Label the Power Bricks

Yes, I’m still catching up on the blogosphere. It’s going to be worse when I go on vacation in August.

Om makes a point that manufacturers need to label the power adapters of their devices. While I agree with Om, I think he’s a little late to be pointing this out. I’ve had this problem for years. Maybe I’ve been living this digital lifestyle longer than Om.

The problem stems from the fact that many of these devices use very similar power adapter adapters. The act of slapping some kind of label would increase manufacturing time and increase the cost. Probably not by much, but the vendors don’t see this as their problem to solve. About the only company that seems to actually label their power bricks is Netgear, and I give them kudos for that.

I have my own decidedly low-tech solution to this. Every time I get something with a power brick that isn’t clearly labelled (or is not a Sipura power supply since I’ve got a boatload of them), I label it myself with a post-it note and some tape. Simple, but effective.