USB 3.0 Flash Drives have started to appear, and more importantly below the $20 mark.  This makes it a no-brainer purchase for enthusiasts.  The first SuperTalent drives performed well, but had price points up to $600.  The recent generation sells for under $20 for 8 Gbyte and 16 Gbyte capacities.

The Kingston USB 3.0 Flash Drive starts at 16 GB and goes up the 64 GB.

SuperTalent USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Lacie offers both a ruggedized hard drive and a standard USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Great I can buy Flash Drives, What can I connect the drives too?

You can connect it to your new Samsung Laptop, announced in September, the Samsung RF510 Multmedia notebook

You can rent movies

The first commercial company to make use of USB 3.0 is probably Flix on Stix.  You walk up to a Kiosk, insert your USB 3.0 Flash Drive (or 2.0 Hard Drive) and download the movie into you flash drive.  This would be much, much faster than downloading from the internet.  These Kiosks accept USB 3.0 Flash Drives and USB 2.0 Flash Drives.  Even at USB 2.0 effective speeds of 320Mbps, this is faster than most home internet connections of 1 to 21 Mbps.  You can use any flash drive, but with USB 3.0 it will be much, much faster.

Several questions are:

1) Why not just Pirate?
- It’s Illegal
- Viruses
- And it still takes too long to download a movie. You are still better off driving or walking to your kiosk and just getting the most recent, HD movie onto your flash drive.  you can do this faster than pirating a movie without getting your PC sick

2) Why not just rent a DVD disk?
- Sure. it’s a little 90’s, but that’s okay.
- You have to return the disk.   Personally, I think this is a big hassle.

3) Purchase a legal rental from Apple iTunes or others?
- I recommend this form so you don’t have to go to a physical location, but there are some people who don’t trust this or can’t do this for some reason.
- It still takes more time and preparation depending on your Internet speed.

Thanksgiving and the Kinect (A USB Peripheral)

During Thanksgiving, I usually introduce our family and friends to the latest in video gaming technology.  Mostly, because my friend that did this moved to Seattle and took all his game systems with him.

I bought an XBOX 360 Kinect bundle, 3 actually.  One XBOX overheated and stopped working, one stopped working during a firmware update. I returned both.  The 3rd one worked fine.

(I’d show you footage of me dancing to Dance Central, as it evokes hysterical laughter from my family and friends).  Instead, I’m directing you to this terrific, non-professional video of someone playing the hardest song in “hardcore” mode which is the hardest mode for the Kinect.  Enjoy.

Hardcore Dance Central on the Kinect

By the way, here’s an AMD Motherboard for $90 bucks at NewEgg.

If you want to see me do Dance Central, post a comment below.

Sony and Microsoft have added Motion Control to their game systems.  Specifically, Sony has wireless motions sensing remotes (called the Move) similar to the Wii controller (WiMote).  Microsoft has the Kinect.

Microsoft Kinect gives the 5 year old XBox and will likely boost sales and lengthen the life of the XBox 360 further.

In fact, the Sony Move and the Microsoft Kinect will definitely inject revenue to game sales in general. 

The Kinect is a USB peripheral.  is a actually 2 video cameras in a box with microphones in the box.  The software constructs a 3D image of your body

Image Source: Gamespot.http://www.gamespot.com/special_feature/konnecting-kinect/image-feature/index.html?image=1

The EETimes did a teardown of the Kinect. 

The 2 PCB boards inside the Kinect included at least 2 USB 2.0 chips

1) an NEC USB 2.0 Hub. 

2) a TI USB Peripheral chip.

The Hub indicates that there must be at least 1 other USB peripheral in the chip.

For a listing of the major parts found by UBM TechInsights within Kinect go to the EETimes article here: http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4210649/Kinect-s-BOM-roughly–56–teardown-finds-?cid=NL_EETimesDaily

Second USB 3.0 Host Certified

The USB-IF granted Fresco Logic certification of their USB 3.0 xHCI Host Controller.  This is really, really, really important because it will put some real competition in the market for NEC’s USB 3.0 xHCI Host Chips, the first and previously only certified Host controller.  Digitimes reports that Fresco Logic already has Asustekand ASRock as customers for its Host Chip.  Digitimes also reports that prices have dropped to something like $2-$3 per chip, down from $6 initially for NEC Host Chip.

More competition, means lower prices, means more USB 3.0 everywhere.

According to Nielsen, SmartPhones continue to replace regular Feature Phones (phones that only make phone calls, and do have not internet).

Looking the graph below, I personally think that variations of 5% or less are almost like noise.

