Cords and plugs seem to multiply as the years go on. How they got there is one question — what they actually do is another.

There's a long-running joke that some of us who live and work with gadgets have accumulated too much tech detritus. We have boxes of old cables and adapters that should have been tossed many moons ago ...

We independently review everything we recommend. We may make money from the links on our site. Learn more› By Jared Newman After a new round of testing, we’ve added fresh picks. Buying a USB-C cable ...

USB adapters with ports for connections you haven't seen in years, like Micro-USB or Apple's Lightning cables, should probably find their way to the trash.