Last year, the European Union ordered cell phone manufacturers to standardize their syncing and charging solutions: all phones should use microUSB to transfer data and charge. And let’s face it, to have things any other way is just annoying. The only problem is that the European Union failed to stand tough and at the last minute agreed to allow cell phone makers to comply with the law by shipping their phones with microUSB adapters. That’s crazy.

We can only hope that things go better here in the states, because Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has confirmed that by January 2012, all US phones will use microUSB chargers, which would do us the great favor of making all chargers and syncing cables cross-compatible. Why he thinks this, we have no idea.

I have mentioned how cool the Microsoft Sync system in my Ford car is. At first glance, it seems to just be a hands free system for mobile phones, but closer inspection reveals a very robust system that lets the driver do lots of things using their voice.

Ford has announced that it is adding new features the Sync platform for drivers of 2010 and 2011 Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. The new features work with cars equipped with the Sync Traffic, Directions, & Information (TDI) app installed.

Most of the new Ford cars and trucks have the SYNC system built-in that allows the use of a phone without having to hold the device. The SYNC system makes the car into a big hands free device.

Ford has announced that owners of SYNC equipped vehicles can now get a free app called SYNCMyPhone that will allow them to sync their contacts book with the car. The app installs on a computer and lets the user move up to 1200 contacts to a flash drive.

It appears that with the recent release of iTunes 9, Apple has once again cut-off direct access for the Palm Pre’s iTunes support. We had seen it before with the release. It shouldn’t be too big of a surprise to Palm owners however, since Apple said the connectivity wouldn’t last long and they’ve thwarted Palm’s access in the past with iTunes iTunes 8.2.1.

It’s easy to see arguments on both sides of this issue, as frustrating as it might be for Palm owners. On one side Apple would like iTunes users to use Apple products to connect directly to iTunes, such as iPods or iPhones. But, they also have been a proponent of non-DRM music and are essentially making it difficult for other devices to get access to the music through their application.

One of the coolest options that Ford offers on most of its vehicles is the Sync Bluetooth system. Sync allows you to control your Bluetooth phone to make and receive calls and allows you to control your music collection as well.

Ford has announced that owners of 2010 Ford vehicles can now download a free Sync application called TDI (traffic, directions, information) that allows the Sync system to provide turn-by-turn driving directions using the drivers Bluetooth mobile phone.

Incase is at it again. Their latest iPhone offering, The Power Slider, will double your iPhone’s power for up to 5 hours of talk time on the 3G network and 10 hours on 2G. It will increase your audio playback time to 26 hours, and give you video playback time to 7 hours.

Pretty nifty. But that isn’t all. With this device, you can now sync with the iPhone still in the case, which is pretty convenient. Amazingly it doesn’t make your iPhone look too bad, though it does fatten it some. We’ve seen much worse. No word on price yet, but it should be available on November 28.

Now building a computer into a desk is a great idea, the problem is that you don’t always want to use your computer when you use the desk. That’s why Gareth Battensby’s Sync concept is a good one. The massive flip-up LCD sells me on the idea. The illuminated keyboard doesn’t hurt either.

The main thing is that Gareth has made sure you can actually use Sync as a desk when you want to. It was designed as a final year project for his degree, so sadly, Sync is unlikely to see the light of day. Very sad indeed, because aside from the practicality, it’s also a lovely piece of furniture.