USB Changed its name AGAIN

This is getting confusing
Watch the full WAN Show: • USB Branding Changed A...
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[@juances]

I still hate that excuse "but these are internal names, not for the public!". It doesn't make the naming scheme any less dumb.

[@NoNameAtAll2]

are there the ones for the public?

[@TricksterRad]

"But like, hear me out, how about you stop renaming old spec?"

[@kennymuller3115]

@@TricksterRad especially when its things like renaming 3.0 to 3.1 that makes no sense and can only cause problems for consumers

[@fuseteam]

I think that was limited to usb4 version 1 and usb4 version 2

[@lunakoala5053]

it's even more dumb for internal names. Public facing you can come up with (stupid) reasons for it. Like maybe some idiot thinks USB 3 and 4 wouldn't be compatible, so by renaming everything to the same thing, that "problem" is "solved". But the USB folks should already know the specs of their product.

[@PierceMD]

Kinda cute, might change name later.

[@EddyOver9000]

Then hit em with a “idk”

[@Voltaic_Fire]

How about "USB [type] [bandwidth] [rated wattage]" so I can buy a bunch of "USB-C 20Gbit 60W" cables and be done with it until that is no longer enough.

[@2312uri]

But that would be very straight forward

[@kornkernel2232]

No apparently we have to make it complicated.

[@Ardyvee]

Add in whether it does tunneling or not at the end, and everything would be fine in the world.

[@yuriythebest]

How about we compromise and go with "USB-C 3.1 20Gbit Sponsored By Pepsi

[@PanduPoluan]

"USB C" is just the type of the connector. For abilities you need to specify the specs. So that should be "USB4.1 20G 60W" with say "P4" if it can tunnel PCIe-4 through it.

[@Ravenor907]

I have altered the name, pray I don't alter the name any further. -Darth USB Forums

[@straightfrommissouri]

What the fuck is this comment?! 😂😂 That's enough internet for today

[@Kingslayer474]

lol

[@martinchrom4444]

This deal is getting worse all the time!

[@KertaDrake]

I wanted to join the dark side of USB, but I had to flip it over first...

[@TylerTMG]

usb3.6.6 ultra speed gen5 superspeed+

[@profblack]

It would be great if LTT could get an interview with USBIF. Then maybe we could make sense of their decisions.

[@lilman227]

I think they’re just trolling at this point

[@JohnPaulBuce]

maximum pain we must endure

[@MaXwellFalstein]

LTT should start with building a new naming standard for all USB versions.

[@dannymartial7997]

They are 100% trolling

[@afuturehobo]

there is no possible way they aren't trolling

[@Ekyllier]

From my experience, I think most every day non-techy people, respond best to colours. Almost everyone I know understands "Black USB port = slow. Blue USB port = fast.". Maybe a lip on USB-C ports or sleeve on a cable could be painted different colours to resolve this. Of cause you still need a naming convention, but I think something like this with colours is what most people would actually use and respond too.

[@ivoryowl]

Huh... I never noticed that. xD

[@dbadaddy7386]

Over three decades ago, I saw a display in a computer store with the wrestler King Kong Bundy. The was a video playing showing him, clearly not tech savvy, installing the computer. With color coding and different shapes for different purpose ports, he was able to go from a pile of boxes to booting up in about 20 minutes, because it was physically impossible for him to put the wrong cable in the wrong slot. He spent a lot of time looking for the right cable, but power, modem, printer, mouse and keyboard worked as they should the first time. USB should have cleared some of that up when connecting peripherals, but shape and color can make a clear difference for most folks. I'd like to see something like you suggested. Black = slow, blue = fast, red = something you don't need to worry about (fast, but also for flashing the BIOS), yellow = charge only (and probably always on), green = fast AND with video mode, purple = Linus proof (very rare), orange = sponsored by Home Depot...

[@deViant14]

It worked great except I have a bunch of ports that should be blue but are red or teal.

[@zsoltpeterdaniel8413]

@@dbadaddy7386 the molding could have those cool symbols from the vga days and ps/2 port days.The charging could have a battery symbol with different colours deppending on how extreme the current gets(green to red=20w to 240w).

[@LegendaryMike]

The sleeves dont have to be a different color but there could be a colored ring at the base of the connector or colored internal connecter like the current usb A connectors.

