A USB, short for Universal Serial Bus, is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and communications protocols used for connection and power supply between computers and electronic devices. USBs were designed to standardize the connection of computer peripherals (including keyboards, pointing devices, digital cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives and network adapters) to personal computers.
USBs have become commonplace on other devices, such as smartphones, PDAs and video game consoles, and have effectively replaced a variety of earlier interfaces like parallel ports and separate power chargers for portable devices.
Nowadays, USBs are mostly used as storage; a tool to transfer files from one computer to another. The storage space in USBs start from 8GB and go as high as 1TB (we expect even higher capacity soon), and prices go from hundreds of pesos to thousands. Gone are the days of using floppy disk/ diskette’s or CDROM. These tiny USB devices that area easily kept inside purses and pockets allow us to go about our day and come home with data.
Gadgets like keyboards with USB ports are easy to use because you only need to plug them in, and they work. You can use USB cords to charge smartphones, watch TV programs, save games, and more.
Certain types were also released; from 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1 and now type C, varying from speed, security and ease of accessibility. Higher models are usually compatible with earlier ones, so for example, 3.0 is compatible to 2.0.
Below is a chart for different types of USBs.
With the fast paced movement of technology, and growing demand for USBs, we can be assured of more innovation, lower price and higher availability with new releases of models. As with any gadget we can also be assured of competitive prices as they roll out.
