Kurt Shintaku's Blog

There’s one thing that I’m very interested in seeing at CES 2014 this year.

It’s called USB Power Delivery.  It’s a technology that’s was scheduled for release this August 2013 for USB 3.0.   I’m not sure if it’s yet available… when last I checked at CES 2013, it was something on the horizon & required new USB technology in the receiving laptop. (i.e. it won’t work for existing machines)

If you’re interested in the details from the USB consortium itself, here they are:
http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/

The goal of course is to only require the connection of ONE, single physical cable for everything the laptop user wants:

• …DisplayLink technology is used to provide connectivity to 3-4 external monitors (Display connectivity over USB 3.0)
• …Gigabit Ethernet is available through USB 3.0 adapters
• …High throughput external storage is connectable
• …of course audio, mouse, keyboard, camera, etc.
• …and now Power/Recharging the user’s laptop

Imagine a world where people are no longer purchasing different power adapters for every laptop they purchase.  In fact, imagine a world where people aren’t buying power adapters at ALL because the USB power delivery enabled adapters they had before work just fine on their new laptops & tablets.  Imagine cubicles & shared workspaces that have displays, deskphones, mice, keyboards, speakers, ethernet, and only a single cable in them:  The USB 3.0 power delivery cable that both charges & connects your laptop to every peripheral.

Epic.