets available for normal use while a sleek looking USB port is added underneath. At the time of this article there is one USB socket, but visiting their website you can see two sockets, one on either side. They are constantly improving.
Installation is very easy. Simply unscrew your current face-plate and replace it with
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Using Windows 10, you can partition a USB flash drive into multiple partitions. The process is not difficult; you simply follow some easy steps. This tutorial will partition the drive so that your device is assigned multiple drive letters when connected to the computer.
This partition process is not done at the USB controller level, or said another way, done at the hardware level. This USB partition process, for lack of better terms, is done at the software level. What does this mean for you? It means the partitions can be wiped off the drive and the full capacity of the USB flash drive can be restored.
When a USB stick is partitioned at the controller level, or at the hardware level, there is no way to reverse the partition. The multi-partition drive is permanent. At the end of this tutorial is the solution for a hardware-based partition solution.
So let’s get started.
How to partition a USB flash drive in Windows 10:
Connect the USB flash drive to your Windows 10 machine. Be sure there is nothing valuable on the USB as this process will remove all content from the drive.
Right Click the Windows icon and select Disk Management.
The Disk Management window will appear with all the connected devices. Select your USB flash drive by clicking one time. By selecting your flash drive, it will allow Windows to apply the partition to that device.
You will see your flash drive as Disk X. The device is represented by diagonal gray lines. Right Click your device in the diagonal gray line area on your screen and select Delete Volume.
Windows will display an error message stating all the contents of the device will be removed. Confirm Yes.
You will now have an unallocated partition for the flash drive. This means a file system is not assigned to the drive. Having no file system on your USB means you cannot save data to the drive. We need to create a file system for this partition, i.e., FAT, FAT32, NTFS, or exFAT.
At the same time, we assign a file system to this partition, we will also slice up the USB flash drive to create multiple partitions.
Right Click the unallocated space on your screen, represented by the diagonal gray lines. Select New Simple Volume from the options presented.
A Microsoft wizard utility will start. Click Next from the first introductory screen. Windows will display the total amount of memory available to the device. This is where you will enter the size of your first partition. In this example, I am using a 2GB flash drive (1,896MBs) and will make a first partition of 500MBs.
The rest of the wizard utility is auto-populated and straightforward. For example, the wizard will ask if you want a specific drive letter assigned to the partition once the process is done.
The wizard utility will ask you what file system you want for this new partition. If you are not sure, just leave the auto-populated selection from Windows.
TIP: If you want the dual partition USB drive to also work in Mac computers, be sure to format the drive as FAT, FAT32, or exFAT. Do not use NTFS, as Mac computers will only read the content but cannot write to the device. In fact, read this article on why to never format USBs as NTFS.
Be sure to set a volume name to the device so the partition (new drive letter) will be easy to recognize.
Click Finish for Windows to make this first partition. Looking in Disk Management once the wizard has closed, you will now see the device with one partition and a balance of the drive as unallocated.
Rinse and Repeat. Do the same steps as above for this smaller unallocated memory space.
After the second pass using the partition wizard for Windows, you will have a dual partition USB drive with two drive letters. Each USB flash drive letter will work and appear like a normal, single flash drive. You can data load each partition as normal. You can even flash one partition to make it bootable if you are into making bootable USB sticks.
Although the above tutorial makes things easy to partition a USB flash drive into multiple drive letters, this method is not permanent. Using the same steps, you may clear out all the partitions and its content. For some users or companies, having an unsecured dual partition drive is not ideal for their business practice or application. There is an alternative. There is a method to partition a USB at the hardware level.
In order to partition a USB drive at the hardware level, or controller level, you will need some specific controller chips and the vendor commands to set up the partitions. These tools are not readily available as there are hundreds of chip makers and thousands of USB suppliers. However, Nexcopy has a solution for business-to-business applications for creating dual partitions at the controller level.
In addition, Nexcopy has the ability to make these partitions write-protected, or read-only. If this hardware solution is what you need, please contact them.
Source: 
In my mind there are three things which make this a brilliant wall charger. If you don’t mind me walking you through the obvious, here we go.
Or skip the highlights and jump right over to 
