HP’s all in one TouchSmart 520 PC has 2 USB 3.0 Ports included in a beautiful, single unit touchscreen PC.

It has a BluRay burner, which is pretty cool too.  So HP beats Apple in features here. Read the PCWorld Review article here.

ADATA now waterproofed USB drives, so you can carry these around when you go scuba diving or stir your coffee with them.

You should note that the top speeds of these USB 3.0 drivers is 100 MB per second.

Top USB 2.0 speeds are 35 MB per second. Top USB 3.0 speeds are 350MB per second.

The ADATA speed is still 3x the speed of USB 2.0 which is definitely faster.  The speed limiting factor is actually the flash memory. It uses memory more expensive than memory found in today’s USB 2.0 drives, but still slower than needed to get the fastest USB 3.0 speeds.  Just keep this in mind.

The Kindle & USB – Viewer Mail

Ned writes in “"Interesting blog about the Kindle Fire and iPad.  I can’t, however, figure out what it has to do with USB…”

(Ned isn’t his real name.)

I’m glad you asked this question Ned.

This Tablet, the Kindle has only one wired interface, it’s USB 2.0.  It’s used for both charging and for content transfer.

For example, If you keep your music in the “Amazon Cloud” you can download via WiFi.

But, most people (I think) already have their entire MP3 library on a USB hard drive or a PC or both somewhere.

So it’s a lot faster to plug your Kindle Fire into a laptop or PC, and transfer all your Britney Spears and Rihanna music to your device.

You could upload your music to the Amazon Cloud, or even the Apple iCloud.  You’d then have access anywhere. And you could stream to your device.

Of course you need Wi-Fi or Broadband access to download these items.  So you still want to download with USB 2.0.

Why do you care?

Well, you’ll still need to charge your device now and in 2014.

And you’ll have even more content.

And you might not be willing to pay for a huge “cloud” to store all your data.

Are you going to trust all your kid’s photos to a single, on-line storage facility at Amazon or Apple?

Will you pay $500 a year for the storage, when a USB 3.0 drive costs only $100?

No.

You buy 2 USB 3.0 hard drives. You store your stuff there, and keep a small amount on the cloud.

So you will have USB 2.0 now and USB 3.0 soon on all your tablets and smart phones so you can keep carrying around a gazillion videos you recorded, pictures you took, and movies/TV shows you want to watch.

Kindle Fire TechRepublic Teardown

Here’s a picture from the TechRepublic teardown of the Kindle Fire.

It’s interesting to me because the RAM chip is mounted directly on top of the TI OMAP 4430 chip underneath.  As a digital guy I don’t know why someone does this, except to improve performance, and maybe lower power required.  Someone send me an e-mail to explain why or post a comment below.

You will see the TI OMAP 4430 actually appears to have 2 USB controllers.

One is an HSOTG port on the top right.

The other is in the bottom left, and looks like a USB 2.0 Host controller.

The new OMAP 5 platform as has 1 USB DRD port and 3 USB 3.0 ports. Block diagram and description can be seen here in my earlier blog entry on OMAP 5 and Tablets.

So TI’s already moving the next platform onto USB 3.0, so in 2 years we would see TI OMAP tablets with USB 3.0.

Donut

Post your questions in the comments below (or send me e-mails)

And here’s today’s Donut.

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Eric’s Kindle Fire

I opened my Kindle Fire today (upon returning from Asia).
I’m pleased but underwhelmed.

First Impressions:

1) Great Screen
2) Heavier than Kindle 3rd Generation, much heavier than iPod
3) Fast Browsing
4) Interface as responsive as the iPad
5) I have no content (except for lots of books with talking animals in those books).

But, I can stream video from Amazon Prime, so that is a bonus. I can now cancel my Netflix account completely after 4 years, despite a tiny selection of streaming videos.

I can also borrow 1 book a month from Amazon’s lending library as long as I pay for Amazon Prime.

Still it isn’t an iPad, or an iPod or an iPhone.

For $200 it’s a great deal for anyone looking for a tablet for e-mail and light surfing and buying lots of stuff on Amazon.

It has a larger screen than the iPod at $200, but you won’t go running with a Kindle Fire strapped to your arm either. 

One thing the Kindle Fire does not do is Text-To-Speech.  So, I guess Amazon doesn’t really love me. (Yes I’m still mining original Kindle review because it’s the one people have most commented on or e-mailed me about.) You can read how free donuts go together with Kindles here.

