SuperSpeed

Super Speed Internet & Browser Assistant by Slamet Yanuar is free software that promises to improve browsing speed, help parents block sites, and block malicious activity. Unfortunately, its redundant features, poorly designed interface, and overly technical terms take away from its usefulness.

The application presents a compact interface crammed with 12 tabs that include General Statistics, Distributed Proxy, and Cache. On the General Statistics tab, it shows information such as Cache Hit Ratio and Connection to the Tool. It also shows Money Saved and Cost, although it isn't clear how this is determined. Each line of information is in … Read more

USB 3.0 has gotten the green light for becoming a standard offering on Intel-based Windows PCs next year.

The USB Implementers Forum announced this week that the upcoming "Ivy Bridge" 7 Series Chipset and other Intel chipsets have achieved USB 3.0 certification. Chipsets are support silicon that work in tandem with the main processor.

USB 3.0, aka SuperSpeed USB, delivers up to 10 times the data transfer rate of USB 2.0, as well as improved power efficiency.

Intel's Ivy Bridge silicon, due to ship in Windows PCs in the April-June time frame, will … Read more

Relax--these things take time.

That, in brief, was the message of Jeff Ravencraft, president of the USB Implementors Forum, when I asked him why it was taking the third-generation version of Universal Serial Bus so long to arrive. Intel and others have been touting the sequel to USB 2 since 2007.

"People forget that historically, there is no chipset company in the world that integrated USB from the get-go. It didn't happen with USB 1, It didn't happen with USB 2, It didn't happen with USB 3," Ravencraft said. I takes "a minimum of two years if not more" for a company such as Intel to build USB 3 support into its the chipsets that accompany its processors, he said.

During that time, the first companies build special-purposes chips to handle USB communications, devices get their first support, industry groups hold plug-fests to iron out interoperability problems, he said. Now, with that process well under way, USB 3 is headed for the mainstream. … Read more

USB 3.0 has been slow to arrive in laptops, but there are a few models on the market that boast this high-speed connection technology.

The current USB 2.0 standard, which is found on virtually all laptops today, has been around a long time. Intel laid the groundwork for widespread use on PCs and devices in spring 2002 when it put the technology in its silicon. Eight years later, the advantages of moving to a faster standard are clear for devices like digital cameras, camcorders, and hard drives: transfer rates jump from 480 megabits per second on USB 2.0 to as much as 5 gigabits per second with USB 3.0. And reviews testify to a significant speed increase.

One of the sticking points, however, of mass adoption by laptop makers is the lack of direct support in Intel chipsets, as this blog posted on a Dell-hosted Web page explains. One of the oft-cited reasons put forth by analysts for the lack of broad USB 3.0 support is that many devices, like printers, simply don't benefit from moving to 3.0. Another reason: a number of laptops already ship with the faster eSATA standard, which Intel supports in its mobile chipsets, not to mention desktop variants. (Many HP Pavilion laptops, for example, also come with eSATA.)

Moreover, other technologies lurk as potential replacements for USB 3.0--at least in its current format. Light Peak, for instance, offers even greater transfer speeds and has received support from high-profile companies like Apple and Sony. That said, Light Peak won't appear… Read more

When USB 3.0 was demonstrated by Intel last year, I was really excited. Now the wait is really over.

The VIA group unveiled Monday the world's first USB 3.0 Hub Controller, the VIA VL810 SuperSpeed. This is the industry's first integrated single-chip solution that supports the higher transfer rates of the new USB 3.0 specification.

And here's the reason why I've been so excited: USB 3.0 (aka SuperSpeed USB, as opposed to the HighSpeed USB or USB 2.0) allows for a maximum data transfer rate of up to 5Gbps, which is … Read more

LAS VEGAS--At the Consumer Electronics Show, Jeff Ravencraft of Intel talked about the status of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and how fast it really is.

The most salient benefit of SuperSpeed USB is the 10X improvement in data transfer speed over current USB, version 2.0. So, for example, transferring a 25GB HD movie will take 70 seconds instead of almost 14 minutes.

Transfer of a 25GB HD movie:

In the video below, Ravencraft, who is president of the USB Implementers Forum, discusses … Read more

25GB in 70 seconds. That's the torrid transfer rate consumers can expect with devices based on the USB 3.0 specification, which debuted Monday.

As reported previously, the USB Promoter Group finalized the "SuperSpeed" USB 3.0 specification today and is doing a "comprehensive review" of the technology at a conference in San Jose, Calif.

Intel, Microsoft, Texas Instruments, and NEC are the leading players in the group.

Among the initial devices, external solid-state (flash) drives and hard drives are expected to be popular. "The first SuperSpeed USB devices will likely include data storage devices such as flash (solid-state drives), external hard drives, digital music players, and digitial cameras," the group said.

Products aren't coming until 2010, however. "It is anticipated that initial SuperSpeed USB discrete controllers will appear in the second half of 2009 and consumer products will appear in 2010," according to the group.

"The USB 3.0 Promoter Group is now accepting adopters of the USB 3.0 specification, which has been finalized at the 1.0 level," the group added.

As its name (SuperSpeed) implies, USB 3.0 is all about speed. About 10 times more speed, to be exact, than the 2.0 specification. … Read more

The next-generation USB specification is slated to be introduced later this month.

On November 17 the SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) Developers Conference, hosted by the USB Implementers Forum in San Jose, Calif., will unveil the USB 3.0 specification to the industry, according to a statement Wednesday from the Implementers Forum.

The USB 3.0 specification, a next-generation high-speed connection standard due in 2009, is significant because all future PCs and devices will use connectors based on it. The spec is also expected to offer 10 times the speed of USB 2.0--used in virtually all PCs introduced in … Read more

Intel has released a specification revision for next-generation USB 3.0 technology that resolves a dispute with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, which had threatened to develop their own USB 3.0 standard.

USB 3.0--also known as SuperSpeed USB--is a next-generation high-speed connection standard due in 2009. It is significant not only because all future PCs and devices will use connectors based on the standard but because it will offer 10 times the speed of USB 2.0--used in virtually all PCs introduced in the last few years--or roughly 5 gigabits per second.

On Wednesday, Intel released what it … Read more