Universal cell phone charger

Subtle asynchronous information at work.

The possible demise of the universal cell phone charger in Europe can be seen as a sweet example of how asynchronous information works.

The term asynchronous information is little more than a fancy term for "not having all the information on a subject" with the consequence that you miss out on something or lose money.

The involuntarily voluntary agreement to sell only universal chargers in Europe expired early this year, and now a debate about renewal is taking place.

According to the German press, some mobile phone makers seem unwilling to keep this consumer friendly approach alive. There is a reason for abandoning the universal charger:

The charging cable has evolved into much more than a power cable. It is increasingly being used for data transfer and synchronization.

Does this look like a valid argument to you?

Congratulation, you have been asynchronized. We coined asynchronized because we did not want to use the colloquial term again. Which one? Oh, come on, okay, try this: f*****d.

The two sentences of the above argument are both true. But what they suggest is that there is a relationship between abandoning the universal charger and the use of the cables for data transfer.

Which is bullshit. Because the cables are USB cables. USB cables are marvels of design because they can do both "just power" and "data transfer" really, really well.

So, don't get asynchronized, keep the universal charger alive.