standards

WiMAX 2 Standard Scheduled for Final Approval This November

WiMAX isn’t even remotely ubiquitous in these United States, but that hasn’t stopped progress on its successor, the aptly named WiMAX 2. In the near future, November perhaps, WiMAX 2 will be finalized as a standard, meaning—theoretically—its 1Gbps download speeds would become available when WiMAX 2 hardware is added to the network sometime in 2012.…

Qi Wireless Charging Standard Finalized

The Wireless Power Consortium has finalized the Qi standard, meant for low power devices. It’s good for gadgets up to 5 watts. And the goal is for the standard to be interoperable between chargers and gadgets from different makers. That’s the sort of openness that doesn’t always happen when standards are too vague, so I’m…

Opera Finds Flash Unappetizing For Web Video

Speaking to TechRadar, Opera product analyst Phillip Grønvold conceded that Flash is essential to today’s web and will be for the foreseeable future. But for internet video, he says, there are alternatives that won’t make your laptop a stove top. Everyone’s been pitching in their two cents on the matter of Flash, and now Opera…

Giz Explains: Why HTML5 Isn’t Going to Save the Internet

The beardier parts of the web-o-sphere have been abuzz about HTML5, the next version of the language that powers our internet. Will it revolutionize web apps? Will it kill Flash video? Will it fix our gimpy iPads? Yes… and no. The tech press has transformed HTML5 from a quiet inevitability to an unlikely savior: When…

America Finally Has a Mobile DTV Standard

After plenty of half-hearted attempts at mobile video from wireless carriers and Qualcomm, the ATSC has defined a standard that should, at long last, bring live streaming video to our phones. About time we got a DMB equivalent. https://gizmodo.com/qualcomm-flo-tv-personal-television-hands-on-250-to-s-5375872 Keep in mind we’re not talking about VCast, Sprint TV or whatever other service your carrier…

Apple’s Got a New Video Format: iFrame

The most interesting about the iMovie update that dropped yesterday is that “improves compatibility” with camcorders using the iFrame video format. The iFrame video format, you say? Why yes, it’s a new video format from Apple. iFrame’s based on industry-standard codecs H.264 and AAC, but it’s got a standard res of 960×540 and it’s designed…

mSATA: It’s Like SATA But Smaller

You’ve heard of SATA. It’s the technology used for the majority of today’s hard drives and people generally like it. But SATA wasn’t designed for tiny portables. That’s why the guys behind SATA are introducing mini-SATA, or mSATA for short. Supporting 1.5 Gb/s and 3.0 Gb/s transfer rates (peaking at half the speed of existing…

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

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] https://gizmodo.com/apples-mini-displayport-might-not-be-bs-proprietary-por-5100514

Film Industry Wants to Set a Standard For 3D Viewing at Home

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the folks behind such innovations as the color bar test pattern, want to codify a standard for watching 3D content in home theaters. They’re casting the net wide to include all possible sources and displays, from over-the-air broadcast to DVDs and Blu-ray. Ars points out that Hollywood…

Microsoft’s HD Photo Is Official JPEG Successor, Redubbed JPEG XR

Microsoft’s HD Photo standard is now officially tapped to become JPEG’s successor by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, but it’ll be known as JPEG XR. https://gizmodo.com/microsofts-hd-photo-standard-which-compresses-more-eas-285014 XR stands for extended range, given the wider color palette and finer gradations it can show. Other benefits include in-camera imaging processing support and, supposedly, better compression. Besides losing…

The Bluetooth SIG group just approved Bluetooth Core Spec Version 2.1+EDR, which brings easier pairing and enhanced power optimization. [Bluetooth]

Microsoft’s HD Photo standard, which compresses more easily than JPEG2000, could be the next generation JPEG. [Ars]

Korean Cellphones Are Smarter, Part MMVI

South Korea’s three main mobile communications service providers—SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom—have agreed to make life easier for their customers. Instead of always having different standards for their respective mobile phones’ sync, charge ports, data cables and earphones, it’s been decided to go with just one standard. Most cellphone manufacturers have different ports to…