Startup Corner: Ditch those Cords

By Doug Barney

Most of us longtime computer users have boxes with old drives, CDs, printer cables,  and even a floppy or two. Much of this bulk is power cables. You’re afraid to throw any away, but when you go back to find the right one, you can’t tell the difference since none are properly labeled.

Engineers have this problem in spades, as your machines are often loaded with peripherals of every make, model and size.

And plugging in the wrong power supply is not a smart idea.

Startup Green Plug of San Ramon, CA (greenplug.us) has an answer. Its new Universal power supply technology, Paniagua (not sure if this is named after the former president of Peru or the baseball player), has intelligence built that can query the device needing power, and set itself up to match. You can see a demo here.

The best part is the Green Plug saves on power, as often chargers are feeding electricity into devices that are fully charged. Green Plug only charges what needs charging.