PC User Clinic » What’s New

Wi-Fi Direct Takes on Bluetooth

Steve — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:40:11 +0000

The Wi-Fi Alliance formally announced a new Wi-Fi protocol called “Wi-Fi Direct.” This new protocol will allow devices to communicate directly with each other without the need for a dedicated Access Point.

Typically, Wi-Fi works in what is known as Infrastructure mode, where each device communicates through an access point to other devices. Bluetooth technology eliminates the need for this intermediary device and allows devices to communicate directly with each other.

Bluetooth may have one advantage in that it has very low power requirements, but the speed and range of Wi-Fi Direct will make for some interesting applications. I’m looking forward to using wireless stereo headphones all the way out into the garage.

/Steve

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New Wireless ‘n’ Standard is Official

Steve — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:25:21 +0000

The iEEE wireless standards organization has ratified the new Wi-Fi 802.11n wireless communication standard. The new standard raises the theoretical transmision speed to 450 Mbps. This is a leap forward compared to the previous standards of 54 Mbps.

New devices should be available for the holiday season. Look for the Wi-Fi Alliance seal to make sure the device is certified.

/doc

Wi-Fi Direct Takes on Bluetooth

Opera 10 Web Browser

Steve — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:24:00 +0000

If you want to mix things up a bit and experiment with a new Web Browser, Opera 10 has now been released and can be downloaded at www.opera.com.

Opera 10′s biggest feature is “Opera Turbo” which speeds up page loads on slower connections.

/doc

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The Future of USB – It’s 3.0

Steve — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:37:27 +0000

There’s a new USB coming and it’s 10 times faster.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) has been around since 1996. The original specification was 1.0 and it allowed for data transmission speeds of up to 12 Mbits/second. This new technology played a big part in eliminating Parallel and Serial devices from your PC. USB 2.0 was introduced in 2006 and it allowed for transmission speeds up to 480 Mbits/s which, even today, was enough to accomodate most data transfer needs. But with the ever increasing amounts of data that we need to move around, we needed a boost.

USB 3.0, nicknamed “SuperSpeed USB,” promises up to 4,800 Mbits/s (4.8 Gbits/s) transfer speed. Additionally, it will be able to provide 80% more power for connected devices and will offer power management features where either the PC or the device can initiate a powersaving mode.

The physical changes that define USB 3.0 are the addition of 4 more wires which serve as 2 additional send/recieve pairs operating as the SuperSpeed channel. USB 1.0 and 2.0 only had 4 wires. These 2 new pairs will work in conjunction with the original send/receive pair which allows for backwards compatibility. Devices with the new USB 3.0 specifications should be hitting the shelves in time for Christmas 2009.

/doc

Firewire vs USB