Sike!

Plugging into a random usb port is bad security

Not really bad if you use a power-only cable. If the data pins aren't even wired up, can't move anything other than power.
Not sure if that works with USB-C at anything other than legacy 500mA power draw though, probably not since the device can't communicate for what it supports.
- If your device has good software, it will only allow power unless you authorize a data connection.
- Now if only usb cables were labeled like Ethernet cables.
  It amazes me how given the complexity of the USB specifications, where everything looks the same but it is not the same, nothing is ever labeled.
- A power only USB-C cable is a violation of USB spec, has to be USB 2.0 at the least.
- With this arrangement, they probably can't steal your data. But they can absolutely destroy your phone with a string electric shock, if that's the sort of malicious plan they have.
- Until you find that person who wired a 48v USB plug, just for you.
- Not really bad if you use a power-only cable.
  Or a USB condom. But I never really hear about those anymore.
There has never been a proven case of juice jacking, anywhere, ever.
- But I have seen multiple phones get harmed by a really bad charger. Although these chargers were not for public use.
  Still, it's not a bad idea to bring a power bank. And then charge that, if you need to.
- At least that's what the juice jackers want us to think.
So’s leaving the house.
Stay in, bolt the doors, board up the windows, stay safe.
- Except that isn't even safe, just paranoid. Sometimes accidents happen because you're trying to prevent accidents
- And don't travel by plane, and don't travel at all. Build a bomb shelter basement with titanium walls.

That's what USB-A to USB-C cables are for. Most of those outlets don't provide any fast charging anyway.

Faster than nothing at all tho
- So you plug an A to C cable into them (or hang an A to C dongle off the end of your usual cable) and charge from them.
- I still run across them that charge at 1.0 speeds. I'm pretty sure if my phone isn't turned off they can't actually keep my phone from dying at idle.
Wait. I thought they were saying it's annoying that there are now USB-C outlets replacing USB-A, which would be a waste. They actually want USB-C outlets?! I'd guess at least half of all USB-C cables are USB-A to USB-C. There's absolutely no reason to switch from A-outlets.
- USB-c are more convenient and have a wider range of uses. We should be moving to that for everything.
  Actually I was disappointed last year …. After reading for so long that Apple was the last remaining holdout for usb-c, I switched my phone and watch, and have been wondering where everyone else is. Why is it still the minority to find USB-C power strips and chargers and power banks and outlets and random devices? In my case, it means I don’t have a clean switch from Lightning to USB-C but now have to buy legacy cables too

Has this guy somehow not learned of type A to type C cables?

It's not so much the connector; but the power delivery standard.
Type A maxes out at 5v 3a = 15w and is often limited closer to 5v 1a = 5w for public-use charging ports.
Type C and its power delivery standards can get as high as 50v 5a = 250w (though usually closer to 20v 5a = 100w)
Then again.... The negotiation for what voltage/amperage to supply happens over the data lines which you don't want connected on a public charging port...
I dont really see a good solution here.
- Carry a power bank.
The same could be said about power adapters

Idk. Like all the usb ports were capped at like 5v 1a with shorted data lines. I always used my own charger just because it would take 6 hours to charge my phone using the built in usb plug.

This is why next to my couches are multi-port chargers.
The ones I'm using currently have 8 ports; 2 at 65W, 3 at 30W, and 3 at 20W. The 30 & 60 are USB-C, 20W is USB A. The 65W is plenty for laptops, tablets, and phones. 30W for tablets and phones if the 65W is in use or headphones, eBook reader, etc. 20W for all that miscellaneous simple device charging, anything micro USB, etc.
Way better strategy than built in IMO. Easy to replace, old one goes somewhere else (or given to family members), etc.
Takes forever to bring the charge up; but perfect for maintaining battery while you watch/scroll on trips.
- Also great to squeak a little battery in if your phone was flat and you needed to make a call.
This.

I still see these in the gym!

I was looking to book a hotel recently and one of the hotels listed "Every room equipped with iHome radio dock" as an amenity.
What year is it?!

As an anarchist I'm so glad we also made the word universal useless by making all kinds of different power and data transmit standards that ports and cables may or may not support. As a Satanist I also love that there is no system for labeling anything to know what cable will support what protocol.

We do, we just decided not to label anything.
The bus is universal, the port is standardized but not universal.
- The cereal has yet to arrive

That's why USB ports are always worse than a proper outlet. Just take your charging brick with you, what's the problem?

travels internationally
- You've got to start traveling with one of these bad boys:
- Chargers are almost always compatible with any a/c voltage and only need a physical adapter to plug into a wall socket in a different country. Or bring a power bank with you
- I've got a brick for EU/UK/USA/AUS plugs with 3 type a and 1 type c and an international multiplug ac/ac pass through.
USB ports on a wall outlet or power strip are usually much more space efficient than a charging brick.
- They're also much less capable though. Have fun finding a USB-C PD port anywhere when you need to charge your laptop - a power outlet is much more useful.
- Does nobody have usb to usbc cables?
I'm a PD evangelist. Imagine a safer power delivery system that can go directly to the device you want powered. Scale that with fact most of the world could be and should be DC with AC being good just for niche applications like microwaves and mid range transmissions.
- You say most of the word should be DC I till you realize that you need a 3cm thick cable to move 2000w 30m. DC is really bad outside of low or ultra high power transmission.
- Tell me you don't understand how electrical transformers work without telling me you don't know understand electrical transformers work.
- If you think USB A vs C outlets are a problem, wait until you see how much of a struggle getting the entire world to use DC instead of AC is like you're suggesting lol

Yeah. This is the problem with trying to enforce standards on industries that historically move at glacier speed, with standards used by tech moving at breakneck speeds.