I suspect that the rise in the adoption of Google phones below shows:

1) The SmartPhone market growth of 3% mean more people buy phones
2) More SmartPHone buyers, most of who do not use AT&T, buy the Google Phones.  Google Phones are available on all Service Providers like Verison, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T. New users only great choice for a touch screen phone to stay on their network is a Google Phone.  (I should note that the HTC Incredible and the latest phones are truly terrific).
3) Migration of some RIM and Windows Mobile users going to Google.

LightPeak

More articles on LightPeak again. More on it passing up USB 3.0.  It always surprises me how Journalists or bloggers like to speculate for the sake of creating content for their blogs.

I would like to reiterate

1) USB 3.0 has 100s of developers
2) USB 3.0 has 100+ certified products
3) USB 3.0 has hardware on shelves
4) USB 3.0 PCs can be bought (or built to order)
5) The USB-IF has a formal USB Certification and Interoperability program.
6) If you think USB 3.0 is complex, wouldn’t LightPeak be even harder? 
- Think about it. 
- Tens of thousands of engineers understand how use copper to send data.
- How many understand optics? 
- How many understand how to build the optics?

To be clear, there are issues with USB 3.0.  None of them easy.  All of them being addressed by the USB-IF and it’s member companies.

LightPeak will come.  It has several advantages.

USB 3.0 is and will be first.

Creative Tablet

Creative announced a tablet in 7” and 10” formats.  They are cool and they use USB.

Read more here: http://www.creative.com/corporate/pressroom/releases/welcome.asp?pid=13189

Digitimes reports that USB 3.0 will appear in chipsets by January 2012.

Given that everyone from Apple’s Steve Jobs showed concerns about USB 3.0 deployment,

I can only say this:

USB 3.0 is complex. The Inventors of USB aren’t fooling around, they want to do it right. I find this encouraging.

Lots of products exist.  Some certified, others, not so much.   I can tell you there are plenty more that could be out there, but the USB-IF focuses on broad usability and compatibility.  For USB 3.0 to thrive, the USB-IF must be rigorous and those that want the certification need to pass those tests.

If I’m Apple,  Why rush?  Apple has plenty of innovation going on already.

Having said that, you can easily buy PCs and Laptops with USB 3.0 support today.  If you want 4x the speeds of USB 2.0, get those now.  They are only limited by the USB 3.0 Host card.  The peripherals will probably run even faster with the PCIe Gen 2 based USB 3.0 Host cards come out later.

Apple announced the MacBook Air and the only way to install programs is either via the Internet or USB.  Of course, if the OS fails, and you have no internet, you have to use USB.

So Apple ships a USB Flash Drive that re-installs your software to factory condition.

How does Apple get away with no Optical Drive (no DVD, no Blu-Rays)

1) Apple set the standard with iTunes and downloadable Apps. – The only way to install this software to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod is over the internet.�
2) Apple saves power – No optical drive, no spinning/moving parts.
3) Apple saves space – Obvious, I know.
4) Apple saves cost – No optical drive.

At the system level, Apple save enough to include a flash drive, instead of a cheaper DVD disc because Apple doesn’t have to pay for or deal with cost/problems of adding an optical drive.

Buyers can (of course) buy a separate USB DVD or BluRay drive, or reuse an old one. So it actually lowers their overall cost of ownership over the long term.  They can share or reuse these components.

Apple enters top 5 Handset makers

This is significant because it means that more and more people buy SmartPhone which are more expense, provide more functions, and provide a platform for everyone to sell more stuff. 

IDC Q3 data

 

Strategy Analytics Q3 data

The data above is from my source is at at EDN, here 

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Next Year I’m buying a 3D TV.  Assuming I make it to next year.  I’m hoping to pick one up for less than $1500 just so I can watch Toy Story 3 in 3D.  Really.

My search on Amazon yielded about 27 different models from LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony.  All of them had at least 1, and most had 2 USB ports.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what I’ve been saying for a few years:  The USB ports will be used for WiFi.

If you look at the Samsung TVs, they advertise a Samsung WIS09ABGN LinkStick Wireless LAN Adapter.  Seen below.   Plug this in, to connect your TV to your WiFi and the world.

You can eliminate the Ethernet to the back of your TV.  In my mind this is good because:

1) Who wants to run another cable to your TV
2) It eliminates the need for Ethernet on the TV, lowering the BOM (Bill of Materials) for the TV.  In my opinion, if you are shipping a gazillion TVs, even if this 10 cents, you save 10% of a gazillion dollars.
3) Who needs Ethernet?
4) You can have multiple USB ports and use the same software hardware infrastructure with USB.
5) USB is cool.