[@aaronrdaniels]

Oh, I understand. This magical “ONE CABLE FUTURE” is actually still many different cables! Except now it’s a guessing game since all the cables and ports don’t look any different! This will be very helpful and make it easier for average consumers!

[@toddbod94]

Yeah. It’s why I don’t think apple should adopt usb-c on iPhone, at least if you buy a lightning accessory it’s always going to behave as intended.

[@acatch22]

same plug, different performance characteristics that are backwards compatible, means you can pass that same cable down the ladder of required performance. have a 70w pd usb cable but upgraded to a 120w laptop. get a 120w pd cable, but your 70w pd can still be used for data transfer on your phone, charging your camera, plugging in your mouse. can't do that if they are different. thats the whole idea of one cable future

[@robinbegley1077]

@@acatch22 in the old ways we didnt have a cable that could only handle 70 watts be mistaken for one that can handle 120. Overloaded cords is how you get a fire.

[@aaronrdaniels]

@@acatch22 I do agree it is better than nothing! Produces a lot less e-waste when executed properly…. The problem is you have cheap products being made that simply use USB-C as a connector for conductors. Supplying power over lanes that shouldn’t have as high of voltage as they are pushing. It still is better with backwards compatibility hopefully people are smart and only plug point A into something that’s compatible with point B. Whatever happened to those wonderful simple icons labeled on cables? Sounds real helpful right about now. We used to have labels on all ports and all cables that matched with the same labels. Even when all the ports looked different anyway!!! Now we have NO LABELS no ways of differentiating cables. Not saying that’s THE way to go about it. But Atleast I’ve pitched an idea that could help solve differentiating cables and ports…

[@planefan082]

@@robinbegley1077 An overloaded C cable talks to the connected devices. If it cannot provide the full requested power, it will deliver a partial charge if possible or not work at all if a non-battery device absolutely needs it

[@GlorifiedGremlin]

God this is getting so ridiculous. You know you've screwed up when not even the fanatics in the tech community remember the convoluted naming system

[@moonman2749]

JUST KEEP THE ORIGINAL NAME i dont care if we’d be at USB 27, just stick with numbers

[@isidor37]

I found out that the usb-c ports on my desktop don't have displayport alternate mode support, and so I can't run an external display off of them. I was disappointed to find that out, it would have been nice to be able to know without having to plug it in to check.

[@isidor37]

@LOU ALEX unfortunately, it's the port that's the problem, not the cable.

[@GaymerBenny]

This sounds to me like the usual Did they say, it does have Displayport alt mode? No? Then why did you expect it?

[@kalmtraveler]

@@GaymerBenny doesn't sound like he expected it - he was curious and had to plug equipment in to find out since it wasn't made obvious from specs/packaging

[@GaymerBenny]

@@kalmtraveler If you don't expect something, normally you aren't disappointed, if it doesn't exist

[@kalmtraveler]

@@GaymerBenny reading the entire post, it sounded like the disappointment was more that he had to test to know if the feature was present or not.

[@OctagonalSquare]

It should be USB 2 Type (letter) (speed) USB 3 Type (letter) (speed) USB 4 Type (letter) (speed) We don’t need to know the version number, but we do need the Gen number to know what special features it has, such as the PCIE support for 4, and the type so we know if it’s A/B/C plugs (in cases where you’re looking at a spec list and not the product itself)

[@Learath2]

Just add power capability to this and it will be perfect. USB4 Type-C 20gbit 60W

[@OctagonalSquare]

@@Learath2 I could see that, but the majority of people aren’t concerned about power, just data transfer rates

[@wahidpawana424]

And colour code it. It would sucked for colour blinded folks but efficient for other people to know the difference.

[@Patmorgan235Us]

@@Learath2 disagree, lots of people are charging laptops off of USB C cables and need to know if it will charge their laptop

[@Noisy_Cricket]

Right, because the different connector forms have their own respective uses. And they should have never named them "mini" and "micro," they should have just kept going with "A" "B" "C" "D" "E" "F," etc. And then speed can be it's own thing if necessary (although I think the generation number should handle that).

[@korvinsilver]

There's nothing like trying to buy a laptop and having to spend several hours to try and find what technologies the USB of only one of the variants of one of the models support because nobody's willing to clearly specify everything based on the exact model number, and often ending up with nothing conclusive. And it's much worse with cables. Apparently this won't get better but maybe worse.

