the u in usb stands for universal which
is appropriate seeing as how usb devices are everywhere i mean you can even get a
usb turret to shoot nerf projectiles at your irritating co-workers but one
common annoyance is that there's been a plethora of usb connector types over the
years making the experience not quite as universal as we'd like what's so special
about usb where we can't have the same connector on both ends of the cable i
mean Ethernet HDMI and good old rca jacks figured out so why can't usb take
a look at this thing which you'll probably recognize if you've ever plugged in a printer over usb this is
called a usb type b connector and unfortunately if you've ever needed one
of these cables in a pinch there aren't a whole lot of other devices that use it
meaning you probably don't just have one lying around to add insult to injury
printer manufacturers usually don't include a type b cable in the box
meaning you have to go out and buy one yourself so is this some kind of big
racket by the electronics industry to suck more money out of you
well maybe not a fundamental difference between usb and some of those other
connection types we mentioned earlier is that usb carries
power hence why so many usb gadgets don't need
to be plugged into the wall separately but providing power on the same cable as
data has the drawback that connecting things the wrong way
can lead to damaged devices or other electrical hazards so the powers that be
designed usb so that you always have an upstream and a downstream device with
power only flowing in one direction as part of this design process different
connectors were created for upstream and downstream devices the typical
rectangular usb type a connector that you're used to seeing is usually on
devices that provide power this is why you'll often see them on gadgets that
you plug into the wall like desktop pcs and charging bricks for your smartphone
the other end is often something different on purpose so that people
won't try to connect two type a ports together so if for example you've ever
wondered why you can't just send data between two computers by connecting them
with type a to type a this is a big part
of the reason why of course the standard type b
that you see on a printer or something like a monitor with a usb hub or a
desktop dac for you audio people is fairly bulky so the micro b connector
became pretty common for small devices like smartphones that receive power you
can even see this on your typical power bank where you plug in the full size
type a connector when using it to charge a phone but instead plug in a micro b
connector when you're recharging the power bank itself micro b was further
revised once usb 3.0 was released
as we saw these very funky looking connectors hit
the market that extra lobe on the side enables more data to be carried making
the connector compliant with higher usb 3.0 speeds but in my opinion this
connector sucks they break easily and i don't like plugging them in
ugly of course with the launch of usb type c as you can see here it's more
common now to find a c to c cable as the
usbc actually supports having two devices negotiate to determine which
would be the host that provides power although this was possible with previous
usb connectors with a protocol called usb on the go support for it was
inconsistent however because many usbc devices need
to connect to older hardware c to a cables should still be commonplace for a
long time but do know that the days of juggling
connectors should be numbered in the meantime you can always use your printer
wirelessly oh god that sounds like a nightmare something about printers
that's just never easy speaking of easy our sponsor
brilliant do you want to learn something new brilliant is the place to do it
brilliant is a website and app that makes learning accessible and fun their
approach is based on problem solving and active learning it's about seeing
concepts visually and interacting with them and then answering questions that
get you to really think brilliance courses are laid out like a story and
broken down into little pieces so that you can tackle them bit by bit there's
no tests there's no grades just pick a course based on what you're interested
in and get started if you make a mistake it's no big deal just check out the
explanations to find out more you can learn at your own pace and there's
something for everybody whether you want to brush up on the basics of algebra
learn programming or learn about cutting-edge topics like neural networks
there's even some advanced stuff like differential equations if you're into
that sort of thing the first 200 people who head to brilliant.org techwiki will
get 20 off an annual premium subscription so do it right now just do
it so thanks for watching guys if you like this video hit like hit subscribe
and hit us up in the comments section with your suggestions for topics that we
should cover in the future