For those fiddly ones at the back. Guessed wrong? Try the port next door, instead of having to change the orientation of your cable one handed.
-- shudderprose, Aug 21 2009

Alternate http://www.bsu.edu/...11770-49168,00.html
Nothing to do with Indiana's #1 party school. [RayfordSteele, Aug 21 2009]

Engadget - Double USB concept http://www.engadget...usb-plug-rejection/
the Double USB connector that works right side up or upside down thanks to twin spring-loaded plastic connectors on its interior [xaviergisz, Jan 26 2011]

TRRS connector > USBBSU http://www.jiscdigi...ages/trrs-jack2.jpg
A round 4-pin connector [idris83, Jan 27 2011]

I'll never understand why they made those silly things rectangular to begin with.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 21 2009


Yeah, an obvious right-way orientation would be true engineering instead of just making stuff.
-- normzone, Aug 21 2009


Perish the thought .....
-- 8th of 7, Aug 21 2009


Probably designed by some Ivy Tech CAD flunkie and not focused on by the rest of the team.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 21 2009


//an obvious right-way orientation//

Nah, just make them round, like guitar plugs.
-- Wrongfellow, Aug 22 2009


in lower case: usb qsn
-- xaviergisz, Aug 22 2009


There should be no guessing. They are always the same way up - the slot in the cable's connector is towards the top. Making some ports the other way would just confuse things.
-- spidermother, Aug 25 2009


True, but is there a rule for the upright ones?
-- shudderprose, Aug 25 2009


How about an auto-rotate USB plug/socket - on registering a certain level of pressure, it spins 180° ready for another insertion.
-- zen_tom, Aug 25 2009


The spring-loaded either-way-up USB plug is a good idea, but it would be better as a socket.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 26 2011


I would settle for a little dot on the upside I could feel with my thumb. PS2 used to have these and I never had a problem. In fact, most holes I try to find in the dark have been known to come equipped with such subtle labelling.
-- KAGE, Jan 26 2011


Yeah, but then you had a starting clue by the legs.
-- normzone, Jan 26 2011


//is there a rule for the upright ones?// It seems that there is. The side that would be up in the horizontal ones faces the left side of the case in the upright ones. This puzzled me for a moment, but makes perfect sense when you consider that the left side of a tower case corresponds to the upper surface of a horizontal case.
-- spidermother, Jan 26 2011


// Nah, just make them round, like guitar plugs. //

Absolutely. USB has only 4 pins and 4 ring TRS connectors already exist. I would suggest using a different diameter and length than 3.5mm though, to avoid people exploding their headphones.

Additionally, the casing should slope downwards into the socket like a black-hole in a spacetime graph to maximise insertion speed.
-- idris83, Jan 27 2011


//make them round// The electrical contacts need not be round (like phono plugs) ony the mechanical connection. You could seat the thing in its socket in in any orientation, then, once you had a positive "snap," twist it until you felt the "click" of a detent, indicating it was oriented properly and that electrical contact was now made.
-- mouseposture, Jan 27 2011



random, halfbakery