Intel announces faster next-gen Thunderbolt
Engadget is reporting that Intel has introduced the next generation of the Thunderbolt interface at theNAB conference. The update promises data transfer rates of 20 Gbps in each direction on Thunderbolt's two channels, twice the speed of the current generation rated at 10 Gbps. The demonstration Engadget witnessed showed the new Thunderbolt running at 1,200 Mbps, which is simply remarkable. Intel says the new Thunderbolt is also capable of simultaneous 4k video file transfer and display.
In addition to the improved speed, the company will be introducing thinner cables for devices in the next year. Current users shouldn't worry too much about obsolete accessories; the new Thunderbolt is backwards-compatible with previous connectors and cables.
Look for the new Thunderbolt sometime in 2014.
[Source: TUAW]
Google to announce music streaming service today
Although not official yet, there is very little doubt in anyone’s mind that today, 10th may 2011, Google will launch its Google Music service at its I/O Conference later on today. Google’s service will essentially be the same kind of service already launched by Amazon Cloud Service last year to mediocre sales, however, Google’s version will not offer the ability to sell song directly to the customers, after talks with labels broke down late last year. According to a spokesperson from Google "A couple of the major labels were less focused on the innovative vision that we put forward, and more interested in an unreasonable and unsustainable set of business terms." So rather than putting the project on hold, Google will launch its music service with the ability to store up to 20,000 of your own uploaded songs, to then stream back to your desktop, Android phone or tablet, in fact just about any device that supports flash (I thought they said innovation? Wouldn’t innovation be HTML5? – Mikey) but don’t worry iOS users, your time will come.
In comparison, Amazons service lets you store a measly 1,200 songs (5GB), stored at mediocre bitrates. As Google do so often, they will attempt to beat Amazon in more areas then one, offering features like automatic playlists (Again, I thought they were innovating, sounds like Genius playlists to me – Mikey) Google should have this service available to the US market “within weeks” , yes the UK market will have to wait, for a change. Google will be handing out Music Beta invites later today to owners of the Verizon Xoom (but don’t worry you will also be able to sign up at music.google.com) A live blog will be available here once the event has begun (5PM GMT)