In 3 weeks, Microsoft will ship out Kinect for the XBox 360.  Kinect is a 3D Video Camera and Software. The Camera connects to your XBox through the XBox USB port.  It allows you to play games without a controller.  The early reviews indicate that this is the most precise motion control system ever, where the system uses “1 million points” on your body for greater precision.

Microsoft demonstrated Video Conferencing using the XBox 360 at E3.  I expect that Microsoft could roll this technology out for Desktop/Laptop PCs for more than gaming. It could be used for video conferencing, and 3D video conferencing.  

According to Gamespot, PrimeSense built the PrimeSensor 3D camera, the technology at the heart of the Kinect.  MI guess the dual camera system allows for more precise measurements of body position.

Microsoft filed a patent for  the use of American Sign Language (ALS) for “voice chat” over games.   Microsoft’s patent indicates that it could be used for the Hearing Impaired to communicate with other on-line players.  The players gestures would be translated to a voice chat, actual audio to the other players.   The Patent itself has an example that says, “You’ve been Pwned”.  Translated from Gamer Smack Talk this means, “I beat you so badly at this game that you should turn off your XBox and never play again.”

More interesting to me, potentially, ASL could be used for non-keyboard input of data or chat.  Extend this technology to the desktop or your mobile phone, and you no longer need to type.  Maybe, I could convey ideas in phrases faster than I could type whole sentences.

Will people learn ALS?  Will mobile phones have user-facing cameras for input?  I can only say, that it’s an option.  If we can learn abbreviations like. “OTW” or “OTP” or “R U Crazy”, we should be able to learn dozens or hundreds of gestures which convey more meaning.

That’s my revelation for today.

Videos from Microsoft’s E3 Launch embedded below.

For more demos, go to YouTube and search on “Kinect XBox E3”

3D drives 3.0

I can’t fill a 1 Terabyte drive with personal media yet, and I generate about 4 GB of digital pictures and video a month.

I can however fill an HD DVR in about 3 months.  I recorded a single episode of the new Hawaii-Five-O (from the writers of “Star Trek”) and it took up over 7GB on my HD TIVO.  Combined with “Fringe”, “House”, “Top Chef”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Bakugan”, “Pokemon”, and “Stargate Universe.”  I need storage space.

I really need to add an external drive to my HD DVR and USB 3.0 would be the right way to do it.  If all TV programming goes 3D, then the file size will go up to 14 GB per 1 hour episode (7GB per eye).

You may not watch TV, but a lot of people spend their money on this stuff.

And you thought you wouldn’t learn anything today reading this blog.

ASUS Media Player with USB 3.0

ASUS launches the first consumer product with USB 3.0.  As reported by Engadget here, the box supports just about every storage card in the market, AND it has USB 3.0 Host receptacle to accept USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 flash drives.

Since the decoder accepts all kinds of video formats, it looks like you could use it to view Home Videos from your DVC or DSC.

Verbatim and Western Digital USB 3.0 Hard Drives

Verbatim announced a portable hard drive supporting up to 1 TB.  If you can believe that.  So if your IT department only gives you 100GB of disk space, buy one of these and hang it off your PC in your office.

And you can take your work home with you.

Western Digital announced both Portable USB 3.0 Hard Drives and a 3 Terabyte USB 3.0 Book Shelf Hard Drive.  

Picture on left is from PCWorld here

Boring SuperSpeed USB 3.0

Honestly, Reading through all the new USB 3.0 products coming out can be tedious with at least 3 new products a week now.  It’s humorous that some members of the press really feel the need to knock USB 3.0 every chance they get.

FreeBSD gets USB 3.0 Support

You can now get USB 3.0 XHCI Host  Drivers from multiple sources:

1) NEC – Bundled with your PC or add-in Card if it has an NEC Host
2) MCCI – Supports Windows 7/Vista/XP. Portable to other OS’s. You can see our videos with them by clicking on the “USB Videos” catagory to your left.
3) Linux – Available for download since December 2008.
         Start here http://www.linux-usb.org/ for general Linux USB support 
4) FreeBSD just announced support also.  You can get FreeBSD USB 3.0 drivers here
                     

Just the expanding universe of USB Software support.

Bionic Exoskeleton

This inspiring technology helps paraplegics walk with assistance.  It could also speed rehabilitation for those that need assistance.

If you watch the video, you’ll learn that this is still in the prototype stage.  Commercialization for consumer use is probably some ways off. It really excites me to see technology make a dramatic and measureable difference.

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RIM announced the 7 inch BlackBerry Playbook.  At 7 inches, it’s smaller than the iPad and larger than the Dell Streak. 

