Connectivity & Cloud - Page 18

The next USB 3.0 specification is set to deliver something pretty amazing, 100w of power to devices. What this will allow is much more power to devices that are demanding of power without additional power through USB ports or stand-alone power. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group announced that the new standard would allow USB 3.0 ports to power and charge devices such as notebook PCs and would remain backwards compatible with USB 2.0 devices.

Currently, USB 3.0 can deliver speeds of up to 5Gb/sec to compatible products and also maintain currents and voltages up to 900mA at 5V for a maximum power output of just 4.5W. This was roughly double the maximum power output of USB 3.0 ports. The new USB 3.0 spec is more than twenty times its old power input and output and should set the industry on fire, allowing hungrier, more power-sucking products such as monitors, desk lamps and even notebook PCs to power from a single USB 3.0 port.

This would help in more ways than one, it would create an entire new market of products as well as clean up your desk and the tangle of cables leading to the power sockets on your wall. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group says that the new standard will be ready for industry evaluation at the end of 2011 and is set for release to manufacturers in early 2012.

With SATA 6Gbps not fast enough to keep up with todays SSDs, the Serial ATA International Organization had to come up with something, and quick. SATA-IO have just announced the development of a new standard that combines SATA software infrastructure with the PCI Express interface. The new standard will be called "SATA Express," and will allow manufacturers to create devices that can access the bandwidth of the PCIe slots whilst remaining compatible with existing SATA applications.

The combination of the technologies will provide 8Gb/s and 16Gb/s (one lane via PCIe 2.0 or two via PCIe 3.0) - which is a decent increase over SATA 3.0's single-channel throughput of 6Gb/s. SATA-IO is still concerned certain high-end consumer and enterprise configurations could saturate the existing 6Gb/s interface.

SATA-IO president, Mladen Luksix says:

Meanwhile, all sorts of drugs are somehow imported into the [super secure] borders of most countries (like the US for example), yet a little 'ol cable like the Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cables have been deemed by HDMI org to be illegal. HDMI org are the committee that oversees the HDMI specification, saying such wires are illegal and could soon disappear from stores.

HDMI org claim that any cable with a male Mini DisplayPort connector on one side and a male HDMI connector on the opposite side is unlicensed and shouldn't be sold on store shelves. HDMI org did back up its claims with a few lines from the HDMI specification, one line says that a HDMI cable consists of only HDMI connectors, nothing else is permitted.

If that's not enough, the group also said that all HDMI products undergo compliance testing as defined by the Compliance Testing Specification. Since mDP to HDMI cables aren't mentioned in the HDMI specification, there are no tests associated with the product, so they are unable to be approved. But, cables that include a male mDP connector alongside a female HDMI receptable are fine because a licensed HDMI cable is able to be used.

Google has released Google Earth 6, with it comes a variety of upgrades and improvements. Most important is Street View is now deeply integrated into Google Earth which allows users to fly from space to whichever street Google has Street View imagery of.

I don't travel much these days, but the worst thing about traveling when I have to is that for several hours while in the air, I am typically without access to the web and I get bored easily. I am sure that lots of geeks are the same way. You can only read or play video games or so long before you need to get online to check email or work. Google has announced that it is offering holiday season travelers a free gift.

When it comes to interfaces on computers we all want more speed. USB 2.0 was great as an upgrade to USB 1.0 ports with more speed and better performance. Now that USB 2.0 is old, the new USB 3.0 port is what most people want on their computers. The catch is that USB 3.0 it not widely supported. The reason is that Intel doesn't have USB 3.0 on its platforms and may not until 2012.

[img]2[/img]

It looks that Intel's own speedy connectivity specification Light Peak will be supported before USB 3.0. An industry insider claims that support for Light Peak is coming in early 2011. Light Peak is faster than USB 3.0 with bandwidth of 10Gbps making it a very speedy connection. The scuttlebutt says that Apple may be one of the first companies to offer Light Peak on its computers.

Intel has already shown Light Peak to some third parties and noted when Light Peak was first unveiled that "Apple is an innovating force in the industry." Intel does still expect to offer support for USB 3.0 with a spokesperson saying, "We are absolutely committed to USB 3.0 and beyond that." The apparent between the lines on that is just not until Light Peak is on the market.