[@konstantin90s]

this, the most annoying thing is big vendors like Dell, HP etc doesn't put clearly info even on their official spicifications or they half the time cannot be found excatly or to be correctly mapped to the SKU in the store you shopping from every time I look for highres photos of the laptops because most of the time at least they bother to put pictograms of displayport\pd on the case itself, but this shit is definitely fucked up :D

[@whatskraken3886]

This, but for intel mobile chips. I was trying to buy a laptop recently, and there were two models that were seemingly identical except for the screen size, but they were the same price, so I wanted to figure out what specific CPU they both had. I literally couldn't find it anywhere. everywhere I looked it just said "Intel i7 12th Gen" as if that means anything.

[@LEXXIUS]

@@whatskraken3886 At this point they could save themselves the effort of writing all that and just put in "Has a fast cpu".

[@snil4]

@@LEXXIUS Why bother at all? Just write "it's pretty fast" on all the specs and people will buy it anyway.

[@Belboz99]

Also remember... USB 1.x was also known as "Full Speed" at 12Mbit/s. 1.0 was then rebranded as "Low Speed" as 1.5Mbit/s. So 2.0 was also known as "Fast Speed" at 480Mbps. So in the early 2000's, there was often a BIOS setting to set the USB at either "Full Speed" or "Fast Speed", but "Full Speed" was 1/40th the speed of "Fast Speed".

[@Majima_Nowhere]

Makes sense to me! When I drive my car it goes from gear 1, to 2, to overdrive, to 3+, to turbo max, then ultra 3 plus.

[@augustday9483]

This is the problem with trying to name technologies based on their relative quality at that point in time. No matter how fast a cable is, eventually technology will improve and now that cable will be considered slow. That's why things should be named by their version number, and/or the actual capability so that in the future it isn't confusing.

[@Belboz99]

@@augustday9483 Yep, "full speed" kinda doomed them out the gate. How can you have more speed than full speed? Can a ship sail faster than full speed ahead? But of course the more-recent one being "super speed" just kinda boxed them into a real corner. What's better than super? I mean, they could go the Tesla route, Ludicrious speed, and Plaid Speed, but really now...

[@leowolastname2250]

@@Belboz99 ULTRA SPEED

[@Belboz99]

@@leowolastname2250 Which is faster, Ultra Speed, Turbo Speed, Ludicrious Speed, or Plaid Mode?

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

They should rename it by TOS warp factor conventions, where the factor number is the cube root of the amount of gigabits. So 5 gigabit becomes "USB factor 1.71" 10 gigabit becomes "USB factor 2.15", 20 gigabit becomes "USB factor 2.71", 40 gigabit becomes "USB factor 3.42", etc. Make it so, Mr. Crusher!

[@tylersanders2388]

I was fine with 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.1 and 3.2. I don’t know why they felt the need to get stupid with the naming but I like just naming usb by it’s speed too

[@SnakebitSTI]

USB 3.1 is two different standards (3.1 gen 1, 3.2 gen 2). USB 3.2 is four different standards (3.2 gen 1, 3.2 gen 2, 3.2 gen 1x2, 3.2 gen 2x2). Also, it doesn't tell you about support for alternate modes or other standards.

[@seeibe]

Luke: "I like this one design, you know, the one where it shows the SS" Me, a German: "Oh. Oh no."

[@menachemspielman145]

Me, a Jew: "Oh. Oh no."

[@Erfolgreich-IT]

🤝

[@FlabbyTabby]

USB-IF are secretly Natzis, that's what Superspeed (SS) was all about

[@franky-161]

was thinking the same lmao

[@bigqwertycat]

Me, a Polish: "Oh. Oh on."

[@give_me_my_nick_back]

Charging won't be issue cus apparently the EU just approved a requirement for a single, industry standard USB C charges specs with standardized voltages, power output and protocol

[@MXCN_El1011]

idk bout that honestly. While yes, the port type will be standard, i could def see someone like Apple taking a page out of nintendo and making a proprietary version of usb-c that is only compatible with their chargers. if you dont know, apparently the nintendo switch, while it uses a usb-c port, did some proprietary stuff with how the device asks for power so if you use something non-switch compatible, it could fry your switch or at least the port.

[@ivoryowl]

@@MXCN_El1011 Of course they would complicate things to profit from it... because why wouldn't they. Someone comes up with a regulation that is pro-consumer and someone else will find a loophole in it that they can exploit.

