Originally Posted By: tanstaafl.
This was a fancy cable with electronics built into it so that either end of the cable could plug into the appropriate socket right-side-up or right-side-down.


I have tried some of these reversible cables. The ones that I got, failed within a week of the purchase. The reversible-style USB-A connector was simply unreliable and would fail mechanically after some uses.

I wish I could go back in time and make the original USB plug specifications reversible (and smaller) from the get-go. I can't believe it took them all the way up to the USB-C specification before they finally did that.
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Tony Fabris