Connectivity & Cloud - Page 3

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.

Copilot was supposed to have debuted in the OneDrive cloud storage service by now, but it has apparently been delayed - not that Microsoft has admitted this.

Neowin had the sharp eyes with this one, having noticed that in a new blog post, Microsoft updated its launch timeframe to the "summer" of 2024 for the AI landing in OneDrive. That means Copilot could still be the best part of four months away (if it arrives in late August, that is, which is technically possible).

The odd thing here is that Microsoft first announced Copilot for OneDrive back in February 2024, stating it'd arrive in April. Of course, April is now in the rearview mirror (how this year is flying by), and the AI hasn't turned up.

The world's first real-time 8K video has been broadcast from Antarctica using SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet connectivity. Check it out:

KDDI Corporation and KDDI Research, along with the Inter-university Research Institute Corporation Research Organization of Information and Systems and the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), successfully conducted a verification experiment in which 8K video was transmitted in real-time using Starlink. This test was completed between Syowa Station in Antarctica and KDDI Research's head office in Japan.

KDDI and KDDI Research will use Starlink to help out with the operational environment for expedition members in Antarctica, with KDDI explaining: "NIPR's research and observation work, and the building of a communication environment in Antarctica as well as the advancement of its educational services in order to play a part in solving worldwide issues such as global warming."

Intel announced its next-gen Thunderbolt 5 standard last year, codenamed Barlow Bridge, with some monster specifications that we'll see introduced later this year inside of its next-gen Arrow Lake CPUs.

Now we've got some more information on Intel's plans with Thunderbolt 5 from hardware leaker "YuuKi_AnS" on X, who shared some new slides for the Barlow Bridge controller for Intel's next-gen Arrow Lake-S platform, so now we know Thunderbolt 5 connectivity will be featured on at least some next-gen Intel 800 series motherboards.

Intel will have support for the PCIe Gen4 x4 interface, offering up to 64Gbps of bandwidth... that's double the 32Gbps of bandwidth that is maxed out with Thunderbolt 3 and 4 while enabling users to use their Thunderbolt 5 connector for external GPUs of the future.

SpaceX has something truly incredible for those with deep pockets: its new Starlink service now has a gigabit speed option for its satellite internet service, with $1.25 million required up front and $75,000 per month, per Gbps per month (so 10Gbps would cost $750,000 per month) for the service once the installation -- yes, installation -- ifs installed.

The Elon Musk-led SpaceX will send out a team to build an entire facility that is dedicated to receiving 10Gbps of broadband speeds from Starlink's orbiting satellites. Regular Starlink users get sent a satellite dish, but 10Gbps isn't normal... it's a monumental amount of speed from a satellite internet service. This isn't some off-the-grid government black-level facility, it will be on someone's land feeding 10Gbps of speed for $750K a month... not bad.

How is SpaceX doing this? Well, Starlink has introduced its new "Community Gateways" option, acting as a business program to attract internet service producers (ISPs) to have new ways of bringing ultra-fast satellite broadband to remote areas.

USB4 2.0 is kinda here thanks to Microsoft testing the new 80Gbps standard with its latest Windows 11 Insider Preview build, offering next-gen 80Gbps transfer speeds for future devices.

The new USB4 2.0 standard with 80Gbps of bandwidth was teased in September 2022, but it's only in the first few weeks of 2024 that the new specification is stretching its wings. Microsoft testing the new USB4 2.0 standard with 80Gbps speeds in Windows 11 is great to see, with the new USB4 2.0 standard offering double the 40Gbps of bandwidth delivered by USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4. We're seeing Thunderbolt 4 more and more, and now it's time for USB4 2.0 to shine.

USB4 2.0 is backward compatible with previous USB4 cables offering 40Gbps passive, but it will support up to the huge 80Gbps of bandwidth with new 80Gbps Type-C active cables. If you want huge speeds in the 8GB/sec vicinity, USB4 2.0 is here to deliver.

Acer has just announced not one but two new gaming routers, teaming with Qualcomm and its Immersive Home Platform and tri-band Wi-Fi 7 for stable connections and enhanced wireless gameplay with the introduction of the new Acer Predator Connect X7 5G CPE. Check it out:

The new Acer Predator Connect X7 5G CPE will provide blazing-fast internet speeds with both 5G and Wi-Fi 7, as well as dual WAN connectivity. Acer says we can expect fast, reliable, and vast network coverage provided by the Predator Connect T7 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router, with the capabilities expanded through its multi-link Wi-Fi mesh system, making wired-level latency possible through the use of a mesh setup.

Qualcomm Technologies' advanced quad-core processor is inside of both the X7 and T7 routers, which provide gamers and streamers with boosted online experiences, improved Spectrum Utilization and Wi-Fi 7, as well as enhanced MU-MIMO and OFDMA across connected devices.

Sabrent's new USB-C Universal Docking Station has been announced, with the new do-everything USB-C dock ready to provide you with every port imaginable for about every device imaginable. Check it out:

The new dock truly has it all, offering dual HDMI ports, dual DisplayPort ports, a 1GbE ethernet port, dual USB-C 10Gbps ports, dual USB 2.0 ports, and a headphone jack... and that's just on the back. On the front of the Sabrent USB-C Universal Docking Station, we've got two USB-A 5Gbps ports, USH-I SD and microSD card slots, another headphone/mic jack, and a single USB-C 10Gbps port. Sheesh, that's a LOT of connectivity, folks.

The external power adapter lets you power with device charging of up to 80W, while there are some front-facing LEDs for extra clarity, adds Sabrent.

Some of those using Google Drive's desktop app experienced a very worrying issue recently - namely a chunk of files disappearing from their cloud storage locker - but the good news is that there's now a fix.