[@crashmatrix]

That's just an invitation to make yet another branding SNAFU, by calling it "USB-EU 20 Gbps" or something. Wouldn't even be the worst way to go from my vantage point.

[@crashmatrix]

Or hell, make it worse with "EUSB 20 Gbps" lol

[@crashmatrix]

And of course, the US will want their own variant, so USAB 20 Gbps is around the corner soon after.

[@jm7468]

Another thing thats annoying AF is type-c connectors on laptops that are not labelled what they actually do and even on the general laptop spec its not listed. So you plug in your type-c to hdmi adapter and hope you get video.

[@jpsalis]

And for laptops a couple of years old, it's often unclear if the port can be used to charge the laptop and the max output speed

[@TheZaibs]

I never understood why they made it so complicated. The simpler the better!

[@ShadowriverUB]

Thats because they added/changed stuff to 3.1 to slower modes making it not the same then 3.0, 1x2 2x2 is double lane mode (which only USB-C allows, it practically like connecting 2 USB cables) of with slower Gen1 mode and Gen2 mode and 1x2 and Gen2 practically is the same in matter of throughput... but they not the same technically ;p. The naming make sense in technical way, but not in marketing and simple people way.

[@thejohnbeck]

Maybe as research goes on there are a lot of advancements

[@Olivia-W]

​@@ShadowriverUBOk. Leave USB 3.0. Then make 3.1.1 and 3.1.2. And then 3.2. Bam. Done. Finito.

[@Wybawiciel1]

3:50 try clearURL. It removes tracking elements from urls. It’s quite robust so it handles a lot of situations, not just social media or amazon.

[@alanbarnett328]

I would love to see an LTT set of cables, with detailed specs and what to use them for. Would definitely reduce confusion when shopping for a cable.

[@TwentyGX]

In regards to the “refer to USB 2 as ‘High speed USB’ portion” This could all be fixed by adding the major version number to the naming scheme. For example, USB 3 10Gbps, vs USB 2 400Mbps. That would eliminate consumers getting confused by the bigger number for transfer speed because the 3 vs 2 would take priority.

[@Foulancer]

Or just use 0,4 Gb

[@JM.TheComposer]

You give the average customer too much credit. 99% of people can't distinguish between Gbps and Mbps.

[@MrSumphora]

@JM The Composer Then, like the person above you commented, why not use 0.4 Gbps?

[@caeliachapin5317]

The trouble with changing the names of things - even if the new names are better - is that the old names don't immediately disappear. Preexisting manuals, spec sheets, forum posts, etc. don't get updated, so now you have multiple names referring to the same thing, and it's often very difficult to find reliable cross-reference information that shows which old names correspond to which new names. Not to mention that it's often unclear, unless you're a full-time USB geek (or whatever kind of geek - this problem happens with many different technologies), which names are old and which are new.

[@hahalolha]

I think you can't really get any better than Firewire's 400, 800, 1200 et al. Sure it's potentially (somewhat) overwhelming at first however, if the USB-IF decided to stop treating their users as children, hiding the important information behind obfuscation, we could all have nice things. I really wish Firewire had a real chance in the consumer space.

[@Sandstorm366]

I'm starting to wonder if confusing customers is actually more profitable.

[@SchniggityMcCool]

If you try to buy a TV any time soon you will find out that this is absolutely 100% true. Once a customer is overwhelmed by enough different 'options' they will say 'fuck it' and just pick one, and often spend more money than they need to because of it

[@MrLaeddis1]

The “Ivonne would tell me to be nicer” followed by Linus trying to be a bit more reasonable was really cute lmao

[@darkwarrior1588]

3:50 linus, for the image issue, its dumb but doesnt require additional software. when you go to copy the image address instead right click and "open image in new tab", window, whatever. now you can right click and copy address for the true image address. this is how you can save the actual image in a google search as well.

[@Heightren]

I think all those features other than speed and power should be specified in the specs too. At least provide a chart in the user manual

[@Alkaris]

Then throwing out naming scheming conventions and going; _"It's now USB 4.1 Gen2 3x3 60-Gigabit 4x4 Gen1"_

[@HajongLee]

I honestly can't wait to buy cables from LMG. They'd be of more value to me than the backpacks or screwdrivers. Trying to buy cables online hurts my brain as a tech enthusiast NOT because it's confusing but cuz a) they lack so much information that I'm specifically looking for and b) can I even trust this brand with all the information in their fine print.