Google has confirmed that it's Street View program has stopped operations in Australia - in the wake of it's Wi-Fi data collection controversy earlier in the year.

When it comes to charging the gadgets we all live with on a daily basis, none of us really want to mess with wires. There are several chargers on the market today that will charge smartphones using magnetic induction technology, but those chargers require the device to physically sit on the charger plate.

For a while now we've been seeing some motherboard makers incorporate USB 3.0 into select boards via means of an additional NEC controller (no thanks to Intel being slow to adopt until well into next year), but the list of USB 3.0 supporting boards versus how many new boards continue to hit the market is still somewhat lacking.

However, that may well be changing soon with ASMedia (a subsidiary of ASUSTek) said to be offering up USB 3.0 chips for less than $3 to mobo makers; half that of what NEC charges for theirs, making the inclusion much more attractive on a wider range of boards not only in the high-end market segment, but mainstream and possibly entry level areas, too.

The folks at TechConnect have obtained information about a new series of flash drives being prepped up by Buffalo.

Dubbed the SHD-LVS-BK series, these are oddly said to be advertised as USB-type SSDs, despite being limited to the now woeful USB 2.0 interface. They come in capacities ranging from 4 to 64GB, measuring 23 (W) x 10 (H) x 98 (D) mm with a weight of 17 grams.

Intel is already putting its sights beyond USB 3.0 with Light Peak transfer technology and Intels senior fellow Kevin Kahn believes it will have what it takes to tip USB 3.0 over and take its place as the new widely adopted peripheral standard of the future.

I am really not sure why this is new at all, or even why the claim that USB 3.0 has to wait on Intel to move forward is still going around, but it is popping up again.

This time we find a lengthy article on the subject from CNet. They claim that USB 3.0 will not see wide spread adoption until late 2011 because Intel has not integrated it in their chipset. I personally find this comment incredibly uninformed as Asus, GIGABYTE, ASRock and others are all building motherboards with NEC's USB 3.0 controller on them.

I suppose that the serveral motherboards that we have reviewed with USB 3.0 and external products using this new standard are not being included. Even in the OEM market companies like Dell and HP will start using the NEC controller just like they used the VIA one when USB first came out. It is a natural progression; I can remember when RAID integrated into the chipset was unheard of, now it is a standard feature. The same thing happened with USB then USB 2.0, first it is an add-on controller chip, then it gets integrated into the chipset later. Nothing to see here, move along...

Earlier today we visited the A-DATA headquarters here in Taipei and got a close-up look at some of its latest storage and memory products. Watch the video below, accompanying textual information is further below as well.

Today the USB Implementers Forum held its Taipei SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference 2010 and we were in attendance at the event to check out all of the latest cutting-edge developments to come to the new USB 3.0 connectivity standard.

One of the exhibitors was ASMedia who is a Taiwanese IC maker. These folks were showing off one of the more exciting demonstrations in the exhibitor area. They had an ASUS powered system hooked up with a Crucial RealSSD C300 SATA 6Gbps SSD connected via USB 3.0. The SSD was able to be connected to the system via USB thanks to the use of an ASMedia USB 3.0 controller bridge device that translates SATA 3.0 to USB 3.0 data signals with the ASM1051 chip.

Whoever the dude was that put those plugs on Christmas lights that let you daisy chain sets was a genius. He should have won some sort of Nobel Prize. A new design concept has turned up for USB cords that is very similar to Christmas lights.

GIGABYTE today posted an update on its Tech Daily blog regarding a new small Mini-ITX motherboard that is in the works from the Taiwanese company.

NEC Electronics recently announced that it plans on massively ramping up production of its USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) certified SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) host controller.

By April, the large Japanese company stated that it intends on doubling its output production of the popular host chip from one million units to two million per month.

USB 3.0 hardware was spotted in droves at CES in January and more of the gear will be coming to market this year. To take advantage of USB 3.0 you will need either a new computer or an add-in card for your existing machine.

When it comes to connecting multiple computers to a 3G connection on the road, you need a mobile router or a personal hotspot. There are several on the market, but most of them are self-contained and won't let you use an existing USB modem for connectivity.

GIGABYTE has just kindly let us know about a firmware update for the NEC USB 3.0 controller found on many of its latest motherboards. The update is primarily for the purposes of improving USB 3.0 device compatibility.