thunderbolt

Intel announced a completely new I/O peripheral protocol today called Thunderbolt, which had previously gone by the code name Light Peak. In a nutshell, Thunderbolt is a superfast peripheral standard with the speed of 10Gbps (1.25GBps) and almost no overhead. This means devices can be connected at a real-word throughput speed of around 1.25GBps. Thunderbolt is compatible with DisplayPort 1.1 and later.

Currently, the technology is available only in Apple's new MacBook Pro (which comes with one Thunderbolt port) and can be used only with DisplayPort devices, such as Apple's Cinema display. But that will change soon.

Today, LaCie announced an external hard drive, the LaCie Little Big Disk, that will be one of the first storage devices to support Thunderbolt technology. A prototype of the drive was used at the Intel demo today. The Little Big Disk has two solid-state drives inside.

The drive comes with two Thunderbolt ports and can be used to daisy-chain with other Thunderbolt-enabled devices, such as a display or additional storage device.… Read more

Intel's long-awaited Light Peak technology, now known formally as Thunderbolt, is finally available on its first consumer device, and the company today unveiled more details about when we'll be seeing it in consumer PCs and gadgets.

First unveiled at the Intel Developer Forum back in 2009, the data transfer tech promises to replace a handful of ports with one that can do more things, and do them faster.

Its first inclusion in a computer is in Apple's MacBook Pro line, which refreshed earlier today with Thunderbolt ports across the line (see CNET's hands-on here). Intel followed … Read more

Intel today detailed its high-speed Thunderbolt connector tech, which is appearing first on Apple's MacBook Pros--also announced today.

Thunderbolt, formerly known by its codename Light Peak, is a new connection technology that combines high-speed data transfer and high-definition video on a single cable. Running at 10Gbps, Thunderbolt can transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds.

The Intel-developed technology is coming to market through a technical collaboration with Apple, and is being made available first on Apple's new line of MacBook Pro laptop computers, which were rolled out this morning.

Probably one of the most salient … Read more

Every Thursday is a treat for 404 Podcast listeners because Natali Morris is on the show, but today is extra special because it's Steve Jobs's birthday! To celebrate, Apple announced a flock of brand new Macbook Pro laptops with big changes under the hood.

The new 13, 15, and 17 inch sizes all have a high def web cam and Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors, but they're also the first to include Intel's new hardware connector called Thunderbolt, the official name for Intel's Light Peak I/O data transfer technology.

Thunderbolt is a big step for Apple and computers in general as it's a new cable system that unifies the way that devices like smartphones, hard drives, and other accesories interface with computers.

The technology boosts the speed and responsiveness of media files along a single wire, and Intel claims it can transfer a full HD movie in less than 30 seconds. It also uses the exact same shape as Apple's current Mini DisplayPort for backward compatibility with existing Apple displays.

How much would you pay for a lock of Justin Bieber's hair? The teen hearthrob recently got a haircut (to the soundtrack of a thousand crying tweens) and donated a lock of it for an eBay auction sponsored by Ellen DeGeneres. It's currently priced at almost $7000 with six days left to bid, so act soon if you want to add the final touches to your JB doll.

Read on...… Read more

Intel this morning outlined the specifics of its Thunderbolt data connection technology.

Formerly called Light Peak, the current copper-based generation of Thunderbolt boasts 10Gbps data transfer speeds between computers and devices--that is, twice the speed of current USB 3.0 throughput. Future iterations of the specification are expected to move from copper wire to a fiber-optic connection, which Intel has said could one day allow for throughput rates up to 100Gbps.

One of Intel's goals for Thunderbolt is to simplify the various connections going from PCs and connected devices. Thunderbolt can transmit both raw data and audio-video information simultaneously, … Read more

After weeks of a growing chorus of rumors and anecdotal evidence, Apple is expected to announce a series of updates to its popular MacBook Pro line of laptops later today. At the same time, Intel is hosting a press event that is widely expected to formally introduce its long-awaited Light Peak technology. A new type of connection for peripherals and displays, Light Peak is said to be significantly faster than USB 3.0, and can carry bidirectional data at up to 10Gbps.

What exactly we'll see from Apple is anyone's guess, but posts from Mac news Web sites … Read more

Best Buy announced today that it will have an exclusive on the upcoming HTC Thunderbolt for Verizon Wireless. Though it won't arrive in stores until the middle of this month, customers can preorder the Android smartphone starting today.

The Froyo-powered Thunderbolt, which first saw light last month at CES 2011, will be Big Red's first commercially available 4G LTE phone. On the outside it sports a candy bar design with a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touch screen and a virtual keyboard.

Other features include a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, messaging and e-mail, an 8-megapixel camera with HD video capture, … Read more

A brief tidbit of information shared by a Best Buy outlet now says the Motorola Xoom will hit store shelves on February 24, a week later than some initial reports had claimed.

The Best Buy store in Grand Rapids, Mich., revealed the date on its Facebook page even though Motorola itself has yet to announce an official, specific launch day for its new tablet. The February 24 date also runs counter to previous reports that said the Xoom would arrive at Best Buy a week earlier, on Feb. 17.

Beyond leaking the debut date of the Xoom, this particular Best … Read more

Simultaneous voice and data won't be available on Verizon until this spring, at least that's the common knowledge shared by the CDMA Development Group.

Yet we've been hearing rumors over the last several days--from Phandroid and Engadget, for instance--that the Android-powered HTC Thunderbolt will have this functionality on Verizon's 3G data network.

The rumor is based on supposedly leaked internal documents destined for the sales team. Neither Verizon nor HTC were immediately available for comment, and Verizon has not officially stated it will adopt the technology change.

According to photos, the Verizon sales sheet (dated January … Read more