[@nathanschneider8586]

Yeah, same. I'm fine buying a low quality product as long as they state in the specs "yeah it's crap and can't do stuff amazingly well, but will get the job done". (Not a tech nerd, but speaking from an industrial standpoint).

[@TheViettan28]

$99 for a cable when you can buy one for $15 if you know how to sort them out.

[@kevinconnell6541]

Simple would just be the type of cable connections with speed and power rate. Example: USB C-C, 65W, 5Gbs or USB C-A, 20W, 2GBs

[@PanduPoluan]

"C" is just the type of the connector and easily visible. For the capabilities, you must specify the spec version like "3.1" or "3.2" or "4.1". Then probably followed by max speed, max power delivery, and finally whether it can tunnel PCIe or not.

[@kevinconnell6541]

@@PanduPoluan I put the two letters in there to specify the cable ends. a USB connection can be A,B,C plus all the others. so a USB A-C cable mean it had USB C on one end and usb A on the other. but I think the whole point is to get away from the confusing 3.1, 3.1 and 4.1 situation. for consumers connector typer on both ends followed by speed and power would be enough I would think. USB A-C,(5 GBps)(65 Watt)

[@okaro6595]

That is confusing if the slowest option is marked high speed. It is like with batteries where the worst ones are marked "heavy duty". USB 2.0 is now the bottom standard. I doubt anything uses USB 1.1 anymore - at least anything beyond keyboards etc.

[@SeanScorpion]

Glad they are changing this. I had to do thirty minutes of research a few months ago to help a coworker figure out what the max transfer speed of their external drive was supposed to be. Hopefully they fix the HDMI naming next!

[@TD-er]

Would be great if they finally get rid of the most poorly chosen acronym ever: "SS"

[@joehau2000]

well, you have this in between thing that USB3.2 introduce (x2 operation) which is Gen1x2 and Gen2x2, the thing is Gen1x2 is theoretically same speed as Gen2x1 only that it operates 2 lane bandwidth to achieve 10gbps but the negotiation op works differently, i guess it doesn't really matter for consumers, to make it easy to rmb any x2 operation required typeC to make it possible

[@gibby3350]

I was talking to a friend the other day day about USB and they literally had no idea the difference between USB A and USB C. They thought USB in general was USB A and had assumed USB C was “the MacBook connecter.” My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.

[@hewhohasnoidentity4377]

That is how most of the population thinks of USB. That is why the naming system is so annoying. Tech people can't even talk to each other with confidence about what we are talking about. How is the average end user going to understand anything but the term "cable"?

[@gibby3350]

@@hewhohasnoidentity4377 bars!

[@MrTsolar]

I got that beat. A guy came into the Apple Store just to have a software update done on his MacBook. He looked to be young enough to know how to do that.

[@TubularAnde]

USB Forum Create an Intuitive Human Readable Standard Challenge (Impossible Difficulty)

[@martinturner5484]

I cant be the only person that's spent far far too long trying to work out why this USB-C drive wont work in this USB-C port only to find out that its actually a thunderbolt drive and the computer only has 1 thunderbolt port and you haven't been plugging the drive in to it. Its only going to get worse as more and more features don't get shown on the device and its just going to start being guess work as to what works and what doesnt.

[@johnprivate6625]

Kingston posted one of the clearest, brief, comprehensive explanations of usb 3 options, but not the cable markings.

[@buffaloxp]

At least adding a technical specs space on the side of the box stating each parameter and whether is is capable and at what speed would be great. You don't have to say that it can output enough signal for four 4k displays (but not if you also have your mouse plugged in), you can just say the maximum for each of those and the consumer can figure out if the cable works for what they are doing.

[@leosheppard8517]

“USB Implementers Forum” has left the conversation

[@tobiaskleinert2298]

At the beginning of the video (before I knew where it was going) my first thought was: „Use the actual bitrate in the name already!“ We had that in network interfaces for years and it is a good naming convention. Really glad, the USB-IF finally got that (somewhat) right.

[@TheGmodUser]

8:00 this sounds like the armor plating for planes that returned from ww2. Dont look at the ones that came back, but look at the ones tha didnt.