Formatting blogs – We switched our website around. We were continually getting hacked.  I have no idea why anyone would hack my lousy blog.  So the formatting on this might really be bad.  If so, I apologize, and applaud your efforts as you read down this page.

International Flights – Kindles and iPads

I noticed lots and lots of people with either Kindles or iPads.  I noticed more people reading on their iPads than I normally do.

I sat next a some poor CEO who got stuck in a middle seat in economy with people like me sitting on the aisle.  She said, "This is going to sound stupid, but I mostly read on my iPad." "I don’t play games," she said.

So I guess the KindleFire gets the Amazon crowd to upgrade to a color screen (and staying up  all night reading because of the active light source keeping their brains awake).

Amazon also grabs the people that stood outside HP (next door to us) to get a TouchPad who actually didn’t stand outside, but want a supported product.

My point is: Apparently, a lot of people read, and they like to read, but this Tablet extends the reach to other people who don’t read, but want a nifty, cheap tablet. (It’s possible that reading and wanting a nifty tablet are not mutually exclusive as well)

Yes, I know, if you’ve followed the Kindle Fire launch at all this isn’t new.  I have to say, I’m a bit underwhelmed at the moment, but after I transfer some legal video content from my Tivo to my Kindle Fire, I might feel better.

(Late Note: I found that I have a digital copy of “The Dark Knight” in the Amazon Cloud, so I’m listening to that while I finish this entry. In just 5 seconds it had enough downloaded to start playing the movie).

The thing that I like about the iPad 2, is that when I buy a video or app, it automatically downloads to my desktop, and I can sync the content with all my other devices quickly.  I can’t do that with my Kindle, and I’m not planning on re-buying content, so I might end up buying another iPad rather than 2 more Kindles.  I don’t know yet.

40+ Designs, 30+ Customers for USB 3.0 digital IP and PHYs

I’m really proud of our R&D and Support teams who built and supported tape-outs of real products in real chips at real customers like DisplayLink and Realtek.

I should point out the 40+ design wins are for actual ASICs that have already started, or have finished, and not just FPGA prototypes.  Corporate strictly regulates formal announcements, so we provide the most accurate data we have. We count real USB 3.0 products.

Here’s a video from DisplayLink explaining why they buy IP from suppliers that have lots of customers.

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This Blog Address has moved to:

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I’m still trying to figure out how you subscribe your enemies automatically. I think that might be considered bad, but they are your enemies, so why do you care?

I’M HITTING “PUBLISH” NOW AND HOPING THIS GETS TO THE INTERNET.

Eric’s Kindle Fire

I opened my Kindle Fire today (upon returning from Asia).
I’m pleased but underwhelmed.

First Impressions:

1) Great Screen
2) Heavier than Kindle 3rd Generation, much heavier than iPod
3) Fast Browsing
4) Interface as responsive as the iPad
5) I have no content (except for lots of books with talking animals in those books).

But, I can stream video from Amazon Prime, so that is a bonus. I can now cancel my Netflix account completely after 4 years, despite a tiny selection of streaming videos.

I can also borrow 1 book a month from Amazon’s lending library as long as I pay for Amazon Prime.

Still it isn’t an iPad, or an iPod or an iPhone.

For $200 it’s a great deal for anyone looking for a tablet for e-mail and light surfing and buying lots of stuff on Amazon.

It has a larger screen than the iPod at $200, but you won’t go running with a Kindle Fire strapped to your arm either. 

One thing the Kindle Fire does not do is Text-To-Speech.  So, I guess Amazon doesn’t really love me. (Yes I’m still mining original Kindle review because it’s the one people have most commented on or e-mailed me about.) You can read how free donuts go together with Kindles here.

Formatting blogs – We switched our website around. We were continually getting hacked.  I have no idea why anyone would hack my lousy blog.  So the formatting on this might really be bad.  If so, I apologize, and applaud your efforts as you read down this page.

International Flights – Kindles and iPads

I noticed lots and lots of people with either Kindles or iPads.  I noticed more people reading on their iPads than I normally do.

I sat next a some poor CEO who got stuck in a middle seat in economy with people like me sitting on the aisle.  She said, "This is going to sound stupid, but I mostly read on my iPad." "I don’t play games," she said.

