This is great. Five years ago I carried on trips a phone with a proprietary USB cable, a GPS with mini-USB, a pocket camera with a like-sized charger (and 2m lead, which I refactored), and a AA battery charger for the rest of the stuff.
These days, bike lights charge from mini-USB (or even have integrated USB A plugs), phones are semi-required to use micro-USB, computer mice have USB charging and data, and I recently learned that even pocket UV water treatment devices use micro-USB and integrated Li-ion instead of AAs now. I think the only use I have for AA batteries anymore is a camera flash. One of the requirements when I bought a pocket camera recently was that it charge via USB (Sony gets this; Olympus sort of does but their cables are "special"; Canon has one or two models).
USB power can also do wonders for places where mains power is provided only part of the day. Those USB "power banks" are already taking off, and the more things we can use them with, the better.
We've basically killed off the C and D-size battery, the 6V lantern, and a bunch of other unnecessary form factors. Now let's finish the job--we can make AAAs as obscure as AAAAs if we get USB charging remote controls, and there's no reason we can't make smoke detectors last a full year if we get rid of their antiquated and inefficient 9V packs.
P.S.: America, think about migrating to 220-240VAC outlets someday. The fewer standards, the better. You can make USB wall outlets standard at the same time!
These days, bike lights charge from mini-USB (or even have integrated USB A plugs), phones are semi-required to use micro-USB, computer mice have USB charging and data, and I recently learned that even pocket UV water treatment devices use micro-USB and integrated Li-ion instead of AAs now. I think the only use I have for AA batteries anymore is a camera flash. One of the requirements when I bought a pocket camera recently was that it charge via USB (Sony gets this; Olympus sort of does but their cables are "special"; Canon has one or two models).
USB power can also do wonders for places where mains power is provided only part of the day. Those USB "power banks" are already taking off, and the more things we can use them with, the better.
We've basically killed off the C and D-size battery, the 6V lantern, and a bunch of other unnecessary form factors. Now let's finish the job--we can make AAAs as obscure as AAAAs if we get USB charging remote controls, and there's no reason we can't make smoke detectors last a full year if we get rid of their antiquated and inefficient 9V packs.
P.S.: America, think about migrating to 220-240VAC outlets someday. The fewer standards, the better. You can make USB wall outlets standard at the same time!