Connectivity, Communications & Cloud News - Page 1

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) has just released version 6.0 of the Bluetooth standard, and with it, come some upgrades since the last major version -- Bluetooth 5.0 -- launched all the way back in 2016.

The new Bluetooth 6.0 standard has two new features that assist in reducing power consumption: Decision-Based Advertising Filtering and Monitoring Advertisers. These new features help the upgraded Bluetooth 6.0 devices reduce power consumption, and increase efficiency making sure that they're only scanning for data packets when they receive data on their primary channel, relevant to their application.

Bluetooth 6.0 is also capable of telling devices when another device they want wants to connect to, moves out of range, so that they can cancel their attempts of making a connection and conserve energy. Another big feature is Bluetooth Channel Sounding, a new technology that provides two upgrades to Bluetooth devices: enhanced security, and improved accuracy in location finding.

Sabrent wants to provide even more functionality to your lifestyle with a new Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station with Monitor Desk Mount, using a gas-lift arm that supports up to two monitors.

The new Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station with Monitor Desk Mount (DS-T4WA) docking station connects through the ultra-fast Thunderbolt 4 standard, delivering a Thunderbolt 4 downstream port that's joined by 4 USB ports (2 x 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen2x1, 1 x 10Gbps USB-A, and 1 x 5Gbps USB 3.2 Gen1x1)

Sabrent bakes in a UHS-II (312Mbps) microSD/SD card reader, a 3.5-inch audio in/out port, and gigabit ethernet (1GbE) for fast and reliable wired network connectivity. It's virtually got it all, and don't forget there's a monitor mount there, too.

SpaceX VP for Starlink Engineering Michael Nicolls has posted a juicy new Speedtest run on Starlnk's new mobile community gateway capability, with some mighty impressive 8Gbps download speeds, and 2.8Gbps upload speeds, with "no land in sight" he added.

In the post on X, the Starlink mobile community gateway was tested, which the Elon Musk-led company is preparing the technology for use on naval ships and airplanes, with blistering-fast speeds. SpaceX VP for Starlink Engineering Michael Nicolls performed the speed tested near Jacksonville, Florida, with "no land in sight" which means the test of Starlink's new mobile community gateway was either from the air, or from the sea.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied to the post, adding: "For large commercial and community users, the Starlink Gateway terminal provides over 8Gbps od download and soon over 8Gbps uplink too".

Face it, we all want the fastest internet connection speed possible... downloading games in just milliseconds sounds like it'll never happen. But now, Japanese researchers have done it: hitting 400Tbps internet connectivity speeds, forming a new world record.

In a new report by Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, the team reported that they hit speed of a truly insane 402 Terabits per second (402Tbps). The previous records for internet connectivity speeds were breached in October 2023, with 321Tbps, and then back in March 2022, with 226Tbps. 402Tbps is a damn big leap in speeds, which is why they achieved a new world record.

402Tbps works out to an astonishing 50TB/sec download speeds, which no computer on the planet could handle, period. Most systems feature on-board 1GbE ethernet connectivity, allowing for 110MB/sec speeds, while 10GbE can usher in over 1TB/sec (1000MB/sec+). So even with 10GbE ethernet, you're not going to get anywhere near 50TB/sec, and even the fastest Gen5 SSDs are pushing 14GB/sec.

The world's first Thunderbolt 5 cable has just been unleashed, with Cable Matters unveiling its new Thunderbolt 5 cable that enjoys its full 120Gbps of bandwidth and 240W of charging... starting from just $23.

Cable Matters' new Thunderbolt 5 cable is manufactured by Lintes Technology and is available from Cablle Matters' own Amazon store. The 1ft cable costs $22.99, the 1.6ft cable costs $26.99, and finally, the largest 3.3ft cable costs $32.99.

Thunderbolt 5 has a single standard, so you will enjoy the full specs, bandwidth, and power of Thunderbolt 5 no matter the cable length. This includes 120Gbps of uni-directional bandwidth, up to 80Gbps of bidirectional bandwidth, up to 240W of power delivery, and backward compatibility with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3 Type-C ports (as well as USB4 and USB Type-C).

