If these USB displays provide as high a viewing experience as HDMI cable displays and supply the display power as well it may be that USB will eventually displace HDMI due to the higher production volumes and consequently lower costs for USB cables.

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And, it should go without saying, that it took a whole lot to get these gaming machines to share a single power supply, video cable and control pad.

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Just as the railway mania carried on after the competitive landscape had changed for the worse, so these new cable companies kept on investing even as the supply ballooned.

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Phone service from cable companies is also dependent on power, but most companies supply backup batteries to power the phones for some hours in an outage.

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Through its industry-leading OpenSMA program, uControl brings together all the players who power the Connected Home, integrating and enabling a diverse ecosystem, from Service Providers such as cable and telephone companies to Platform Hardware and Lifestyle Device manufacturers who supply items such as thermostats, lighting controls, touch screen tablets and security sensors.

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One Source for Power Supply - Charges virtually any technology that charges via a USB cable, including smartphones and phones, iPads and Kindles, iPods and other MP3 players, GPS units, tablet computers, etc.

ENGADGET: Timbuk2 Power Commute carries your gadgets, keeps 'em charged for $199 (hands-on)

The looming capacity crunch of the 1990s was averted not just by slower demand growth, but also dramatically increased supply, in the form of big investments in fibre-optic cable and technical tricks that squeezed more data through the pipes.

ECONOMIST: Saturated mobile networks

As for unsightly wires, the Audyssey Wireless Speakers have two: the unavoidable power cord (with a chunky power supply) as well as a thin black-and-red cable that connects the left and right channels. (You may want to replace this with more discreet, clear speaker wire if you can't hide it somehow.) Both make the speakers better suited to a permanent set-up than on-the-go listening.

WSJ: Big Sound, Wire-Free: Audyssey Bluetooth Speakers | Geek Chic