When Elgato rolled out an affordable teleprompter recently for video streamers, it included a USB-C cable. No big deal, right? Well, this one got people’s attention.
Elgato reduces cable confusion by printing important numbers right on the connector
Cult of Mac reported on Elgato’s new teleprompter because its functionality at a relatively low price of $280 will help DIY streamers who want to look and sound more professional. But it took no less than an audio engineer to notice a crucial detail in the release.
Matt “Spike” McWilliams praised how Elgato prints the bandwidth capacity and USB type right on the cable’s connector. It indicates support for 5Gbps data transfer over USB 3.0. The Verge picked up on it and said all cable manufacturers should do that.
My favorite thing about @elgato… their cables actually have the bandwidth and usb type imprinted on the connectors…
This should be a global standard, and yet they are the only ones I’ve seen doing this.
Never stop being you Elgato pic.twitter.com/MIQsqDh4Wo
— Spike ️ (@JustSpike_) November 5, 2023
Simple labeling like that is a big help when you need a certain cable for, say, fast data transfer, but none of your cables comes right out and IDs itself as the right one for the specific job. Does it support fast data transfer? How about fast charging? Both? Neither?
And in Elgato’s case, this isn’t a one-off or a fluke. It’s more of a best practice rolling out to new products.
“You’ll see spec data on all Elgato USB and HDMI cables going forward,” wrote Julian Fest, an Elgato senior vice president, in a Sunday post on X (formerly Twitter). “No more guessing if the cable is the culprit of a tech issue.”
Cable-makers, take notice. Everyone’s going to want you to do this, too, if you don’t already.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
