Gizmodo: ports

USB 3.0 Gets Its First Four-Port Hub

Brian Barrett — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:55:22 EST

Buffalo today unveiled the first-even four-port USB 3.0 hub. Right now? May not be that useful. But sooner than you think, this is going to be the multi-port hub that you need.

USB 3.0 has already started working its way onto PCs, and it won't be long before it's become the new standard. As well it should: Buffalo's BSH4A03U3 hub is backwards compatible with USB 1.1 and 2.0, but offers data transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps.

The 4-port USB 3.0 hub will be available in Japan later next month, AC adapter included, for $88. There's no word yet on when it might be available stateside, but the clock's ticking. [Buffalo via CrunchGear]

VESA Officially Adopts Apple's Mini DisplayPort

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:38:52 EST

It was bound to happen: Apple's Mini DisplayPort is now officially part of the Video Electronics Standards Association's DisplayPort 1.1a standard. [VESA]

There Are No Limits for Linux Hackers

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EDT

This chuckling cartoon reminds me of that classic, dreamy quote: "If you build it, some Linux hacker will write a driver for it." Or something like that. [XKCD]

USB 3.0-Equipped PCs To Start Shipping By End of 2009

John Herrman — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:05:17 EDT

Most of the news about USB 3.0—the finalization of the spec, the first drivers, the first controller—doesn't tell us much about when we'll actually get to see a product hit stores. The answer? According to Nikkei, before 2010.

Their contacts in the Tawianese PC industry predict the first machines to include the hardware will start rolling off the line by the end of the year, citing rapid development in integrated circuits and the shipment of compliant controllers to PC manufacturers. The date is a bit earlier than the "early 2010" prediction that's been bandied around recently, and inline with initial predictions of a 2009 release.

A quick reminder of what this means:

With transfer speeds of 4.8Gbps, it'll dump a 25GB HD file in about 70 seconds, and the architecture has been beefed up with extra data lanes to make for more sustained, rather than bursty transfer speeds, making it better for camcorders and the like. Even though it delivers more power than USB 2.0 to charge gadgets faster (and it'll revive a completely dead one too), its new polling architecture makes it more efficient.

Unfortunately, full 5Gbps speeds won't be reached for some time. [Tech-on]

The Flood of Mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI Adapters for Macs Begins With Apogee

matt buchanan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:59:00 EDT

Apple's free licensing of the Mini DisplayPort spec is finally bearing fruit: Besides Monoprice's MDP-to-HDMI adapter, Apogee informs that their own is now finished, will be coming soon to a "major reseller."

Apple's Mini DisplayPort Will Be Official Part of DisplayPort 1.2 Specification

matt buchanan — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST

Apple's shrunken version of DisplayPort will officially become part of the DisplayPort 1.2 spec, meaning there's a better-than-ever chance we'll actually see it in gadgets and computers from other people. Death to proprietary ports! [MacRumors]

Southwest Laptop Seating Areas Get USB Ports!

Jason Chen — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Reader Daniel emails in with this nice find at the Southwest terminal at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport. USB power ports! Charge your phones! Charge your USB junk! Shove in a USB humping dog! Either way, it's a nice gesture by Southwest. [Thanks Daniel!]

Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP 24-Inch Widescreen Display Crammed With DisplayPort, 12 More

Benny Goldman — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:10:00 EST

Dell's newest UltraSharp is a 13-port behemoth that just so happens to have a display. The 1920x1200 resolution monitor with 6ms response time and 3000:1 dynamic contrast ratio includes the DisplayPort you love, along with HDMI and DVI. And the picture below shows we're just getting started.

VGA, composite, S-video, and component round out the connection list, while 4(!) USB ports and a 9-in-2 card reader are thrown in for good measure. It's out now for $699, so gather every device you own and get ready to blow a fuse. [Dell]

Apple Patents Hideable Ports on Notebooks

Jason Chen — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:40:03 EDT

Apple's latest patent for laptops shows a collapsible port scheme that lets you hide and show connectivity ports when necessary. These ports—USB, Ethernet, Firewire—take up most of the room on the sides of laptops now, and if Apple ever gets around to releasing an ultra-portable notebook, being able to hide ports will be super useful. The best part is that each port is independent so it, like ninjas, only flips out when necessary. [Apple Insider]

Japanese Cellphone Makers To Unify Charger Sockets

Jason Chen — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 17:15:10 EDT

Even though this news doesn't affect the US, our Japanese cellphone brothers' decision to unify their charger plugs makes us feel all warm and intestiney inside—not all that dissimilar to our tapeworm infection of '93-'94.

NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Vodafone KK's sockets are all currently different and have incompatible chargers. This is pretty much the same for us, except we have to deal with Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola's incompatibility. The three Japanese companies say they will make everything mesh by 2010, when 4G is widely deployed. Fantastic! That means by 2026, we'll finally get the same thing in the States. – Jason Chen

Cell phone makers to unify charger specifications [Crisscross News Japan]