[@fraliexb]

I almost think USB naming system should be like IPXX dust and water ratings. With data speeds and PD rating, but then maybe add the other features with words? USB20PD120 USBXPD80 (charge only) USB10PDX or USB10X (No PD only standard 10w)

[@beat_g9368]

+1 for the extension that removes the tracking crap

[@martouf13]

Their naming scheme is terrible now. Just have the numbers continue to go up. No need for gen1 or gen 2. Just have USB2.0, USB3.0, USB3.1. Then go on to USB3.2, USB3.3 and USB4.0 and so on. It's crazy how they make something so easy into something so hard.

[@queenannsrevenge100]

For some reason, all I could think of looking at the thumbnail was, “SLIM SHADY!”

[@theblindspot985]

He's worried about USB4. I'm worried about USB after.

[@Donly1pt]

"It seems that the consumer doesn't care about that thing that they don't know exists, so we wont mention it". Ah yes, genius reasoning.

[@depth386]

USB 4.0 should be like “X Gbps Y Watts” Edit: A PSA that says at-or-above a certain speed you get PCI-E passthru would be helpful I guess. Or a new graphical icon of an expansion card somehow worked into the USB icon.

[@LimitedWard]

USBe 40GB 25W The "e" tells you it supports PCIe, and the numbers tell you the data speed and max wattage respectively. I think that would be enough

[@robertharker]

USB needs a locking/latching type A connector for professional field work. Anywhere you don't want the cable to fall out if you look at it wrong. Why type A? Type C connectors are impossible to fix in the field. Type A is mechanically larger and has larger contact surfaces. Less likely for a grain of sand to jam the connector. The latching connector should also be virtually stacking so you can stack them 4 high and still be able to get your fingers in to unlatch them. And no, you will not put this connector on a smart phone but not every application is a smart phone.

[@theondono]

Alt modes aren’t new, they’re just adding PCIe, but you have the exact same problem with cables that don’t support thunderbolt or display port alternate modes. They should have color coded the data transfer speeds, and added some kind of marker for PD specs.

[@dbadaddy7386]

I have come to the conclusion that the base idea of Apple's lightning cable might be better than USB. Lightning is a thing inserted into a slot. USB is a shroud inserted into a slot that covers something in the slot. If the USB object is shoved in too hard, that thing in the slot can break, rendering the slot useless. If the lightning cable breaks off, it may be possible to dig it out and salvage the slot. This means the ends of the cable are exposed when not in a slot, but that shouldn't be a problem if the cable has been properly stored when not in use. Also, by seeing the leads, you could stand a fighting chance of figuring out which version the cable was, and if both ends are the same, then it would make cable use much simpler. Note that at no time did I say we should be using Apple products. Also, it would require someone other than the current USB people, because a new cable should have a clear, unambiguous naming and color scheme that doesn't get changed every time the moon is in the 7th house and Jupiter aligns with Mars.

[@roberthayden5103]

Great clip. It changed my thinking about choosing a cable for “power distribution.”

[@ChrisLeeW00]

If we could label our ports with the same amount of clear indicators of capability as we do SD cards, that would he great.

[@theencryptedpartition4633]

This is like naming your file project, projectt, project_final, project_FINALL

[@colemank123]

id pay money to give the rights to naming of USB to someone else at this point

[@andrewfrey6960]

Higher number is better. Even enthusiasts that know what the speeds are would still want the highest number.

[@Solstissss]

There is an Extension for removing tracking from links, its called ClearURLs

[@FMHikari]

That's it. I'm thoroughly convinced the USB Forum can't do basic math. 3.0 would be "generation 3" or "mark 3". The fact they managed to go through with "3.2 gen 2x2" is peak stupidity. Just name it "USB 3.8" and that would be it. At thins point it would be more closer to reality to just name it "USB 4.0" considering how many features are available now over the early 3.0 layout.

[@trickvro]

"We want you to refer to each USB version by the transfer speed it's capable of, not its version name. And to MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE you do that, we're going to make the version name so mind-numbingly absurd that you'll basically have no choice but to comply."

[@Shadowninja1200]

Now I just need them to require that every cable are labled with the data rate and power on the cables themselves (much like you would see on Ethernet cables). I just pulled out two cables with the same connectors and I honestly can't tell you what version usb it is because it's just blank. Even the color coding isn't reliable all the time. My motherboard has all black ports with one red for esata but some are usb 3.0 and some are not so I have to consult the manual to make sure that I'm plugging my storage drive or oculus camera into the right ones.