The only happy part of USB-C in this context is that, at least right now, the USB-C connector doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, so if things get updated to USB C, we should be okay for a while.

Personally, I carry a whole assortment of USB cables with me everywhere. C-to-C, A-to-C, even A-to-lightning, and A-to-microB. I don't use an iPhone, nevermind one that needs a lightning cable. And I have moved away from most accessories that require micro.

I also have a power brick in my pack with the cables, it's a GaN power brick from Anker, with over 100W of output, two USB-C outputs, and one USB-A. At least one of the type C ports supports enough power output to charge my laptop, the other USB C port for my phone, and the USB A port for anything else that might need it. I don't recall the exact power capacity of it, but if memory serves, it will take 100-240V, 50-60hz AC input, so at most, I just need to get one of those cheap converters for the receptacle type used wherever I may find myself.

I work in tech, so being without power is a huge problem. My work laptop also takes USB C for charging, so I don't need to have two power bricks with me. I usually have both, but I don't need to have both.

As long as there's power available and is sufficiently clean and stable, I'm good. I have a few accessories that are not USB C compliant, some have USB C ports but won't trigger a proper USB C charger to deliver any power, which is why I have USB A to C cables, and there's two devices I have that uses a proprietary cable (a Bluetooth headset and my smart watch), which I've obtained spares for which I keep one charging cable at home and one in my kit. My kit also includes a USB A/C power bank. It's not powerful enough to charge my laptop, but it's fine for everything else.

USB C has simplified the cables I carry. I still have a few odds and ends for edge cases, but for the most part, I'm okay with it.

My only big issue with USB C at this point is that it's not just for power+usb data anymore. It's thunderbolt, and display port, and... Ugh. So many things using the same connector that I don't know what will work anymore when I get to a new device, because though it looks like USB C, it might be USB C QC, or PD, or thunderbolt, or display port, or....... FML.

Worth it though. USB-C is way better

Yeah, let's please stay here for a while.
- Everybody get ready for the dual release of USB-360 and USBONE. USB-360 is gonna be shaped like an octagon, but only two orientations work. USBONE is a nonagon but slightly larger so USB-360 just fits inside because fuck you.
- Seems like a reasonable chance, kind of the first universal end, and it doubles as a two sided option. Micro was nearly there if it hasn't been so horrid on the physical hardware side.

USB-A ports have been outdated since at least 2017, when it started seeing very widespread use. It's everyone else that's late

Dude your mom’s been outdated since at least 2017

I have a piece of furniture with a snap in power station and it probably has USB 1.0 ports on it. I don't care how cool the tech is, if you're trying to incorporate it into a long lasting product like furniture, it really needs to be a standard module that is easy to upgrade. Mine snaps out but I have no idea if an updated version exists anywhere because there's no standardization and this furniture company doesn't show anything on their website.

I'd prefer non-corporate internationally approved standards over modularity. We were able to do it with CAT/ITU ..
- Non-corporate internationally approved standards... For furniture inserts?

rented a car a couple weeks ago. it didn't have usb-a OR a lighter outlet-- had to go buy usb-c to usb-c cables

incidentally, if you're in the market for a new car, don't buy a mazda cx30. and not even for the usb issue, it just all-around sucks

- yea, the car I was given just had a cover plate over that,. no outlet

USB A to C is pretty standard

I thought usb-a to usb-c or whatever you have is standart everywhere what do they mean by useless?

I never used any public ports. Reality is if i have a cable with me, I'm just as likely to have a power bank, and it charges my phone faster. It also gives me more freedom of movement as I don't have to be wired to a wall.

Still better having new universal standards come out over time (as requirements exceed the capabilities of the previous standards) than having a different one for each company or device.

I remember buying a Nokia phone and finding out that used a different cable to my earlier Nokia phone.

Sike

Bone apple tea!

I actually looked it up before making this post, because any time someone uses either version of the word, this comes up in the comments. Apparently both "sike" and "psych" are considered correct, although it seems like "sike" is more commonly used, so I went with that one.
- Psych makes more sense from an etymology perspective, but more people seem to use sike.
- Oh c'mon, we had a whole show, a very good one, that should have taught everyone how to spell PSYCH! correctly. I sentence you to go watch it, all of it, including the movies. 🍍🍍🍍🍍🍍
- I hate it when the misspelling has such a large uptake.

I'm not quite sure what the complaint here is? USB is a standard, and the problem was that we didn't have the standard installed. The fact you've got a slightly different version of the standard is a simple problem to solve by owning a cheap cable.

In fact it's literally the same as having USB-C on both ends, since it's still only the one cable. A to C, or C to C, it makes no difference

I have a piece of furniture with a snap in power station and it probably has USB 1.0 ports on it. I don't care how cool the tech is, if you're trying to incorporate it into a long lasting product like furniture, it really needs to be a standard module that is easy to upgrade. Mine snaps out but I have no idea if an updated version exists anywhere because there's no standardization and this furniture company doesn't show anything on their website.

I enjoy the A to C converter on the side that you didn't explicitly call out. Nice easter egg :D
- Haha. That wasn't on purpose, I swear! It's also connected to the even-more-unique C to Micro converter. I actually needed to dig out my USB mini cable the other day.

By your logic, we should all be using DB9 serial ports because thats what all eletronics used for decades before USB came.