The all new USB (Universal Serial Bus) 3.0 specs, which can handle data transfers of up to 4.8 Gbps, is the leader to USB 2.0 and should be pop up in devices in late 2009, according to ZDnet.

The USB 3.0 spec, which is also called as “SuperSpeed” USB, will support up to 10 times faster data transfers than the normal USB 2.0 which is predicted to be lower power consuming.

“SuperSpeed USB is the next advancement in ubiquitous technology,” Jeff Ravencraft, the president of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the industry group that promotes USB technology, said in a statement on Monday. “Today’s consumers are using rich media and large digital files that need to be easily and quickly transferred from PCs to devices and vice versa. SuperSpeed USB meets the needs of everyone, from the tech-savvy executive to the average home user.”

As for backwards compatibility for this USB 3.0:

The USB 3.0 will remain backwards compatible with USB 2.0 as long as the Type A connector is used. While USB 2.0 is based on uni-directional data flow with negotiated directional bus transitions, USB 3.0 supports simultaneous bi-directional data flows by the use of dual-simplex four-wire differential signal wiring as compared to half-duplex two wire differential wiring in USB 2.0 type.

What does that mean? We’re not so sure, but it sounds fast, fast, really fast. Kudos for the USB Implementers Forum for getting this USB 3.0 specs finalized to the public. After all, where would we be today without USB? Have you ever thought about it? Life would probably be a little bit more complicated… Did you remember serial and parallel connections? huh…

Solid state hard disk drives have been slow to catch on in mainstream computing technology, but thanks to a new file system invented by SanDisk, SSDs might be too great to pass up on.

The new file system technology, called “ExtremeFFS” (this name rocks!), uses some newfangled trickery to systematically increase writing speeds. Electronista says, “… ExtremeFFS uses a page-based technique that no longer ties the logical location of data on the drive to its physical data space. Instead, it dynamically writes and alters the position of data based on where it would be most efficient as well as the user’s own habits.”

We’re not sure exactly what all of that techie-stuff even means, but according to SanDisk, we should be seeing a huge improved performance as well as reliability with ExtremeFFS file system-equipped drives. Also, random-write speeds should see a big improvement, up to one hundred times faster the speed when compared to traditional SSDs (Solid-State Drive).

There’s no “ExtremeFFS” solid-state drives have been announced yet, but SanDisk says ‘wait for our new technology in 2009′.

So, let us wait for this New SanDisk ExtremeFFS SDD with 100x Write Speed huh

Now, here comes the hero for the ‘last gadget standing’ from Consumer Electronic Show CES 2008. What do you think the winner it is? (of course you already knew it from the post tittle huh? )Ten finalists competed to see which gadget could stand the test of time, while the audience voted for their favorite. Though all of the finalists were winners in their own right, there could be only one hero. It’s the Eye-Fi the wireless memory card.

The Eye-Fi Card is a wireless memory card. It automatically uploads pictures from your digital camera to your PC or Mac and to your favorite photo sharing, printing, blogging or social networking site. No cables, no waiting, no hassles.

The Eye-Fi Card. Startup company Eye-Fi, which makes an SD card with a wireless chip on it, is offically The Last Gadget Standing. Jef Holove, CEO of Eye-Fi, demonstrated to a packed house.

Holove had a colleague shooting photos of The Last Gadget audience while he made introductory comments. By the time Holove was finished saying a few words, the photos were snapped, transferred wirelessly, and displayed on his PC. No one had to touch a button, link a cable, or set up a cradle. All you need to do is turn on your camera and the pictures are automatically sent through your PC’s Wi-Fi connection to any of the popular photo hangouts: Facebook, Flickr, Snapfish and more. The product costs $99 and is available now.

watch Eye-Fi promo videos here:

Here comes the list of top 10 ‘last man standing’ gadgets from Consumer Electronic Show 2008. Which one do you think will be the hero? Stay tuned with us!

Eye-Fi is a specially designed low-power wireless chip with a 2GB memory card. When installed in just about any of today’s digital cameras, it automatically transfers photos from the camera to a Mac or PC or any of the popular photo-sharing sites and social networks.

Asus Eee PC 4G is a computer that costs only $399, has a tiny 7-inch screen, runs Linux, and comes with a suite of great software applications.
Read more »

Biometric drives are becoming more and more common as the need to secure the data on the drives from theft and loss becomes more pressing. Typically we all tend to think that biometric flash drives are very secure and a god option for sensitive data. However, it seems that biometric flash drives aren’t nearly as secure as we might have thought, even when they use AES encryption.

While I am not sure of the brands of flash drives this guy hacked, he was able to access all encrypted data on both sticks by fooling the security program into seeing each fingerprint scanned as valid. On the drive with encryption he was even able to get access to the encrypted partitions without loosing the data. Moral of the story, your data isn’t as safe as you would like to think.

source: here