USB 3.0 May Arrive on PCs by Q4 2009

Based on NEC Electronics and a recent convention, it's quite possible that PC's featuring USB 3.0 will hit the market by the end of the year.

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The July edition of Nikkei Electronics Asia is reporting that PCs featuring USB 3.0 may ship from Taiwanese manufacturers by the end of the year. The verdict stems from the SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference recently held in Tokyo May 20-21, displaying numerous prototypes containing the upcoming technology that included PC hosts transferring data to connected external SSDs, and "mutual" interoperability between components from different vendors. NEA's Tadashi Nezu said it was clear that the industry is quickly pushing forward with compliant integrated circuits and more, and that the technology has actually matured since its earlier showings.

According to the article, one of the major factors accelerating the USB 3.0 commercialization is the shipment of the world's first USB 3.0 host controller. Manufactured by NEC Electronics Corp of Japan, the company originally introduced the device last month by providing a working sample, however the company believes--or rather predicts--that mass production will begin by September, consisting of a million units a month. This alone suggests that PCs containing USB 3.0 integrated circuits will begin to ship before the end of the year. NEC estimates that by 2011, 140 million units containing USB 3.0 will have shipped; 340 million by 2012.

"Industry observers predict the move will provide major impetus for the development of device controllers for peripherals such as external hard disk drives (HDD)," Nezu said.

Outside the promised 5 Gbps transfer speeds, Nezu also pointed out one of the biggest benefits stemming from USB 3.0: high-definition video streaming via isochronous transfer (data transmitted without interruption). An unspecified source--a measurement equipment engineer--said that the new technology should be able to handle 1080i HD video streams, "maybe more." However, the initial applications utilizing the new technology are expected to include external hard disk drives.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/usb-superspeed-esata-firewire,news-31440.html

Microsoft gags on puke

Morning after sickness complaints

After a wave of complaints, Microsoft has dropped a controversial online ad for its Internet Explorer web browser that featured a puking woman.

The adverts, which star Dean Cain, who played Superman in the 1990s TV series, shows a woman who discovers an offensive website on her husband's browser. The content makes her throw up three times and Cain suggests Internet Explorer's privacy options mean that users will never have to suffer from what he calls OMGIGP - "Oh My God, I'm Gonna Puke" syndrome - ever again.

All harmless enough in a college humour sort of way but apparently it has sent people reaching for sick buckets of their own, Redmond has been flooded by complaints, due to its graphic nature, and has pulled the advertisement. In a statement Microsoft said that while much of the feedback to this particular piece of creative was positive, “some of our customers found it offensive, so we have removed it.”

by: http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/14507/1/