I've been whining for months about the crap sandwich Apple and Google created by adopting USB-C for their new laptops without supporting the ecosystem: a writhing sea of dangerously low-quality third-party cables and adapters. Amazon is taking action, banning low-quality USB-C gadgetry from the store.

The crackdown is almost certainly in response to the glut of cheap USB Type-C cables that have flooded Amazon over the past year—and to at least one example of a dodgy cable frying a Google engineer's Chromebook Pixel. In that case, the third-party seller stated that it was a standards-compliant USB 3.1 Type-C cable with SuperSpeed. As it turned out, the cable was completely missing the extra wires needed for SuperSpeed and two of the other wires had been transposed. The miswired cable killed his laptop instantly.

The lack of a universal charging cable is one of my biggest gripes as an iPhone user.

I never have there right combination of chargers and connectors with me on any given trip, so this $9 dual charging cable is a real boon.

Charging is easy. iTune recognizes my iPhone when I plug it in, GoPros mount instantly. The zipper for managing the loose cable ends is a pretty good idea and saves me from headphone-like tangles. All in all, I am getting everything I want out of the cable.

Charging 2 devices at once via my MacBook Air is not the fastest thing on earth, but that may be more a function of the port and then cable. I'll try it with a high speed charging port soon!

TOTOP IPhone 6 Cable, 2-in-1 USB Nylon Braided 2.0 Cable Zipper, 8 Pin Micro USB Cable via Amazon Read the rest

Al Jazeera and The Guardian are set to publish "the Spy Cables," a massive trove of South African intelligence cables detailing the over-classification of information and the corruption of post-Apartheid South Africa by US political interference. Read the rest