As flagged up by The Verge, Google outlined the steps you need to take in a support post, giving affected people (some of whom lost six months of files, or more) several options for recovering their files.

By the way, we're told that only a small number of Drive for desktop users were affected (those running version 84 of the app).

PCI-SIG has just announced a brand new naming scheme for PCIe internal and external cables, which will be called CopprLink, while the company has also announced new PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 6.0 cables coming in 2024.

In a press release in my inbox, the PCI-SIG PR representative said that PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 6.0 internal and external cable specifications are currently in development and are "targeted for release" in 2024. PCI-SIG is attending SC23, the international conference for high-performance computing (HPC), networking, storage, and analysis. At the show, PCI-SIG announced its new CopprLink naming scheme.

PCI-SIG is the body behind the troublesome 12VHPWR power connector on NVIDIA's fleet of GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards, and while it provides up to 600W of power over a thinner cable, it has had its downsides. PCI-SIG went back to the drawing board and re-worked the cable, and now we're seeing a new naming scheme for PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 6.0 internal (and external) cables to CopprLink. I wonder how many people are going to use an "e" in that over the years, hah.

Australia's second-largest telecommunications provider -- Optus -- has gone down and has been down since the early morning hours in the country. Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has said that the company is on a "path to restoration" right now.

It's now past 12 p.m. in Sydney, Australia, and millions of Australians are without a working phone or internet connection, unable to call emergency services or the police. The Optus CEO said: "Unfortunately, it was a nationwide outage ... [we are] very, very sorry that this occurred; we know how important it is for all our customers to be connected, and we have been working tirelessly since the outage started to restore services for our customers".

Personally, I'm with Optus and woke up to these issues. I couldn't make any phone calls and had no data service out of the house, so all of my financial services were pretty much useless (I don't use physical cards, tap-and-go is so relevant here in Australia), and worst of all, no one could call my number. This means I'm completely unreachable, and I can't reach anyone... including my daughter at school today, as her phone is with Optus as well.

After receiving a whole load of negative feedback around an incoming change to OneDrive, Microsoft has reversed direction on the move.

The idea was a simple one, but it could have had a major impact on the available storage for photos in the case of some users.

As Neowin spotted (via TechRadar), Microsoft had contacted OneDrive users and told them in an email that: "Soon, data from photos saved in your Gallery and in your albums will each count separately against your total Microsoft storage quota."

Intel has officially announced the capabilities of the Thunderbolt 5 standard that comes with massive upgrades. For example, 120 Gbps bandwidth, 240W charging, and many other impressive performance leaps.

The company took to its website to share a press release that reveals what we can expect out of Thunderbolt 5, and according to Intel, "deliver significant improvements in connectivity speed and bandwidth benefits". Jason Ziller, the general manager of the Client Connectivity Division at Intel, said that Thunderbolt 5 will be aimed at providing high-speed connectivity to demanding users looking to take advantage of monitors, docks, storage options, and more.

The next-generation connectivity standard will deliver 80 gigabits per second (Gbps) of bi-directional bandwidth, with the Bandwidth Boost technology pushing its capabilities up to 120 Gbps. This jump in bandwidth is three times the currently most powerful connectivity solution. For comparison, Thunderbolt 3/4 is capped at 40 Gbps, which may not be enough for creators running multiple high-resolution monitors. However, with the extra headroom in Thunderbolt 5 (120 Gbps), users will be able to connect multiple 8K displays.

Some good news for those living in a broadband dead zone as the US government has announced that it's planning to spend $42 billion across the country's 50 states and territories "to make access to high-speed broadband universal by 2030."

As for areas that will be getting an upgrade, the announcement from the White House notes that it will use the new Federal Communications Commission coverage map detailing gaps in access to broadband. Two of the biggest state in the US, Texas, and California, will receive the most funding - USD 3.1 billion and USD 1.9 billion, respectively.

"It's the biggest investment in high-speed internet ever," President Joe Biden said in a White House address. "Because for today's economy to work for everyone, internet access is just as important as electricity, or water, or other basic services."

We're now well and truly in the age of cloud storage for backing up files and having readily available access to things like photos and important documents. With that, several gigabytes of cloud data are becoming the norm for most PC users. Microsoft's OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive are big players in this space, though access to cloud storage comes at a price.

But what if you could upload unlimited amounts of compressed and encrypted data and have it accessible on... YouTube? That's precisely what DvorakDwarf has managed to create as part of a "party trick" project called 'Infinite Storage Glitch' (via GitHub) which stores data in video files that can be uploaded to YouTube. An example can be seen above.

Naturally, it's a lot more complicated than that, as the current tool features code written in Rust, which converts data into pixels which are then represented as video. Originally it was going to use the full RGB spectrum, but due to YouTube compression, a binary mode (chunky black and white pixels representing ones and zeroes) was added for more reliable results. Plus, it's limited to Linux.

The folks at Sabrent truly don't sleep, with their latest product reveal being a new KVM switch that might look simple, but it packs the usual rocket-style punch from the company... introducing the new USB Type-C Dual KVM Switch with Power Delivery (USB-CKDH).

Sabrent's new USB Type-C Dual KVM Switch with Power Delivery (USB-CKDH) lets users share a mouse, keyboard, and even dual displays through the USB Type-C Dual KVM Switch with Power Delivery (USB-CKDH) with up to 4K 60Hz through mirror or extended display modes. You can even dock it easily to charge up your USB-C devices at up to 60W through USB Power Delivery (USB-PD).

There are even some LED indicators for power, input, and power statuses so you can keep an eye on what's going on while there's control at your fingertips with a single switch at the end of a flexible, one-meter tether. Sabrent has included not one but two one-meter USB Type-C to Type-C cables, too.