The cost of white-light diodes for standard electrical sockets is anywhere from 40 to 100 times that of comparably bright incandescent bulbs, according to various industry estimates.

In addition to the Toyota Prius, Google.org has worked on the Ford Escape Hybrid to allow it to plug into a standard electrical socket.

The bulbs, which fit into standard light sockets, will be available to consumers later this year, said Steve Goldmacher, a spokesman for Philips.

A standard electrical socket would not accommodate a plug-in air-conditioner.

Maximum capacity is nine litres and it runs off a standard 12-volt in-car socket.

In 1960, Acopian Technical Company began manufacturing low-cost, plug-in regulated power supplies that used vacuum tubes and plugged into a standard octal socket.

To support different 10GbE physical layer standards, many interfaces consist of a standard socket into which different PHY modules may be plugged.

In the center of the bottom of a standard socket is the hot contact (contact one in photo), which typically looks like a small metal tongue bent over.

In addition to the two contacts of the standard socket, a third contact is added.