Archive for the 'Bluetooth' Category

We shot a video on an HD Sony DVC with an integrated hard drive.  I have to say this is a great prosumer camera.  We shot this video with about 12 takes, then transferred the video to two PCs.

What did we use?  USB of course.

The video was less than 5 minutes, but the file sizes were about 130 MB.  We plugged the camera into each PC. The PC recognized it as a Mass Storage Device (like a flash/thumb/pen drive) and copied a few files over in about 8 minutes.

Of course with USB 3.0 this will be seconds.

I’ve been eyeing the Canon Vixia also because I think this solves the transfer rate problem and because of  the way I use my DVCs.  I like this camera because it uses solid-state media.  It has 16GB embedded and a slot that can accept a 16 GB SD card.  This means that when I drop it (and I will drop it), it is less likely that the camera will be damaged (at least the memory, not the optics).   I am still watching prices on this one, and have recommended it to several friends and collegues.

Also, if you use a removeable SD card, you can take the SD card out, plug it into a Flash Card Reader.  I’m wondering if, when USB 3.0 Flash Card Readers appear, if these will be able to pull data off the Flash Cards faster than a USB 2.0 Card Reader.  I think that it is possible to read data from an SD card faster than USB 2.0 can currently support based on looking at data from this site (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/reader_report_multi_page.asp?cid=6007-9438).  I’m just guessing that read speeds are going to be must faster with USB 3.0 based on the write speed of some files to the cards today for cards embedded in USB 2.0 products.  Read speeds are typically faster.

Also, to keep the economy going, in the past two months I’ve purchased

1) 2 iPod iTouches
2) 2 Dell laptops
3) and I plan to get a 46-52 inch TV for my dad (but share the cost with my sister).

One of those iiTouch’s is for me.  (I dropped my 2nd Gen iPod about 50x.)  I use my iPod every day for an hour or more. I use it for video and I figured a Solid State one would be more durable.  This is a fantastic device, but loading videos onto it at USB 2.0 speeds takes a long time.  It probably took 40 minutes or more to transfer 20GB of video to my new iPod.  Again, USB 3.0 would be great on this device.  (Please note I love my iPod iTouch).

I am also going on a ski vacation. We are going somewhere rustic, and has no internet, and possibly no phone service.  I’m hoping to save a few bucks this way. 

Also, we bought helmets. 

In my day, we didn’t wear helmets, but I’m told “It’s not how you ski, his how other people run over you”   Also, we used to ski in at -10 deg F with -20 deg F wind chill.  Really.  Minnesota.  Thursday night. Ski Club.  The bus didn’t even have heat. (Okay, it might have had heat.  It was definitely yellow.)

Back to helmets.  You can buy Bluetooth earpads for your helmet.  The package made it sound like you could answer phone calls on your helmet with these.  Wow.

ll I need now is Solar Panels on my Helmet/Jacket/Backpack to charge my Bluetooth earpads, iPod, wireless communicators, and mobile phone,  I can ski wirelessly all day.

And you can buy your solar powered backpack here http://www.voltaicsystems.com/index-US.shtml.

And I agree with my friend Jay.  All video will go to flash/SSD sooner than I thought.  Hard drives will be used only for the highest capacity DVCs in 5 years.

I agreed to do this blog because there is so little opinionated stuff debunking the debunkers of Wireless USB. Yes, I’m a USB chauvinist, and a Wireless USB chauvinist, but I understand how this stuff gets adopted and used.  At least in my own mind.

USB Won, Certified Wireless will Win - So here’s the thing.  The USB-IF has the best certification and interoperability program of all the standards I’ve seen.  It has regular plug-fests for free testing, and 3^rd party labs for fee-based testing.  Procedures are clearly described, and there are gold tree tests with a range of USB devices.  Does your wired Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0) printer/camera/widget work with a standard PC or laptop?  If it has the logo, it works.  This is one of the main reasons USB 2.0 is so ubiquitous.  Stuff with the USB Everything works together if it gets the logo.   USB is the most successful because of that.  CWUSB based on UWB will use the same infrastructure of spec, compliance, and logo.  

I’ve seen material attacking Certified Wireless USB and UWB.  Mostly based on the earliest product reviews.  For those of us around at the start of USB 2.0, this is like Deja Vu (no accents, sorry don’t speak French).  It’s true, the first UWB products are getting effective throughputs of 20 Megabits per second.  But, what was the real throughput of WiFi products at the beginning?  What are they now?  How much to people actually use?

The EETimes published this article on higher throughputs with 60GHz radios and WiFi as potential alternatives to UWB at gigabit speeds..  http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=W5B1LJS4T5R5SQSNDLSCKHA?articleID=202601507.

I also want a gigabit pipe into my house for $24.99 a month, but that ain’t happening.

60GHz is years away – Look, I’m super glad people are working on 60MHz, but beating out UWB?  This is just plain crazy talk. 60GHz radios are 5-7 years away from any kind of adoption. It’s true that these could be used widely in proprietary solutions, like point-to-point video in the near future.  And I’m sure there’s good technology.  However, the standards will not be in place for at least 2 years which means interoperability is 4 years out, and mass market adoption is further out.  (Sidenote: A friend of mine recently told me that they’ve been talking about 60GHz for 20 years)

802.11n here but interoperable? – And WiFi. WiFi is bigger than my ego. It’s everywhere.  I used it in 8 locations on my last trip to
Europe.  BUT, 802.11g’s maximum effective throughput is in the range of 20-25 Mbps.  The 802.11n standard has gone for 3 years of pre-N and “Draft-N” products.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft-NI have yet to see interoperability throughput results for products based on different chipsets.   If anyone can find this info please let me know.  The most recent article I found here: http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/06/airport-extreme-802-11n-base-station-tested-and-dissected/ gives a throughput of 9 MB/second (about 72 Megabits/second) at short ranges and 500KB/second (~4 Megabits/second) at 300feet.

Netgear product tests out at an impressive 100+ Megabits/second http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,1978612,00.asp but I’m still concerned a bit with interoperability.  Can I get 100 Mbps if the Draft-N chip in my laptop is different from the chip in the Router?  In the early days of WiFi, I vaguely recall that you had to have an SMC router and an SMC PCMCIA card to make the darn things work together. (I set up Linksys routers for me, my mom/dad, and my sister in about 2002).

UWB and Wireless USB Resources

Start here and look at the USB-IF at www.usb.org for lots of great information, specs and events.  WiMedia has good material at www.wimedia.org.

http://blog.alereon.com/  This start-up, Alereon, has some articles on UWB, Wireless USB, Regulations and other stuff.  Check on the CEO’s blog.  http://www.staccatocommunications.com/technology/articles.html This start-up, Staccato, more articles.

60 GHz, CWUSB, WUSB, Certified Wireless USB, UWB, Ultra-wideband, WiMedia, USB-IF, Hi-Speed USB, USB 2.0, USB Certification, Throughput, Alereon, Realtek, Staccato