While some companies like Connectland have already offered up their own solution to the problem of multiple cellphone connectors (seen at right), a European Union commissioner now seems to be taking the idea one step further, and is starting to push the notion of one standard cellphone connector to rule them all. According to Telcompaper, European Commissioner for Industry Günter Verheugen recently said in a German interview that he has had his patience tested after giving the cellphone industry several chances to develop a single cellphone connector, and he's now not excluding "severe measures" to force them to reach a solution. His main concern, as you might have guessed, is the waste that results from folks needing a new charger for each new cellphone, although the cellphone industry obviously sees things a bit differently, with the EICTA's Tony Graziano saying that Verheugen's demand is "legally and technically impossible" due to differences in voltage and battery requirements within the European Union. In any event, it seems that some actual regulations are still quite a ways off from becoming a reality, and Verheugen still insists that he'd prefer to see the industry arrive at a standard voluntarily.

[Via Tweakers.net]

Just last week, Intel gave AMD, NVIDIA and a whole host of friends what they had been clamoring for: 90% complete USB 3.0 controller specifications. Now, the cool cats over at MaximumPC have churned out an encyclopedic writeup that details USB SuperSpeed remarkably well. The highlights include assurance that USB 3.0 will be backwards-compatible with USB 2.0 and that it'll provide transfer rates up to ten times more than USB 2.0's 480Mbps limit (that's 4.8Gbps). Furthermore, we're told that uploads and downloads are kept on separate lanes, the cables are thicker, it will charge more devices more quickly, and it will be much more mindful of energy waste. Go on and get yourself completely schooled in the read link below.

If there's one thing the iPod has going for it in comparison to basically every other DAP / PMP out there, it's that the accessory market is just brimming with new Made for iPod gizmos, but for those of you non-Apple owners out there who yearn for an iPod Hi-Fi or one of the other bazillion speaker systems tailored specifically for Apple's cash cow, you can commence thanking your lucky stars. ANYCOM has unveiled a Bluetooth receiver / protocol converter for any device that supports Apple's iPod, which takes any tune streamed over A2DP and plays it through the iPod speaker system, regardless of the type of media player / cellphone you're using. The tiny (black or white, obviously) device operates on Bluetooth 2.0 and accepts music from any A2DP-enabled device as well as controlling functions from any unit supporting AVRCP; users simply click the device into the accessory's dock adapter, pair it with their A2DP source, and stream away. While we're admittedly enthused about such a device, it is a bit shocking that something similar hasn't come along sooner, but regardless, ANYCOM's FIPO should hit mass production in mid-February and run you about $99.

[Via BlueTomorrow]