Charge of the single charger brigade

Apple has always been stand-offish, when it comes to other devices and accessories not marked by its insignia. But there’s a republican revolution brewing against the House of i. The European Commission (EC), seeing itself as a descendant of the sans-culottes — literally ‘without breeches’ worn by the 18th-century French aristocracy — has plans for a common charger port for all electronic devices, no matter what their pedigree. A common charger would reduce electronic waste and would mean, in Alexander Dumas’ words, ‘all chargers for one, and one for all chargers’. As sufferers of carrying multiple chargers, we say, Vive la Révolution!

A level-charging field would mean no longer making unnecessary comparisons between the apples that are Androids and oranges that are Apples. But even from these faraway shores, may we suggest that the world beyond Europe — and India — makes things even more open for liberté, égalité, fraternité, facilité. Instead of the Anglosphere showing their hoitytoitiness by having those foppish flat pin plugs for those flat pin sockets, let all chargers and plug points be two simple centres of attention, as they already are in Europe (and India). As part of geometrical and electrical democratisation and brotherhood, nothing short-circuited than a pair of round pins and holes will satisfy the true e-humanist.