Connectivity & Cloud - Page 13

We knew it was coming, but VESA has just announced an update to the DisplayPort standard, bringing it up to version 1.3. DisplayPort 1.3 will enjoy bandwidth of 32.4 Gbps, a 50% increase on the 21.6 Gbps that DisplayPort 1.2 offered.

DisplayPort 1.3 will be capable of driving 5K at 60Hz, or better yet, 4K at 120Hz. Thanks to DP1.3 now offering 4K at 120Hz, this can be split into two 4K displays at 60Hz each, which is damn impressive for a single cable. Not only that, but DP1.3 will offer support for HDCP 2.2 and HDMI 2.0 with CEC. It doesn't even stop there, as it will support 8K, which runs at 7680x2160, all at 60Hz.

The new standard isn't just good for video, as it will also feature improved protocols for sharing display and data signals over the single cable. Thanks to the increased bandwidth and these tweaks, things like DockPort will handle DisplayPort and USB 3.0 on the same interface, being able to pump out data to various displays and devices at once, without feeling like its drowning.

Dropping prices in connected devices, and increasingly tech savvy families in the United States, will help drive the Internet of Things (IoT) in the future ahead. In a mature and affluent market, for example, there could be hundreds of "smart" objects in a single household by 2022, according to the Gartner research group.

Large domestic appliances aren't replaced often, so average households will grow their collection of smart objects slowly over the next decade. However, a mature smart home will not take place until 2020 to 2025, as smart domestic products continue to be released.

"We expect that a very wide range of domestic equipment will become 'smart' in the sense of gaining some level of sensing and intelligence combined with the ability to communicate, usually wirelessly," said Nick Jones, Gartner VP and distinguished analyst, in a statement. "More sophisticated devices will include both sensing and remote control functions. Price will seldom be an inhibitor because the cost of the Internet of Things (IoT) enabling a consumer 'thing' will approach $1 in the long term."

London's mayor Boris Johnson is expected to announce a super speedy 5G network for the UK capital this week.

According to a report in Britain's Telegraph, the eccentric mayor will promise 5G connectivity in the capital by 2020, pledging that Londoners will have access to a super quick network capable of downloading movies in just seconds. The University of Surrey will work in partnership with the city to deliver the network. "London is earning a reputation for being the tech capital of Europe and that is why we need to ensure every Londoner is able to access the very best digital connectivity," Johnson will say. "Rapidly improving the connectivity of this great city is a key part of the Infrastructure Plan for London."

As part of wider plans, Johnson is also expected to commit to improving connectivity across the entire capital, as well as making sure information about this connectivity is generally available. For example, tenants moving into new houses will be able to check against a data set to see what internet speeds they will be able to get access to. Additionally, the mayor will work with telcos to use this data to pinpoint exactly where improvements need to be made across the city.

We have all been in a situation where we need our phones for one reason or another and the area lacks enough signal for a connection. If you are in an emergency, that lack of a signal can be life threatening. A new device called the GoTenna has debuted that promises to be able to keep you in touch even in areas where cellular signal strength is weak or not available.

The GoTenna is a small 2-ounce wand that can be connected to a backpack or belt loop that is able to connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth low energy. Once connected and powered on, users of GoTenna are able to send messages and GPS coordinates to other people who are also connected by a GoTenna.

High-resolution offline maps are offered by the company allowing users to reference transmitted location data. GoTenna isn't able to give high-speed data or voice capability, so there is no surfing the web or using Facebook with the device. It creates a low frequency radio wave network for iOS and Android devices that is good for about a mile in a dense urban area or about 9 miles in outdoor conditions. Pre-orders are underway now with a pair of the devices selling for $149 before going to $299 per pair later.

Bell LAbs, which is a division of Alcatel-Lucent, is claiming to have "set a new broadband speed record of 10Gbps using traditional copper telephone lines". This was achieved in a research project that could see gigabit broadband speeds delivered to normal broadband networks with copper, by combining fiber.

