It recently occurred to me that with all of our wireless technologies, we still have not been able to overcome the tangle of wires that radiate from the back panel of our computers.  In fact, it just gets worse -  now manufacturers are all putting various jacks and connectors on the front panel as well.

 

The Media Center computer above has the following cables:

1. Power cord
2. Monitor cord
3. keyboard cord
4. USB cable for wireless? mouse
5. Ethernet cable to router
6. Many cables and wires for the 5.1 sound system
7. USB cable for the Media Center IR blaster receiver
8. USB cable for the External backup hard disk drive
9. Headphone cord
10. Microphone cord
11. USB cable for web cam
12. S-video input cable from satellite TV decoder box
13. Two (L and R) audio input cables from satellite TV decoder box
14. S-video output cable to Sony television
15. Two (L and R) audio output cables to living room stereo system
16. Dipole radio antenna
17. Ethernet cable to connect the satellite modem to the router
18. Coax cables (2) connecting the rooftop satellite dish to the surge suppressor
19. Coax cables (2) connecting the surge suppressor to the satellite modem
20. Parallel printer cable

Along with this, each device seems to need power, so unless it is USB powered, there is a power cord/supply associated with it.  I count 10 power cords plugged in around my desk. Entergy Corp is probably very happy to have me as a customer!

I will not detail all the cables and cords involved in my digital darkroom computer, but with film and slide scanners, flatbed scanner, 2.1 stereo, ink-jet printer, dye-sub printer, etc. it is just as tangled as the Media Center computer. I fantasize about the day that you can just take a device out of its’ box, set it on your desk, and presto – it just works! Well, hop to it, guys.