Radioshack USB Power Splitter: Beware

This cable is too smart for its purpose. Instead of simply using 4-wire cabling to connect the single male plug to two female sockets, it uses only the red and black power cables. And, then, it adds electronics to keep the data (white and green wires) pins of the female sockets at some predetermined voltage. Thus, it uses and wastes power even when nothing is plugged into its sockets and my battery powered sources become depleted over time. Some of my devices actually stopped charging even when a 4-wire splitter would work just fine.

To make matters worse, it's way too expensive at almost $15. The hefty price is presumably due to its "smart electronics". In any case, devices that expect to use USB chargers would expect the data wires to be simply shorted together.