It’s a glorious day for phone users worldwide as Nokia, LG, AT&T and fourteen other mobile phone companies say “Let’s free customers from having to carry around fifteen different chargers!” Of course they’re the ones who created the problem in the first place, costing every single one of us hours of digging, untangling, and cursing loudly at the wrong damned proprietary plug.  Often while abroad, out of power, and facing death/dismissal/divorce if you don’t call.

The new plan is to use microUSB plugs (like sensible people are already doing), and by instituting a solid standard they enable a glorious new age where you can power everything – phone, camera, MP3 – from the same single socket.

Unless your kit begins with “i”, as Apple apparently want nothing to do with this miraculous user-friendly agreement.  It seems that their “It Just Works” motto means “It Just Works with our products, and only those, and you give us more money now hahahaha.”  If haggling over cables when you’ve already dominated at least two tech sectors seems mean-spirited , well, that’s because it is.  It’s also expensive.  And stupid.