The end of USB?

Intel are developing a fiber-optic connection standard that will replace USB, IEEE-1394 (Firewire) and HDMI to name a few. The standard will support multiple protocols and multiple devices on a single cable meaning that it will be used to connect your printer, camera, monitor, portable storage devices and just about anything else that connects to the computer using the same plug. No more wondering if you've got something plugged in correctly! Cables can be up to 100m long and transfer speeds will start at 10Gb per second. That's ten times faster than Gigabit ethernet - imagine transferring an entire blu-ray movie in under 30 seconds! Just another step in making our computers faster and easier to use. The technology is called Light Peak and we should start seeing this appear on computers and devices some time next year.

USB 3.0 is just around the corner too, and although it doesn't boast the speed and operational distance that Light Peak has, it will be backwards compatible with older USB devices, so it's unlikely that we've seen the end of USB yet.

Mac Mini + Games... Finally!

So Apple have updated the Mac Mini to include a GeForce 9400M, finally ditching the Intel GMA 950 graphics chip that let the Mini down in terms of 3D performance.

I've spoken about Apple's game console and how great it would be to have had a decent graphics chip in the Mac Mini in a previous post.

Now you can get a full-blown computer with a 165 mm² footprint that runs OS X, burns DVDs, has WiFi, bluetooth, 5 USB ports, Firewire800, optical SP/DIF audio and plays games for under AU$1050.00, freeing you from the tyranny of Microsoft and locking you into the shackles of Apple... but they're extremely well designed shackles and they feel really comfortable.

Die X-Box! Die!