I needed a U post and decided on USB port. My first problem? Despite my use of them virtually every single day, I didn’t know what it stood for.
A USB port is a “standard cable connection interface for personal computers and consumer electronics devices.” Yeah, I knew that.
USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, “an industry standard for short-distance digital data communications. USB ports allow USB devices to be connected to each other with and transfer digital data over USB cables. They can also supply electric power across the cable to devices that need it.”
When I first got chargers for my cellphones and tablets, they were in one piece, with a USB cable doohickey on one end and a plug on the other. Now they come with the cord with different size connectors on each end and a plug as a separate attachment, I gather for greater flexibility.
It has come in handy. At a conference last year, I received – well, I didn’t know WHAT it was. It had an In DC 5V port and an Out DC 5V port at the same end. It turned out to be a portable charger. You stick one end of a cord into a laptop or computer, and the other end into the charger. Then you use the charger when your cellphone or tablet is dying.
Oh, and speaking of phones, I finally got a smartphone this year, kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I can text without typing the 2 three times to get the letter C. I still don’t do it much, but I COULD.
It happened because I lost my not-smart cellphone in NYC in August; I didn’t really miss not having one until I traveled to Binghamton in early October. And while I could have gotten the same phone I had, with the same $7 a month deal, I ended up with an LG something-or-other for $35 per month package, which seems sufficient right now.
And I got a new bike light this year, which was expensive. But it is rechargeable. I had to take it to the bike shop to FIND the USB port, and someone with better fingernails than I had to take off the hard plastic piece hiding it. Plug it in, And There Was Light.
For ABC Wednesday
Seems the cost of my phone keeps going up and up and up! I’m paying nearly $300.00 Cdn a month for TV, Internet, and Cellphone service. So I’m thinking of asking how much my phone would cost if I only used it as a phone (&for texting) and purchase a tablet that I can use to access WiFi anywhere I go. Might be cheaper!
I never knew what USB stood for!
Leslie
they are so much better than all the old connectors like VGA (ooops i gave away ur project for next week)
Somewhere deep in the back of my mind I know what the letters stand for but now you mentionn it, it was indeed hidden far behind in my mind š
I have an Ipad, hardly ever use it, just yesterday I discovered that cable to me missing… aargggg š
Apropos: Why your car’s USB port barely charges your phone.
It is a ‘brave new world’ with all these electronics and I spend too much time figuring ‘stuff’ out and then they change ~ gimmick to keep us buying ~
Happy Week to you,
A ShutterBug Explores
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Roger, I didn’t know the meaning of USB, so thanks! Thanks also for reminding me to get back to blogging.
In our house, USB stands for Ugly Son of a B, the person who is the subject of so much cursing these days, lol. Amy
Never knew what the initials meant but it is certainly an indispensable piece of kit (until they invent something else).
I never would have guessed that B stood for Bus! But then transporting or connecting passengers, I mean data from one place (for lack of a technical term) to another – okay, got the idea.
I recognize the connection between USB and making things work, but didn’t know what it stood for. And now I do…tucked away with all the other trivia one accumulates over eighty plus decades. One learns to be selective, but thanks anyway Roger!!
Darn, I’ve done it again, – eight decades – not eighty, said Methusalah
We still have a non-smart phone. I pretend that I’m doing Morse code when I tap out a text message. lol
The usb port -what would we do without them – we have at least 5 of ’em, trying to keep our ditigal connections happy! Great U, roger:)
I didn’t like smartphones either, but now it’s ok. It’s like small computer. I can post on my blog or write comments š