The Playbook features that stood out for me.

- a micro-USB connector (probably B so it’s only a peripheral)
- mini-HDMI port
- dual core 1 GHz
- 7 inch Capacitive touch screen (less power, more portable than an iPad)
- support for Adobe Flash

CNET covered the live event with Pictures here.  You can watch the video advertisement below from BlackBerry.   I like the look and weight of the device. I expect the capacitive touch screen to be highly

RIM Blackberry Playbook Ad

responsive, like the iPad/iPhone/iPods. 

I try to stay positive on my Blogs, but I had some concerns.  Keeping in mind, RIM hosted a Developers Conference so it’s technical, the CEO focused on it as a “Enterprise” device.   If you look at the Blackberry website here you can see the images focus on entertainment or personal communication.  It’s an interesting mix, and I’m guessing that that RIM hopes to leverage it’s 39% market share and that developers will find the applications to make the PlayBook useful in the Enterprise.

Google stealing Apple, RIM Market Share

For U.S. Smart Phone subscribers, Google appears to be taking more market share than RIM or Apple. 

The Smart Phone subscriber group grew 11 percent from the 12 months prior to this study.  Which means (probably) that overall sales grew for all these players.

I suspect that Google’s gain went to non-Corporate users who

- finally decided to buy into a $60-$70 phone plan
- so they can post their Facebook Status stating “I’m waiting in line for coffee LOL”
- or they just hate Apple

Hopefully the 11% increase to 53.4 million people means all the companies sold more phones.

USB 3.0 in a Sony Laptop

Sony’s flagship Vaio F laptops will have USB 3.0 support built-in. It includes HDMI and a cool remote control

Read more about Sony’s USB 3.0 support at CrunchGear

Tablets in the Enterprise

My marketing question to anyone building a Tablet for Enterprise: Who pays for this?

 

If I’m in a corporation I have 1 laptop. I need this for productivity. To create new content.  Certainly for e-mail, powerpoint presentations, browsing, contract reviews, etc…  Will my IT department, or my boss find the Playbook adds enough “productivity” to make it worth the expense?

This applies to all forms of Tablets from the iPad

Video Calls over a 3G network

The Tango App lets you make a call from a Google phones to an iPhones. Or iPhones to Google phones.

This is the first, cross platform Mobile Phone video Conferencing App launched yesterday (Sept 30, 2010). Tango lists support f
or Acer, Apple HTC, LG, Motorola, Pantech, & Samsung phones for making video calls using your data plan. 

Go to http://www.tango.me/ to learn more.  Read Walt Mossberg’s review in the Wall Street Journal.

The End of Humanity

After having developed a Robot that can learn to the emotions of a 1-year old child, (the Nao shown here,), we’ve decided that we should teach them how to use weapons.

In the video below, using regression algorithms, it appears that scientists have created the first “Terminator” or “Cylon”.

After just 8 regressions, the iCub robot can learn to accurately shoot a bow and arrow and hit a bulls-eye.

I would like to point out that Nao does not use USB, it uses Ethernet and WiFi.  So USB will not be responsible for the end of human civilization.

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My gym, 24 hour fitness, started installing fingerprint recognition in their clubs. 

“24 Hour Fitness is excited to introduce this new service that allows members
to access our health clubs without a membership card. No more fumbling
through your gym bag or purse… just enter your 10-digit check-in code,
scan your finger, and you’re on your way. “

The fingerprint reader will almost certainly use USB Fingerprint scanner like this.

I know of only 2 ways to scan for fingerprints:

1) Take a picture of the fingerprint, scan the swirls, keep track of those.  Problem: If your fingerprints get filed off, or burned off (please don’t do either of these) then it doesn’t work.

2) Do what Authentec does and scan the underlying pores, and map those.  Your pore pattern is unique.  So if you try to change your identity and your fingerprints, your pore pattern remains the same. (So Tom Cruise won’t be able to duplicate your pore patterns.)

When I read the e-mail, I first thought:  “Cool, no more fumbling out my card?”

My second thought: “I’m going to give my most unique identifying data to a company that has an employee turnover rate (I’m guessing)  of over 30%?   How secure is that?”

But I read the 24-hour fitness article, and it appears that they use a technology that does NOT store my fingerprint data.  Morphtrak creates some mathematical value, dumps your fingerprint, and only stores the value. This means that I’m not giving my data up to every person who’s ever worked at 24 hour fitness..

I’ve created this article, partially because it’s something that I thought you might find interesting, and partially to test if my Windows Live Writer will properly post my Blog to my Blog.

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