[@TheDanis9910]

I feel i need to watch every USB update video i see because I will never know if they have changed it again since the last video i saw a few days ago

[@thetee8682]

As a consumer I whished they would force manufacturers to have ALL USB specs and details printed on the box (speed, power, display, etc.) so I can make an informed decision before purchasing. Not this abbreviated version number crap where it might have the features I want but maybe not. I don't care if the packaging then looks like a Warhammer Imperator Titan plastered with purity seals - at least I know what I'm about to buy!

[@chuckthetekkie]

A very big issue are when USB cable / adapter makers blatantly lie about the item. I've seen cables labeled as USB 3 Type-C cables that are only USB 2 speeds. Worst offenders are on Amazon and especially eBay and Aliexpress. I personally wish they would mandate some kind of marking that signifies if a cable is a data (aka "Charge and Sync") or power only cable. I have so many USB Micro cables and it's a pain when trying to find one that can transmit data. There are USB-C charge only cables out there too but there should be something easy to identify that it's a power only cable. I am glad to see they have dropped all the "gen" crap.

[@FriendlyMarmot]

0:57 Casually listening to the re-naming makes it sound bad, but actually trying to understand it, and track the alternate names so you can always correctly tell things apart, will give you an absolute migraine. I guess the easiest thing to cling to is that the 10 Gb/s USB is always called just plain "Gen 2" no matter what revision, and 20 Gb/s always has "2x2".

[@Nythiennzo]

There is actually an extension which remove the unnecessary information from the query. It's called "clearURLs"

[@123Andersonev]

PCIE tunneling is actually revolutionary because it means you can potentially have a mobile to desktop workflow on arm devices with implemented compatibility and support.

[@1da1a172]

There are 4 stats that I care about in a USB cable: 1. USB speed 2. Power 3. PCI-e connectivity 4. Display Port connectivity

[@HowlingCurve]

USB just needs to have a base standard for each generation with any "upgrades" to the base standard giving the company a + suffix, for example - USB3 = base standard functionality, any extra features or capabilities added onto it will give the name USB3+ and the same for each generation (USB4, USB4+, etc). That would clear up any misconceptions on what USB version you're getting without the headaches.

[@kenshinbattousai374]

They need to start mandating color coding for the internal tongue.

[@kairon156]

I'm with LInus and And when shopping online for USB all I look at is charging and data speeds, and make sure it has both. Fair point. if a cable has other features and doesn't say I might not ever know if I enjoy such features.

[@Ksportin]

This should all be so much simpler. Major generation number then iterative sub-generation number. That sub-generation number includes speed and power delivery (because THEY are making the specifications, they should be pushing this into the specifications!!). If you want to include additional features that aren't specific to a generation or sub-generation you could add a single letter at the end which denotes a tier of additional features but each tier includes all features of the previous tier. So 3.1 would be a gen 3 cable that had the data and power capacities defined by whatever they made that specification be but no additional features. 3.2a would be a gen 3 cable with the power and data of the 3.2 spec but with the most basic tier of additional features added in. 4.0b would be a gen 4 cable with the power and data of the 4.0 spec but with all the additional features of both the a and b tier. As for what constitutes a new generation, what the power and data specification should be for each generation and sub-generation as well as what additional features make up each tier would be something that they could discuss and decide amongst themselves because that is their job. They decide the specs and the name of each spec

[@DysonParkes]

I would say feature set defined by letter, so 4.0ab (similar to how wifi did it, with wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac covering what frequencies were supported). We just switch frequencies for feature sets. H for 'high power', P for 'PCI passthrough', etc. So a "USB4.0 40gbps HP" cable would support USB 4th gen, at 40 GBps, with High Power charging, and PCI passthrough.

[@silentshadow867]

I was blissfully unaware of how confusing USB naming conventions got until I studied for the CompTIA A+ certification recently. I’m glad it is going to make more sense, just wish it was before the 1101 version of the exam was released. Now I am going to have to memorize all this stupid shit for nothing.

[@jakeself1911]

I remember being confused when USB 3.0 seemed to fade away, then I started seeing USB-C everywhere. I was also surprised that the term “USB-C”became mainstream with phones and tablets, since that sort of thing is usually more for experienced computer users. I would’ve expected a simpler, less technical-sounding term for the general public.