These 10Gbps speeds can only be achieved at 30 meters (or 100 feet), and at 70m (or 230 feet) the top speeds drop to 1Gbps. Alcatel-Lucent has said that bidirectional 1Gbps speeds can be achieved in the real-world over networks that deliver fiber to the curbside, and rely on copper for the final few feet of the connection.

Alcatel-Lucent said: "When it becomes commercially available in 2015, G.fast will use a frequency range for data transmission of 106MHz, giving broadband speeds up to 500Mbps over a distance of 100 meters. In contrast, XG-FAST uses an increased frequency range up to 500MHz to achieve higher speeds but over shorter distances. Bell Labs achieved 1Gbps symmetrical over 70 meters on a single copper pair. 10Gbps was achieved over a distance of 30 meters by using two pairs of lines (a technique known as 'bonding'). Both tests used standard copper cable provided by a European operator".

Enough energy to power the entirety of the United Kingdom and Norway is wasted every single year as smart devices are left on standby mode, according to a report.

The International Energy Agency claims that wasted electricity from these devices makes up over 400 terawatt hours (TWh) every year - or about as much power produced yearly by over 100 coal plants. Crunching the numbers, the IEA points out that just last year over 14 billion devices were network enabled and it's set to shoot up to 50 billion by 2025 - and the required energy could make up a stonking 6 percent of global consumption.

"The proliferation of connected devices brings many benefits to the world, but right now the cost is far higher than it should be," the IEA's executive director, Maria van der Hoeven, said. "Consumers are losing money in the form of wasted energy, which is leading to more costly power stations and more distribution infrastructure being built than we would otherwise need, not to mention the extra greenhouse gases."

If you thought the 1Gbps on offer from Google Fiber was impressive, well, that would feel like dial-up compared to what the private pipeline the US Department of Energy recently tested - bursting out an incredible 91 gigabits per second between Denver and Maryland.

The reason behind the uber-fast Internet access is that the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) and NASA officials having to deal with copious amounts of data, but with access to this 91Gbps connection, that is a thing of the past. Even faster transfers have been benchmarked, but these were done over direct connections.

We reported earlier in the year that Alcatel-Lucent and BT smashed a huge 1.4 terabit connection, but this was a direct connection between London and Ipswich. ESnet does have a goal in mind, where it hopes to see transfer speeds increased to as high as 1Tbps, where it has already started work on a 400 gigabit network. Where do I sign up?

I don't know why I'm just reading about, and thus reporting about it just now, but more details are leaking out on next iteration of the PCI Express specification - PCIe 4.0.

As it stands, PCIe 3.0 has a maximum throughput bandwidth of 32GB/sec, but PCIe 4.0 will ramp things up to 64GB/sec - as it will have a base speed of 16Gbps per data link. At the moment, GPUs won't make much more use of this, but with SSDs moving toward PCIe - we are seeing a huge increase in the required bandwidth - with OCZ showing off 3.8GB/sec with PCIe-based SSDs in RAID 0 at Computex this year as an example.

When will we see PCIe 4.0 rolled out? We should expect it to come baked into Intel's upcoming Skylake platform, with its 100-series chipset.

The City of San Jose and Intel are working together to help stimulate the local economy and embrace their "Green Vision" efforts by collaborating for Smart Cities USA. City officials hope to embrace the Internet of Things and utilize the Intel Smart City Demonstration Platform so residents have real-time, local data that can help guide their energy consumption and daily activities.

"To help improve quality of life in San Jose, we're exploring new ways of capturing and sharing localized information to our residents," said Kerrie Romanow, San Jose Environmental Services Department director. "With better information, we tend to make better decisions. We're optimistic that the real-time air quality data will help our staff understand how we can positively influence the environment right here in San José as well as regionally and globally."

When people think of Silicon Valley, they tend to think more of San Francisco - but over the next 30 years, the population of San Jose is expected to increase to 1.4 million. Moving forward, the city hopes to continue attracting tech and biotech companies, and launching "smart city" initiatives will continue to draw attention.

GPS manufacturer Magellan will introduce its Cyclo 315 and 505 cycling GPS units to the North American market starting next month. The Cyclo GPS series was originally released by Magellan to the Australian and European markets last year, and must compete with Garmin in a very competitive market.

