Category: News (Page 84 of 130)

USB 3.0 gets a CES debut

January 9, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

One of the most expected tech releases at CES this year was USB 3.0. It wasn’t really a release in the typical sense of the word, but it was the first time the public had a chance to see the transfer tech in action. And it’s fast. Really fast. Fast enough to make using an external hard drive to run anything from your operating system to your games completely viable.

Consider the numbers. As Engadget tested, USB 3.0 supported passthrough of 135 MB/second on a platter drive. That’s incredible. Hook up an SSD and things only getting better, reaching transfer speeds of 200 MB/second or greater. Basically you’re looking at a transfer tech that, for the time being, is limited only by the media on either end of the cable.

For now, USB 3.0 support is extremely limited. As you can see from the connectors, things get a little bulky on either end, so you won’t be using 3.0 cables on 2.0 devices. You can, however, plug that thumbdrive you’ve got into a 3.0 port, just don’t expect 3.0 speeds.

Computers, News

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Qualcomm has a 1.5GHz Dual-Core Snapdragon

January 8, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

Go ahead and read that one more time. Yes, the same line of chips that drives the Nexus One has been updated, pushed all the way to 1.5GHz with the help of a dual-core infrastructure.

It always sounds a little trite to talk about technology in this way, but I am, honestly and truly, a little blown away here. That kind of power was hardly available in laptops just a couple years ago. Less than half a decade ago. I know a LOT of people still running computers on slower chips than that. Madness.

Qualcomm’s announcement wasn’t just for the dual-core technosex. Luis Pineda, a Senior VP at Qualcomm, also wanted us to know about the single-core update, bringing chip model 8X50A up to 1.3 GHz. In case you were wondering, the dual-core chip is indeed for smartphones, not just netbooks, and can handle 1080p video. Let the drooling begin.

Mobile, News

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Keep your cables away from your kids

January 8, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

I saw this over at Gizmodo this morning and had to pass it along. A toddler from Longmont, Colorado got a little too curious around the family laptop this week. She managed to get a hold of the business end of a USB cable that was still plugged into the computer and, as toddlers are prone to do, put the thing in her mouth.

Here’s the text from the original article:

Trinity remains at Children’s Hospital with third-degree burns on her tongue, palate and lips. She is on sedatives and paralyzing drugs to prevent her from moving and disturbing her breathing tube, Jeffrey Anderson said. She needs the tube because her tongue is so swollen it blocks her airway.
Anderson said he feels helpless as he watches his granddaughter in her hospital bed.
“I want to make it better, and there’s nothing I can do,” he said.
Anderson said doctors plan to allow Trinity to regain consciousness in the next day or two to assess how much neurological damage occurred. The little girl wasn’t breathing for several minutes, and her heart nearly stopped beating.
Anderson said doctors expect Trinity to recover from her burns, though she may have lasting cosmetic damage. Right now, the family’s main concern is that the happy, laughing little girl does not suffer serious brain damage, and they hope she is young enough that she can recover any lost capabilities.

That’s some serious damage from a cable that typically carries around 5 volts. So please, unplug cables you aren’t using and keep them away from your toddlers.

Source: Colorado Daily

News

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iPhone vs Nexus One cost of ownership

January 6, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

Shortly after the announcement of the Google Nexus One, BillShrink put together one of those nifty little charts as a cost comparison for the “next generation of smartphones.” (I’m glad to see it didn’t adopt Google’s new term: superphone.) The results read like yet another reason the iPhone needs to get off AT&T.

The cost of ownership for a top tier plan on the iPhone runs $3,799 over the course of your two year contract. The Nexus One, by comparison, is just $2,579, and that’s without the 5GB data cap. It’s an ugly stat for AT&T, which doesn’t even compete when you step down to an average plan. The total cost is still $500 more than the Nexus One.

The chart also throws in the Palm Pre and Verizon’s Motorola Droid, but now that the Nexus One is out I think we can pretty much forget about the droid. And the Pre? What’s that again?

Source: BillShrink

iPhone, Mobile, News

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The Google Phone has arrived

January 5, 2010 / Jeff Morgan

Today marked 2010’s first major tech release: the Google Nexus One. Google’s calling it a superphone, that special sub-category of smartphones that can do things like posting video to YouTube and run voice recognition software. I dunno, sounds like every other smartphone to me, though this one does look a good bit faster.

If you were hoping for a revelation, keep on hoping. While the Nexus One is definitely the best Android phone I’ve seen, it falls in line with the evolution of smartphones to this point. Yes, it is faster. That Snapdragon processor will be the envy of every iPhone owner, including myself. Yes, it is small. I was actually surprised to see that HTC was able to keep it thinner than a No. 2 pencil considering the processor. It will be interesting to see how hot it gets. And yes, above all, it is pretty. Android 2.1 looks really spectacular on that AMOLED screen. It’s got a big camera with an LED flash, another thing that will make the iPhone fans whimper.

Other than that, the world remains the same. Android app support still hasn’t caught up with the iPhone, and you can only get a 3G data connection on T-Mobile, the same one-network limitation the iPhone has. The one big difference is that it is possible to get the phone off contract, though in the US I doubt we’ll see many people going that route.

Head over to Google’s official webpage for all the spec info you need and a nice tour of the phone’s features.