Official charger rubber thingy

[Stefan]

Just read in another thread something with the "official charger" so this came to my mind:
Does anybody know what the little rubber thing around the USB cable should be for?
At first I thought maybe someone did a mistake while designing the charger, so that there might be a dangerous voltage accessible somehow. But after close looking and poking some measurement probes at the USB port I couldn't find anything unusal. (would've been a really hacky fix anyway)

[eried]

The legend says TW melted the 2nd cable originally included, rejected by the evil hp merchandising staff, into that little rubber thing to keep alive the truth for upcoming generations.

[davetheguru]

I think the documentation somewhere stated that it is to go around the USB plug when in the A/C adapter for mechanical re-inforcement / keeping from flexing the USB too much that it breaks or something like that.

[cyrille de brébisson]

Hello,

ESD protection.
Nuff said.

Cyrille

[davetheguru]

Oh I see, it goes around the place where the metal is exposed to avoid sparks. Many times I've put a finger just too close to such things only to get zapped (though not on the Prime's cable yet, but on other devices).
Thanks for clearing that up Cyrille.