So I guess the KindleFire gets the Amazon crowd to upgrade to a color screen (and staying up  all night reading because of the active light source keeping their brains awake).

Amazon also grabs the people that stood outside HP (next door to us) to get a TouchPad who actually didn’t stand outside, but want a supported product.

My point is: Apparently, a lot of people read, and they like to read, but this Tablet extends the reach to other people who don’t read, but want a nifty, cheap tablet. (It’s possible that reading and wanting a nifty tablet are not mutually exclusive as well)

Yes, I know, if you’ve followed the Kindle Fire launch at all this isn’t new.  I have to say, I’m a bit underwhelmed at the moment, but after I transfer some legal video content from my Tivo to my Kindle Fire, I might feel better.

(Late Note: I found that I have a digital copy of “The Dark Knight” in the Amazon Cloud, so I’m listening to that while I finish this entry. In just 5 seconds it had enough downloaded to start playing the movie).

The thing that I like about the iPad 2, is that when I buy a video or app, it automatically downloads to my desktop, and I can sync the content with all my other devices quickly.  I can’t do that with my Kindle, and I’m not planning on re-buying content, so I might end up buying another iPad rather than 2 more Kindles.  I don’t know yet.

40+ Designs, 30+ Customers for USB 3.0 digital IP and PHYs

I’m really proud of our R&D and Support teams who built and supported tape-outs of real products in real chips at real customers like DisplayLink and Realtek.

I should point out the 40+ design wins are for actual ASICs that have already started, or have finished, and not just FPGA prototypes.  Corporate strictly regulates formal announcements, so we provide the most accurate data we have. We count real USB 3.0 products.

Here’s a video from DisplayLink explaining why they buy IP from suppliers that have lots of customers.

Subscribe

This Blog Address has moved to:

http://blogs.synopsys.com/tousbornottousb/

To subscribe, click on this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/synopsysoc/ToUSB

I’m still trying to figure out how you subscribe your enemies automatically. I think that might be considered bad, but they are your enemies, so why do you care?

I’M HITTING “PUBLISH” NOW AND HOPING THIS GETS TO THE INTERNET.

Occasionally, we have donuts in the office.  They magically appear.

I eat the tops off 2 chocolate donuts, then throw away the bottoms.  It’s my way of “Cutting back”

I will come back to the donuts in just a moment.

My Kindle, My Son

I received my Kindle yesterday at  6:42pm. I handed it my son, and left for a 2 hour meeting.

When I came back at 8:17pm, he was reading it.

My son informed me, “The 3G is fine, I can buy books that way.”

Apparently he had bought some while I was away.

- The Kindle allows you to buy books over 3G “forever” without WiFi.

I spent 2 min setting up the WiFi, 5 min finding books with my son.  We found 3 Mark Twain books, and 2 books on King Arthur that were free.

It turns out that lots of books, classic books are available for free on the Internet in PDF or for the Kindle, Nook, any eReader…  Totally free.

(Also plenty of romance novels also).

I had to tear the Kindle out of my son’s hands at 10:12pm.

My Kindle, My Mom

When I was small, my mom read to me every night.

I’m sure if your mom loved you she would have read to you.

Well, it turns out the Kindle can now replace your Mom.  It will read to you out loud.

It’s not awesome, not like a voice actor or radio or HAL from 2001, but it’s okay. 

Video demonstration at the end of this blog (read the rest of my blog first, please)

My Kindle and USB

I charged my Kindle via USB to my computer. The Kindle shows up as a Mass Storage device, like a flash drive.

My Kindle, My Donuts

So as I walked by the donuts this morning I thought:

”If I eat enough of these donuts, I don’t need to eat lunch and I can save my money to buy more books to read on my Kindle”

My Thanks

To my Readers, Readership was way up for August, a tough month since Europe and Japan are on vacation, so that made it exceptional.

Given the amount of time I spend on this each week, (Yes, hard to believe) your readership is important to me.

There are thousands of you (yes, also hard to believe) so keep forwarding to your friends and enemies.

Thanks to my mom for reading to me. I’m sure your mom loved you too, even if she didn’t read to you.

And thanks to Preston Hunt for encouraging me on the Kindle. 

I’m definitely buying at least 1 more for My Son

Who I love but don’t read to.

That’s what his Kindle is for…

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Demonstration of the Video Text to Speech on YouTube