Product test
Rusty bike lock – four weeks of annoyance followed by a five-minute fix
by Carolin Teufelberger
How to protect your cables from the claws of children
14.8.2019
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
I don't have this problem. Yet. But my colleague Tobias has kids ready and willing to destroy any USB cable they can get their hands on. This has brought him to a simple, if not the most elegant solution.
Tobias' problem will probably haunt me one day. A teenage daughter who just won't listen or learn how to properly disconnect a cable from a smartphone.
Right
- Step 1: Grab the cable by the reinforced plastic part.
- Step 2: Pull.
Wrong
- Step 1: Pull the cable.
The problem
The difference is small, but the consequences are fatal. If you skip the first step in the correct option, your cables aren't long for this world. They'll quickly look like in the above picture.
Tobias has more experience with teenagers and a longer tale of woe regarding cables. Every two months, he had to resupply. Until he found the solution in a moment of intellectual brilliance: duct tape!
The solution
That's not surprising: duct tape is the solution for most of the world's problems. If that doesn't work, use WD-40. (Fun Fact: WD-40 isn't patented. Because then the manufacturer would've had to declare the secret recipe. To this day, nobody knows exactly what's inside.)
Step 1: buy duct tape (also known as Gaffa tape).
Step 2: wrap some duct tape around the end of the cable.
This short process massively increases the life of teenage-haunted cables. In theory, it should even survive a zombie apocalypse. If that ever happens, you'll be lucky you still have a roll of duct tape in the drawer.
Aurel Stevens
Chief Editor
aurel.stevens@digitecgalaxus.chI'm the master tamer at the flea circus that is the editorial team, a nine-to-five writer and 24/7 dad. Technology, computers and hi-fi make me tick. On top of that, I’m a rain-or-shine cyclist and generally in a good mood.