Cadence stole the show recently at the PCI-SIG DevCon 2024 event, and in honor of the 32nd anniversary of the PCI-SIG Developer's Conference, Cadence announced a complete PCIe 7.0 IP solution for HPC and AI markets of the future.

The AI boom is creating a gigantic demand for faster-than-ever chips, which demand next levels of throughput, low latency, and power efficiency. This is fueling technology enhancements across the board, with Cadence being a close PCI-SIG member, the company says it has "valuable early insights into the evolving specs and the latest compliance standards".

HPC and AI systems of the future will require radically more bandwidth as that train never stops in the technology industry, especially for these important silicon-heavy environments. Direct GPU-to-GPU communication is absolutely critical for these systems, communicating heavy computational tasks across multiple GPUs or AI accelerators inside of a server or AI computing pod.

Dockcase has introduced a combination of a smart hub and an SD card reader, and it's specifically designed for photographers and professional users.

The Dockcase Studio: Smart USB-C Hub 8-in-1 has appeared on Kickstarter and combines gorgeous aesthetics with irreplaceable functionality. In the past, Dockcase has released products designed for photographers and professionals, but the Smart USB-C Hub 8-in-1 is aimed directly at high-end professional users, considering the inclusion of CFexpress Type-A and Type-B support.

A professional or avid photographer will know that CFexpress ports are completely needed, but the Studio offers much more than that, as it comes with normal SD card support up to UHS-II (312mb/s), HDMI ports capable of 8K at 30Hz, 4K at 120Hz, USB-C ports capable of 10Gbps, and USB 3.2 Gen 2. Notably, all of the aforementioned specifications are housed within an aluminum alloy, tempered glass touchscreen enclosure that only weighs 118g.

Apple's current satellite connectivity system is exclusive to its "Emergency SOS" feature, but the company has promised some rather big changes coming to iMessage, which will let users send text messages in cellular dead zones.

The company just held its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) event, with Apple Intelligence announced -- you can read more about that here -- new features for iOS 18, and so much more. One new feature of iOS 18 is the ability to beam iMessage data to orbiting satellites instead of using traditional cell towers. The only requirement? You'll need a clear view of the sky, obviously.

Apple designed its satellite connectivity to maintain end-to-end encryption over iMessage, with the same feature capable of sending SMS messages to orbiting satellites to people not using iPhones. Apple has been pretty quiet about what exactly to expect from its expanded Messages via satellite service, so we don't know if it will be free or not just yet. Exciting to see, especially as SpaceX is preparing to offer satellite connectivity to iPhones and Androids smartphones through a new cellular Starlink service.

Intel has just launched a proprietary app that allows you to install it on Thunderbolt 4 or 5 compliant systems, connect them with a Thunderbolt cable, and share your mouse, keyboard, storage, screens, USB peripherals, and more... it's called Thunderbolt Share.

Thunderbolt Share will allow you to use the huge bandwidth available to Thunderbolt 4 -- 40Gbps right now -- between two PCs connected over Thunderbolt, which is kinda nifty. Intel says that you can mirror one PC's screen to another at 1080p 60FPS with low latency and zero compression. PCs can connect through a Thunderbolt dock or monitor, if that's easier than a direct link.

Intel explains that you don't need a Thunderbolt-certified PC for Thunderbolt Share to work, you actually don't even need an Intel processor. Intel Thunderbolt boss Jason Ziller explains that "USB 4 and Thunderbolt 3 connections may work, we just really don't guarantee it, we won't be providing support for it".

PCI-SIG announced the new naming scheme for PCIe cables late last year, introducing CopprLink, and now we have some technical specifications and features to share.

The specs for the next-generation CopprLink cabling are fantastic, with these new cables to be super-fast for AI systems, data storage, data centers, and external devices both internally, and externally.

PCI-SIG has the latest CopprLink specs for both PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 6.0 with signaling at 32GT/s for PCIe 5.0, and a whopping 64GT/s for PCIe 6.0. These standards will evolve over time, with future bandwidth numbers to be even higher as PCI-SIG has teased PCIe 7.0 with 128GT/s speeds.