We get the feeling that Symwave won’t be the only outfit at CES 2009 showing off the flashiest revision of the USB protocol, but it will reportedly be the first to showcase USB 3.0 transfers to and from an external storage device. ‘Course, we’ve already seen that SuperSpeed USB works (and works quickly), so we’ll be most interested in seeing what external HDDs it relies on to make the magic happen. After all, the protocol can’t gain traction without a small swarm of supportive devices on the market, right?

Filed under: Storage

Symwave to demo USB 3.0 external storage solution at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So here’s an interesting one. The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) will be pumping up two standards at CES 2009: one with great potential for the future, one that’ll be lucky to survive the rest of this decade. Despite setbacks for Wireless USB, the USB TechZone will be showcasing the latest and greatest in cordless USB, though we suspect we’ll be spending most of our time checking out the progress on SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0). Hit the read link if you’re interested in seeing what involved firms will be taking part, and keep it locked right here for live coverage as the mayhem unfolds in early January.

Filed under: Peripherals

Wireless USB / USB 3.0 exhibitors to be out in full force at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Peripherals

Just last week, Intel gave AMD, NVIDIA and a whole host of friends what they had been clamoring for: 90% complete USB 3.0 controller specifications. Now, the cool cats over at MaximumPC have churned out an encyclopedic writeup that details USB SuperSpeed remarkably well. The highlights include assurance that USB 3.0 will be backwards-compatible with USB 2.0 and that it’ll provide transfer rates up to ten times more than USB 2.0’s 480Mbps limit (that’s 4.8Gbps). Furthermore, we’re told that uploads and downloads are kept on separate lanes, the cables are thicker, it will charge more devices more quickly, and it will be much more mindful of energy waste. Go on and get yourself completely schooled in the read link below.

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Filed under: Peripherals

Remember middle school? These guys do. NVIDIA, AMD, VIA and now SiS (only two capital letters? Not trying hard enough) have all teamed up in a fight against Intel of truly pubescent proportions. Intel has denied accusations of hiding the USB 3.0 spec, since it’s not their spec to hide, and claims it has no obligation to disclose its actual host controller specification before it’s ready. This apparently has the other chip makers scrambling to make their own host controller, so they aren’t beholden to Intel’s schedule. That could cause problems for the end product — if they don’t build theirs exactly like Intel’s, and with Intel’s already being on the market by the time they’re done, they’ll have to return to the drawing board and possibly delay their release by nine months. They claim this could give Intel two years of zero competition in the USB 3.0 space, but Intel figures since it plans to release the spec for free, is investing heavily in its development, and isn’t done yet anyways, it doesn’t owe those companies a thing. This just gets better and better.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Nothing captures the public’s attention faster than a sensational accusation. Pit industry heavyweights like AMD and NVIDIA against Intel and you’ve got yourself an LA-style courtroom drama. On one side of the bench we see AMD and NVIDIA, stamping their feet and insisting that Intel is keeping the USB 3.0 spec under wraps in order to lock vendors into Intel chipsets. On the other, Intel, tonguing a bittersweet no we’re not raspberry right back at the pair. In a lengthy retort, Intel claims, (1) it’s not its spec to hide — it’s owned by the USB 3.0 Promoter Group consisting of HP, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, NXP, and TI; and (2) the “gazillions of dollars and bazillions of man hours” Intel has spent developing the royalty-free USB 3.0 controller spec (a “dummies guide”) is meant to ensure that the industry can start building the USB 3.0 spec into their silicon as quickly as possible after its release later this year. Of course, Intel offers plenty of verbiage to support its claims. But in a case of he-said, she-said, the truth may never be known to the titillated masses who’ve likely made up their minds anyway.

[Via PCWorld]

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Filed under: Peripherals

We’ve seen some early USB 3.0 gear here and there, but it looks like the successor to everyone’s favorite serial bus is off to a rocky start, with AMD and NVIDIA claiming that Intel is withholding crucial specifications necessary to develop an open host controller. Although Intel apparently already has working silicon, it’s not willing to share — so AMD and NVIDIA are working on a competing spec that will be introduced alongside Intel’s. The first meeting of the alternate spec group is scheduled for next week, according to sources, but there could be problems with this diverging roadmap down the line: sources close to Intel say that the only reason the specs haven’t been released is that they’re not done, and that Intel doesn’t want incompatible chipsets based on different versions of the spec out there. Sure, sure, but we’re certain both sides are playing a little fast and loose with reality here — good thing all these fools have until 2010 to get this sorted.

[Via Everything USB]

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Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

Somewhere in a dark corner at CeBIT, PCMCIA managed to let out a whisper that informed a few flies on a nearby wall that ExpressCard Standard 2.0 was on the way. Today, however, we’ve received confirmation that said update is on track for a “second-half 2008 / early 2009″ delivery. Put simply, v2.0 is “being developed to accommodate the significantly faster speeds increasingly demanded by today’s high-performance mobile technologies,” and we’re also told that it will comply with PCI-Express 2.0 and SuperSpeed USB, which is “planned for release later this year as part of the USB 3.0 specification.” For the paranoid, you can rest assured that the new release will be very backwards compatible, though we aren’t told when to expect hardware that will reflect the changes.

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Filed under: CES, Features

Get ready, speed freaks. USB 3.0, the oft-rumored, much-discussed, rarely seen new standard heading our way has been spotted, sliced, chopped, and diced at CES 2008. Actually, we just got a chance to check the connectors and compare with the old 2.0 standard (which the reps tell us is backward compatible, of course). With speeds of 4.8 Gbit/s (600 MB/s), and a powering system which intelligently cuts the juice when you’re not using a device, we have a feeling you’ll want. Too bad we all have to wait till 2010… the year we make contact… with USB 3.0.

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Filed under: HDTV, Laptops, Portable Video

Ugh, is DRM coming to shackle USB too? You betcha. The USB Implementer’s Forum is planning to rollout a variant of tethered USB in 2008 to carry compressed high-def video between TVs and mobile devices. It appears unrelated to USB 3.0 and targets both laptops and personal media players — however you might choose to define that. A spokesman for the organization said that developers “could layer HDMI’s HDCP encryption on top.” So it’s not definite. But with the studios fighting hard to “protect” their content, well, it’s a given that some form of DRM will be there. The new USB linkage is meant to complement HDMI which primarily carries uncompressed video between living room A/V equipment… and an increasing number of media-centric laptops. Thing is, DisplayPort, expected to make a big showing at CES in January, already comes with a slathering of HDCP and is the purported VESA standard for moving HDTV from your laptop to a digital television. To confuse matters more, Kleer Corp is also working on a mid-2008 wireless and wired technology for carrying SD video based on its existing wireless audio technology. Proof that the best part about having standards is that there are so many to choose from.

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