Both models are 3" and includes a touchscreen, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, smartphone connectivity, and sophisticated ANT+ support so athletes can track heart rate, speed, cadence, and power while out in the saddle. The Cyclo 315 will cost $349.99 and the Cyclo 505 has a starting MSRP of $429 - both models will be available starting in May.

"The Magellan Cyclo GPS line includes models that will appeal to the majority of bike riders in the U.S.," noted Sam Muscariello, Magellan outdoor product marketing director, in a press statement. "From the hardcore triathlete to the body armored mountain biker, even the weekend touring enthusiast, Cyclo has all the right features needed to take cyclists to the next level and help them reach their goals."

Last week, Quantenna Communications teased the world with something it is calling "10G Wi-Fi". This new Wi-Fi technology will have support for data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps, and a much longer range than current Wi-Fi technology.

Stanford Professor of Electrical Engineering Andrea Goldsmith said of Quantenna's new tech: "Quantenna's 8x8 architecture with adaptive beamforming demonstrates that the 'massive MIMO' promise of significantly higher throughput, robustness, and reduced interference can be realized in practice. This architecture will also significantly enhance the capabilities of MU-MIMO, allowing it to support interference-free transmission to many more devices simultaneously. These technology advances will transform the landscape of applications and devices that Wi-Fi can support. As we move into an era of exponentially-growing video usage and the Internet of Things, the 8x8 architecture and MU-MIMO technologies will become essential in all high-performance Wi-Fi devices".

This is the kind of technology we need as 4K (and higher) starts penetrating into our homes, where we're streaming and blasting out super high-res videos and data everywhere, all at once.

GPS company Garmin has announced the Edge 1000 cycling GPS unit, featuring new technologies to appease cyclists with deeper pockets. The device has a full-color 3" touchscreen providing 240x400 resolution, and a reported battery life up to 15 hours.

Although running GPS units from Garmin have greatly advanced, some in the cycling industry think enough wasn't being done to promote new bike-centric GPS units. However, Garmin pulled out all of the stops with the Edge 1000, including built-in Wi-Fi so map data can be downloaded faster - and GPS-based turn-by-turn directions while out in the saddle.

Cyclists can also use ANT+ sensors to connect the Edge 1000 to a heart rate monitor, power meters, or cadence sensors, Garmin said in the press release.

Intel has just shown off an incredible new way of networking between PCs at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show currently going on in Las Vegas. The new technology is called Thunderbolt Networking, and will soon be made available to all PCs that feature Thunderbolt 2 controllers.

There will soon be an updated Windows driver released, that will "emulat[e] an Ethernet connection environment" which will provide a 10Gbps two-way link between computers that are connected through a Thunderbolt cable. Thunderbolt Networking will not be enabled for older PCs that feature the first-generation Thunderbolt controllers.

Windows PCs aren't the only things receiving Thunderbolt Networking, with two connected Thunderbolt-enabled Macs also capable of this new technology. It's not going to be as good as the PC version, but it will work nonetheless. We should see this new Thunderbolt Networking technology update for Windows pushed out soon.

Qualcomm recently made an announcement about Mu-Mimo (Multi-User, Multiple input and Multiple Output) technology that is considered as a breakthrough in wireless technology as its three times faster than Wi-Fi speeds.

The development of MU-Mimo took seven years for research, but in the end it turned out to be a great technology. Wi-Fi access points work by serving one user at the time, but MU-Mimo works even with multiple users.

The company explains,"Using MU-MIMO is like using the carpool lane: the Wi-Fi Highway doesn't change, but grouping up with other users lets you go much faster while de-congesting the other lanes."

The USB 3.0 promoter's group have finalized its design for the next USB connector. The USB 3.1 Type C cable and ports are designed specifically for providing easier connectivity with notebooks, tablets and even smartphones such as Samsung Galaxy Note 3 which uses micro USB 3.0 port.

