Hello Kitty gives you Wi-Fi

Planex, a Japanese company, today announced the Wi-Fi cards USB original: they are the colors of Hello Kitty, or Evangelion One Piece. Technically, nothing really transcendent: the cards are compatible 802.11n 1x1, 150 megabits / s or less and only in the 2.4 GHz band. The module is compatible with Windows (from XP) but also, more rarely, Mac OS X.

Remains limited interest: the solution does not perform well and only those using a desktop machine will need it.

• Hello Kitty Pants of the Day (05/05/2011)
• Vans X Hello Kitty - New Collection (23/05/2011)
• Nerd Hello Kitty Backpack with Ears (19/06/2011)
• A New Obsession (07/07/2011)
• Hello Kitty I Heart Nerds Clutch (11/05/2011)

Hello Kitty (wikipedia)  Wi-Fi (wikipedia)  

Thunderbolt Windows 7, it works very badly

Apple has given some information about the management of Thunderbolt on the MacBook Pro and iMac 2011 with Windows 7, the operating system from Microsoft. And the least we can say is that there are many limitations. First, the use of devices Thunderbolt two unexpected effects: The ExpressCard slot is not usable in conjunction with Thunderbolt, it's one or the other, and it is impossible to go to sleep if Windows 7 a device is plugged.

4-port USB 3.0 Etron

EtronTech showed at Computex, a USB 3.0 controller can handle four ports, while the classical solutions are limited to one or two ports. The EJ168T will therefore succeed the EJ168, which is limited to two ports, and keep the compatibility xHCI 1.0. Recall that the standard xHCI is that used for interoperability between controllers and operating systems and models are compatible EtronTech xHCI 1.0 while the other models (NEC, etc..) Are compatible xHCI 0.96.

A microSD to bring NFC compatibility

Netcom, a Chinese company, has introduced a microSD interesting: in addition to a capacity of 8 GB, she joined the NFC. NFC (Near Field Contact) can send and receive information at a short distance more and more phones integrate this technology, used in particular for electronic payment. The solution still has some drawbacks: it requires that the microSD slot is not behind metal, to avoid interference and the integration of the antenna in the card limits the scope of the technology, already very short in basis.

A newcomer to the Z-Wave

The Z-Wave, a technology widely used in home automation, has a problem: its price. One reason is simple: even if many devices are compatible with this radio technology, there is only one chip supplier, Sigma Designs. But that will change with the arrival of Mitsumi in this market. The interest is twofold: first, a competitor should (perhaps) help to reduce the price of chips and other manufacturers could (finally) take Z-Wave.

An SD card reader floppy interface

You have a machine that only accepts floppy disks, but these are increasingly scarce? The reliability of the 3.5 inch floppy prevents you from working properly on older machines and large that can not be updated? There is a solution. An SD card reader (HC) interfaced to the 34 pin connector for floppy drives.

The device, sold between 80 and 120 €, accepts SDHC cards and has a small integrated display. Used to read and write, it actually emulates two disk drives using image files. It accepts images from many software and compatibility is present for most of the machines of the last century, the Atari ST in the Amstrad CPC through the Amiga or even ...

Order your PC to 1 km away

Matrox has just announced a new "KVM", with a range of ... 1 km. KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) are devices that allow the deportation of input devices and output of a computer, when the unit shall be located in places inconvenient. They are widely used in data centers to avoid traveling in the server room in case of trouble.

The Avio is compatible with all major operating systems (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) and uses fiber optics to transmit information. The supported devices are numerous: USB 2.0 (six connectors seen pictures), audio is analog, with the support of a microphone, headphones, a stereo input and stereo output, keyboard and mouse PS / 2 and especially video.

A card for the wireless video on PC

Wizair, a company specializing in UWB chips, will offer a card for laptops. In Mini Card (internal PCI-Express) card is designed to transmit video between a computer and a TV, much like the Intel Widi. The concept is simple: the card will emit data in Ultra-wideband to a receiver connected to a TV. The card has an advantage over Intel's technology: UWB uses its own frequency band (high, hence its name) while the Widi through Wi-Fi and thus tends to saturate the network .

USB 3.0 hub is it effective? [Quick Test]

Today, a little test: a 3.0 USB hub. DLink is offering this product, the DUB-1340, which can connect four devices on a single USB 3.0 connector. Built around a VIA chipset, it overcomes a defect of NEC controller found on most motherboards, the number of connectors is limited to two. Not much to say, a USB hub is a USB hub.

It measures 72.4 x 97.9 x 20.2 mm and offers four-port USB 3.0 Type A female A USB Micro B type female can use any USB 3.0 in this format. An AC adapter is provided for each connector that can provide 900 mA USB 3.0 (and 500 mA with devices to older standards). The hub itself is "glossy", which is fashionable but not necessarily practical.

Four USB 3.0 ports on one controller

Texas Instruments is to validate two new USB 3.0 controllers, which could therefore come - finally - to compete with the controllers from Renesas (NEC). Good news, one of two chips (the TUSB7340) supports four USB 3.0 ports, while the majority of current solutions are limited to only two ports. In practice, the motherboards that support more than two or more controllers connectors use either a USB 3.0 hub internal - Via offers a chip of this type -.

Intel will offer a development kit Thunderbolt

A development kit will be offered to builders who want to integrate Thunderbolt in their machines, according to Intel. Thunderbolt, an implementation on copper cable Lightpeak, can reach 10 gigabits per second, which is two times faster than USB 3.0. Thunderbolt has several advantages. The first is that the standard actually uses the PCI Express multiplexed (4 lines), which in theory allows to adapt to almost any interface Thunderbolt, as long as bullets controllers in PCI- Express exist.

Thunderbolt: the general public

Sonnet, specialist accessories, Thunderbolt offers products that might interest the general public. Recall that Thunderbolt is the official name of Lightpeak technology from Intel and it is ultimately not of the optical fiber is used, but the conventional copper cable. Thunderbolt is in fact proposing to carry a signal and a signal DisplayPort PCI-Express (4 lines) in the same cable.

For now, only Apple uses the standard, but other manufacturers should follow, like Sony. Sonnet products are four in number. The first two are fairly straightforward: they are external boxes that accept PCI-Express. Both offer PCI-Express 16x (physically) wired 4x - Thunderbolt limit - but there are some differences remain.

Thunderbolt: Back on the implementation

Interesting finding in the new MacBook Pro, how is implemented Thunderbolt, Intel's technology currently used only by Apple. As we explained, Thunderbolt can carry data over a cable with a throughput of 10 Gbit / s. In its current implementation, two types of flows are used: DisplayPort 1.2 and PCI-Express, with 4 rows at a standard 1.1, which in theory can reach the 10 gigabit per second technology.

Thunderbolt: 10 Gbit / s, 10 W, Light Peak

Apple has launched the first devices Light Peak, which is the trade name Thunderbolt. Pending the announcement of Intel tonight, some information is available: Thunderbolt is simplifying a PCI-Express four lines, all in a single cable. The advertised bandwidth is 10 Gbit / s, with a priori 1 GB / s maximum practice, PCI-Express requires.

Thunderbolt is actually using the 4x PCI-Express and DisplayPort protocol encapsulated in the Light Peak, with a Mini DisplayPort jack for connection itself. Technically, so connector is "universal" in the sense that it's PCI-Express which is transported. The standard is available in recent years, it is simple enough to offer adapters to Thunderbolt USB 3.0, Ethernet, FireWire, SATA, or any other technology as the chip controllers accept the PCI Express input.