I’m in a chirpy mood this Friday for the dullest of reasons.  Two incidents are responsible, and both have to do with interoperability.

First, my office iPad is now functioning properly with our office wifi network, so I can shut off the power-rapacious 3G connection.  Despite both the iPad and our wireless lan being fully 802.11 compliant, the little bugger simply refused to handshake with our subnet.  It appears that now the Netgear gods have sent angels in the form of a firmware upgrade to our wireless access point, so the matchmaking is a success.

Apparently my iPad connectivity problem was not unique.  Today’s edition of eWeekEurope (one of the few daily e-newsletters I heartily recommend, by the way) points out how wifi interoperability should not be taken for granted.  The article also provides a useful link to a database of device compatibilities.

The other incident is more of a tardy discovery on my behalf.  The new European iPhone/iPad chargers consist of a conveniently slim detachable plug whose female output port is a standard usb connector.  So now with one compact plug, I can power my google android phone, my wife’s iPhone, her blackberry, and the iPad, etc… in fact any device I want provided I bring its accompanying usb cable.  And complementing this elegant solution comes my compact cigarette lighter adapter which also uses a standard usb port.

Perhaps the next dream is the convergence of Apple’s cable with the increasingly standard mini- or micro-usb configuration.

In homage to Rodney King… can’t we all just get along ?