Another main feature is that the connectors are reversible. This way end users shouldn't be confused with which end of the connector goes to the device and the system. The newer connector is said to be as thin as micro-USB 2.0 made to be robust enough for notebooks and tablets, and even slim enough for mobile phones. It will also eventually replace existing micro USB 3.0 connectors.

The Type-C USB 3.1 connector also doubles up to 10 Gbps transfer speed. According to a spokesperson, the specification is scheduled to be completed by July, and products with the new connector should be out by end of this year.

If you are a motorcyclist, you can use a car GPS on your bike but it's not exactly ideal. Gamin makes a lien of GPS devices just for motorcycles and the latest in that line is the Zumo 590LM. The device is weather and fuel resistant so it should be able to survive attached to a motorcycle out in the weather.

The GPS device ships with a removable battery for power on the bike and comes with a car mount and a power cable for use in the car as well. The touchscreen is usable with a glove on and is designed for easy reading in direct sunlight. Bluetooth connectivity can send the driving directions and music to your Bluetooth earpiece or helmet.

The 590LM is also compatible with the iPhone or iPad for music playback control from the touchscreen. Weather and traffic details are offered on the GPS device screen thanks to an app that runs on the smartphone.

The USB implementers Forum has made an announcement today in regards to Media Agnostic specification. The forum has finalized the MA-USB details and released its V.10 specification.

The USB-IF used WiGig Serial Extension v1.2 specification as its initial foundation for the MA-USB specification. It is also compliant with SuperSpeed USB (3.0 and 3.1) and Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0). Devices that uses MA-USB will be branded as 'Powered by MA-USB', provided the product qualifies its certification program.

Edgar Figueroa, the president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance said,"We share a commitment with the USB-IF to enhance wireless connectivity. The completion of MA-USB supports our efforts to deliver wireless data, display and audio applications, all while providing the best user experience."

ASRock has announced that it has partnered up with Kloudian to unveil its own cloud storage service, ASRock Cloud. ASRock Cloud includes a three-year subscription to Orbweb.ME Professional, which is priced at $149.97.

This is a personal cloud storage service which is normally priced at $49.99 per year, as well as one-month upgrade to Orbweb.ME Ultimate, which gives consumers access to a Remote Desktop function. James Wei, the CEO of Kloudian, said: "It is very exciting to work with ASRock, one of the world's largest motherboard manufacturers. With the continued proliferation of mobile devices and the growing demand to 'stay connected', we are proud to provide a powerful and convenient solution to enable users the freedom of their portable device plus the power of their ASRock personal computer."

ASRock Cloud comes in both iOS and Android apps, or you can your web browser on your PC, where you can then remotely power on your PC, stream music, photos and video clips remotely through Orbweb.ME's file Xplorer, at anytime, anywhere. In order to jump in on this, you have to own an ASRock motherboard, and then visit this link for more info.

The National Broadband Network in Australia has tested out some truly breakneck Internet speeds, where a successful trial has been completed by the NBN Co and network transport company Coraint at 1Tbps super-channel.

The trial was conducted over the company's 1066km fiber ring in Queensland on a 396GHz grid using Coraint's FlexiGrid technology. Coriant said that the trial featured a 35% improvement in spectrial efficiency, where it could eventually provide a maximum theoretical transmission capacity of 13Tbps over a distance of over 1000km.

NBN Co's Chief Technology Officer, Gary McLaren, said that the trial proved that the NBN Co's potential upgrade path for its transit network is huge. He said in a statement: "It highlights how established backbone infrastructure can be upgraded with sophisticated optical and electronic equipment to provide extra capacity for the future needs of the National Broadband Network."

Intel's latest cable with green coloured housing has the ability to carry data at 800Gbps. This cable is based on the company's Photonics technology.

The cable uses 64 fibers, out of which 32 is dedicated for transmitting and 32 for receiving. Each fiber has a capability to move 25Gbps of data. The cable uses MXC (NOTE: Not an acronym) connectors. These connectors are significantly smaller than the Ethernet cable connector.

To develop Silicon Photonics transmission, Intel partnered with Corning to developed new fibers to support the new technology. The chipmaker also worked with US Conec. This helps to convert electric signals into optical signals- and vice versa.