[@unrealed]

@Linus 3:35: I have an autohotkey script that DOES do that and remove the all the tracking stuff from a URL! (or more specifically, it checks for the first ? in the url and removes it and everything afterwards) I'll put a link to it in the reply to this (if it lets me)

[@Sodoffshotgun]

Wow congratulations USB Gen 2 x 2 literally sounds like something they'd come up with to see if they were allowed to make it stick.

[@ratamacue0320]

So cable. Much universal.

[@heyspookyboogie644]

I’m just worried about ending up with a million different cables and ports that all support different things and you end up having to flip through a bunch of different cables trying to find one that works with a feature like display out or pci or high power, etc.

[@loganfisher3138]

My issue with USB cables isn't so much that the packaging for them isn't labeled well or whatever, but that I get one with almost every device I buy, but there's then no indication on the cables themselves of this information. Further, the fact that manufacturers can just pick and choose which pins they want to include makes it rather annoying digging through my bins of cables and not being certain that a given cable will have the pins needed for a certain task unless I take a magnifying glass and look.

[@RealPCBUILD3R]

Just Name all usb things with PCIE usp and all without PCIE usb.

[@DrDAC-go7hs]

Are the USB implementors forum doing okay? It seems like they're experiencing a spout of mania bordering on psychosis...

[@spacemissing]

ENOUGH!!!!! No new connectors, no new names for the ones we have, death penalty for even SUGGESTING any further changes.

[@monGarz]

Don't forget that there are technically 2 ways to reach 10gbps, one of which requires a cable that cab also reach 20gbps.

[@Noisy_Cricket]

They should have just kept going with the "point" naming convention, such as 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, etc. That was way more comprehensible. When 4 comes out, it will be a generational leap just like 1, 2, and 3 were respectively.

[@David_Quinn_Photography]

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they made it make sense just a little because that's what I look for on USB is data transfer and power and if a product doesn't share that info I look elsewhere.

[@Ibian666]

They should just make all newly produced cables at whatever the top specs are. Over time the old ones will be phased out and everyone has all the features.

[@greggv8]

A browser addon to strip the garbage from Google links should also remove the AMP crap from the links. Call that DAMP for De-AMP.

[@MrDpof]

It would be great to have something less confusing. For the context, I'm a software engineer. I bought a usbc to usbc cable to plug my monitor to my laptop, the spec was saying : display, power up to 100w... (I taught, bingo, that's the one right there) When I received the cable and plug it to the monitor and laptop, I was (very) surprised that it didn't work. Then I saw a small display on the cable indicating the power consumption. Wellp...😅 👌🏽 👍🏽

[@sUmEgIaMbRuS]

Looks like PCI-E tunneling is the DisplayPort Alternate Mode of USB4. That was also an awesome feature that no vendor ever bothered to specify, to the point that HP sales people failed to tell me whether a laptop I was looking to buy supported it or not. The USB naming saga is a perfect illustration for the fact that putting engineers in charge of marketing decisions is just as bad as putting marketing people in charge of engineering decisions.

[@kvangames4836]

3:41 ClearUrls add on don’t know if it works with copying but at least removes when going to the urls. Only issue is it kills Amazon sort by price which is a bug but yeah

[@annoyingneighbor4928]

How about gen.bitrate + suffix Usb 3.10 Usb 3.10P = power Usb 3.10C = fast charge Usb 3.20

[@rafakruczek5622]

1:30 Hotel Guest: Two tea to room two. Receptionist: tararatantara du deee da

[@mahalordx]

Just do D1, D2, D3... for iterating Data Speeds and P1, P2, P3... for Power Delivery. Create a seperate logo for PCIe Lanes Support & Place it beside D(i) logo Also both Power Delivery & Data Speed logos should be on either side... Problem Solved. I'm Cute.

[@mahalordx]

What a mess in Power Delivery revisions though.

[@bluestar5812]

The desire to make one simple universal plug will always be below the desire to sell new stuff.

[@catzenhouse]

USB Gen2 - so, in other words, think of species of penguins to remember the changes.

[@joshcutler4353]

Yes. The way Google image search works now sucks.

[@johnprivate6625]

Usb tiddlywinks.3.cats, Usb badly connected 4.9.x, usb 3.8 going too fast, and usb 5.daft naming convention.

[@mr.peter.l.k]

Max Limitations on Power is Sockets and Circuit power Unit support on standard