The entire wireless industry has been congealing around micro-USB as a universal charging standard for a while now, and we've taken yet another important step toward completely ridding the world of bizarre proprietary connectors (you know what we're talking about, Samsung) with ITU ratification this week. The UN-backed International Telecommunication Union isn't just making the move to make our lives a little less hellish, though -- it's also a strategic environmental move on a couple fronts, since universal chargers mean consumers will be able to hold on to a single charger over the life of several phones and modern chargers are far more power efficient than models that are even just a couple years old. The ITU move isn't binding or compulsory, but there's enough momentum behind micro-USB at this point that it's pretty much going to happen for any phone you'd ever consider buying going forward, and many of the big players have already hopped on the bandwagon. We won't lie, we won't miss the days of buying a $40 car charger that powers, like, two LG models.

[Thanks, d0mth0ma5]

Think the CTIA is only good for swank trade shows? Think again! It's actually a trade group created to fight for your interests -- or at least those interests of your duly elected wireless providers -- and apparently top among those lists of interests is plug standardization. Yes, we're not the only ones sick of still having a sprawling mess of a gadget charging station, so CTIA is saying that micro-USB will be the power standard for all handsets and mobile devices. Likewise, the 3.5mm audio plug will be the standard for audio output on those same gadgets. It's shocking, we know, if only because we thought the entire gadget universe was already on board, with everyone and their mommas signing up for micro-USB and even HTC finally making room for a 3.5mm hole in the bottom of their handsets. These standards are set to go into effect in January of 2012, meaning we should get a good 11 months or so of dongle-free gadget harmony before the apocalypse.

It doesn't end with the Samsung Reclaim -- oh no, Sprint's eco-effort is going far beyond that. Well, maybe not far beyond that, but at least we're not just talking phones anymore. The carrier has announced that it's now offering a line of dedicated Earth-friendly accessories, including a couple cases made from recycled materials, a dual-mode universal car / wall charger that's Energy Star 2.0 compliant for minimum vampire power draw, and a single-panel Solio charger. To help call attention to the line, there'll be a dedicated web portal in addition to special in-store presence, so if you're a Sprint customer, odds are you'll have a hard time missing this stuff in the coming months.

At this point, you've probably assumed that there's simply no way any company can produce yet another iPhone or iPod dock that's significantly different from the legions of alternatives already out. And you're wrong. So wrong. In an effort to milk that Made for iPod / iPhone partnership for all it's worth, Kensington has just introduced its Charging Dock with Mini Battery Pack, which not only charges your dock connecting iPod or iPhone, but also energizes an external battery pack through the same USB cable. When you leave, you'll depart with a charged device as well as a charged battery pack in case you need to use 3G services for more than eight minutes. Brilliant, no? It's up for pre-order now for $69.99.

[Via iPodNN]

One of our favorite intellectual property rips of recent months is without a doubt the SciPhone Dream G2 from China. Having completely missed the point of Google's open-source OS being, well, open-source and thus free for SciPhone's use, the company instead chose to hack the G2's "proprietory" OS to look like Android. The charger, however, built to look like the iconic Android mascot is pretty damn cute; enough so that the idea of paying $150 just to get our hands on the 100-240V USB charger has crossed our minds. See the Android's naughty bits after the break.

[Thanks, Steven]

While the free-market works pretty well when, uh, left alone to be free, sometimes it needs a push from a visible hand. Case in point, phone chargers, at the moment some 30 different types of chargers are used on handsets throughout Europe. Today, the European Commission received industry backing of its phone charger standard that relies on a micro-USB socket. The standard is now backed by all the majors (representing 90% of the European mobile market) including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments with compatible devices starting to appear in Europe next year. Or course, the micro-USB charger standard already has the blessings of CTIA, OMTP, and GSM Association which implies a broader adoption beyond Europe, someday. One charger for any mobile phone... where's the catch?

As much as we love those guys and gals over at Will It Blend?, we couldn't help but cringe each time they "dissected" any given gadget. The cautious cats over at iFixit, however, are more our style. Gentle, loving, appreciative and respectful -- what else could you want in a gizmo surgeon? Per usual, they've done whatever it takes to get ahold of Palm's new Pre and Touchstone, but rather than basking in the glory of ownership, they promptly unrolled their tool belt, fired up the DSLR and proceeded to dissemble both units for your viewing pleasure. We already know that all those little innards add up to right around $170 (for the Pre, anyway), but there's nothing quite like looking at each and every chip and bit yourself. Hit up the read links below if you find your interest piqued, and don't forget to tip your hat as you exit.

Read - Palm Pre teardown
Read - Palm Touchstone teardown

The EU's already given micro-USB its blessing as the preferred charging standard for all things mobile, and now, CTIA has done the same in the States. The move makes perfect sense considering that the OMTP and GSM Association have both endorsed it -- and if there's one thing the entire universe can agree on, it's that proprietary connectors suck. Micro-USB is being lumped together with Energy Star compliance to form the Universal Charging Solution initiative with the goal of getting everyone on the same page by the beginning of 2012. We think that's a pessimistic goal, truth be told; tons of modern phones are already rocking micro-USB, so why can't we make this happen by, say, the beginning of 2010 instead?

[Via Phone Scoop]

What do you call a guy who can charge a Nokia, a Samsung, an LG, and a Sony Ericsson at the same time, all from the comfort of his laptop's USB port? A hero, that's what -- a hero who's purchased Brando's USB Multi-Charge Cable. Actually, we're fairly certain you'd run into a brick wall trying to charge any more than one device at a time, but at least you'll be prepared regardless of what kind of portable device gets thrown your way. At $13, it's going to run you a hell of a lot less than cables for each of those stupid proprietary connectors, too.

Sick of Pre rumors? We certainly hope not, because some magical font of believable Pre data seems to have started gushing fresh information recently with no signs of slowing down. Latest to the table is a sticker price for the Touchstone dock, an inductive charger that'll work with a special magnetized non-stick battery cover for the Pre to juice your baby's batteries without a plug -- and it looks like you're going to have to pony up some serious cash for the pleasure. Screens on some computer somewhere deep inside Sprint are apparently pegging the Touchstone at a stiff $69.99, which is an awful lot to pay to simply charge your phone in style; cool, sure, but $70 worth of cool?

It's hard to call two incidents of some occurrence around the world a trend, but, when those incidents both involve an electrical device catching fire spontaneously, it creates a situation that's hard to ignore -- especially when that device is the iPhone. On Saturday, Italian blogger Tim Colbourne was charging his 3G handset and, after three hours, it sparked and caught fire at the base. Tim did a little investigation and found a case of a Swedish handset doing the same thing back in 2008, making us a little concerned that there could be more melted chargers out there. Apple replaced that earlier phone after something of a fight, and while we're hoping they'll be a little friendlier here, we're also hoping this gives Cupertino another bit of incentive to go ahead and switch over to micro-USB already. All the cool kids are doing it, and you don't see their cables catching fire -- usually.

[Via Cult of Mac]

Quick... fire. Quickfire. Our brains are melting (as are the phones, apparently).

Follow the break for AT&T's email to customers.