new high speed Thunderbolt connector from intel

Chip manufacturer Intel has announced it is to roll out a new technology for connecting computers and peripherals.

The system, known as Thunderbolt, promises transfer speeds twice as fast as USB 3.0.

However it won't reach its theoretical maximum because Intel has opted to use copper wires rather than fibre optic cables.

The company said it would gradually move to higher speeds over time.

Apple will become the first manufacturer to use Thunderbolt, on its Macbook Pro computers.

The Cupertino firm is said to have been a major driver of its development, although it remains to be seen how may other manufacturers will adopt the new standard.
Light Peak

Intel has been working on the technology for several years.

It was first announced, under the codename Light Peak in 2009.

At launch, its top speed will be limited to 10 Gigabits per second - twice as fast as USB 3.0, but still well below the theoretical maximum using optical cables.
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Computer connections
Thunderbolt connector


Intel claims that future versions will be able to reach 100 Gb/sec.

The faster data transfer rates are likely to be welcomed by those consumers who use high-definition video, said Sarah Rottman Epps, an analyst with Forrester Research.

"This isn't an innovation that consumers have been asking for, but it's one they'll appreciate," she said.

"Especially when transferring video, as that's when [USB] starts to feel slow."

The system also promises to reduce the number of cables a user has connecting their computer setup.

It is able to carry multiple signal types at the same time, enabling power, display and peripherals to use a single cable.

However, in the short term, users may need to invest in special adaptors to connect their older devices onto Thunderbolt sockets.

Its arrival on the consumer market also raises questions about the future of other connector standards, such as USB and Firewire.

Thunderbolt's most high profile supporter, Apple, is expected to gradually transition to a single connector, according to Karen Haslam, editor of Macworld UK.

"In the long run there will be no need for Apple to support these multiple formats with individual ports - existing products can run through an adaptor," she said.

Not everyone is convinced that Thunderbolt will become the lone standard.

Ian Chiu, editor of the website Everythingusb.com told BBC News that the cost of components could put off some manufacturers.

"I don't really know how Intel will make Thunderbolt appealing to all the other first-tier PC manufacturers," he said.

"HP, Sony, Dell, Acer, Asus make most of their money from the low-end and medium-end notebooks.

"On the other hand, Apple's Macbook Pro line-up is targeted at the prosumers, professionals and other people who aren't so price conscious," said Mr Chiu.


* All methods for connecting computers to external devices have a theoretical top speed for transferring data
* USB 2.0 - 480 Mb/second
* Firewire 800 - 800 Mb/second
* USB 3.0 - 4.8 Gb/second
* Thunderbolt copper - 10 Gb/second
* Thunderbolt fibre optic - 100 Gb/second

$5 billion Arizona chip

Intel Corp (INTC.O) plans to build a $5 billion, cutting-edge microchip factory in Arizona by 2013, sharply ramping up its U.S. manufacturing capacity as part of a major global expansion.

Construction should kick off in the middle of this year, it said in a statement. When completed, the plant will churn out next-generation 14-nanometer line-width transistors and microchip wafers of 300 millimeters.

Intel said in October it plans to spend $6 billion to $8 billion on high-tech manufacturing facilities in Arizona and Oregon, creating as many as 8,000 construction jobs.

In January, the world's largest chip maker unveiled its next-generation microchip, code-named Sandy Bridge, which it said will yield about a third of its corporate revenue in 2011.

About three-quarters of Intel's manufacturing takes place in the United States. But it is expanding capacity around the world, including in Israel and China.

Intel shares rose 0.5 percent to $22.07 on Nasdaq late Friday afternoon.

Future Chock-Full of Chips

Moore's Law, which posits that computing power doubles roughly every 18 months, also more or less applies to electricity, running water and paper, suggested physicist and author Michio Kaku at the RSA conference on Tuesday. This means, among other things, that over the next several decades, computer chips will wend their way into a multitude of everyday products, right down to the clothes we wear.

Twenty years from now, semiconductor chips will cost a penny apiece and will be in everything -- our clothing, our sunglasses, our contact Increase sales with VerticalResponse. Free trial. lenses and even our toilets -- physicist Michio Kaku told an audience Thursday at the RSA 2011 convention.

They'll revolutionize warfare, manufacturing and the medical field, said Kaku, one of the co-founders of string field theory.

Kaku's talk was based on interviews he conducted with 300 of the world's top scientists about their views of the future. Those interviews have been published in his latest book, Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100.
This Is Number Four

Moore's Law, which posits that computing power doubles roughly every 18 months, also more or less applies to electricity, running water and paper, Kaku suggested.

Extrapolating this curve out into the future, some computer chips will eventually cost about a penny apiece, Kaku stated. "There will be millions scattered in our clothing, in the environment."

When computer chip prices fall to about a penny, chips will be ubiquitous. They'll be present in our clothing and in our eyeglasses, Kaku remarked.

Embedded chips will give our eyeglasses access to the Internet on the fly, Kaku predicted. Eyeglasses will then double as their owners' home offices or entertainment centers.

"In 10 years, we'll live in a world where we can identify people's faces, see their biographies, see subtitles as they speak in other languages and, if you're an artist, you'll be able to create any sculpture by waving your hands and see it develop," Kaku said.
The Technology of War

The United States military is using a version of smart glasses called "Land Warrior," which Kaku saw at demonstrated at Fort Benning. "It's the Internet of the battlefield -- you'll see friendly troops, enemy troops, everything on your glasses," he told his audience.

Augmented reality will be used to enhance the capability of smart glasses. "You've seen this before in the movies," Kaku said, showing a slide from the film "The Terminator."

The Chinese already have created an augmented reality version of the Summer Palace in Beijing, Kaku stated.

The U.S. Department of Defense began investing in augmented technology back in 2007.

One company, Tanagram, has worked on a DARPA project involving an augmented reality interface for F-35 fighter jets.

Two other companies announced products including augmented reality at the Mobile World Congress, being held in Barcelona, Spain.

Route 66 unveiled a new app for Android earlier this week that incorporates augmented reality. Meanwhile, Travel site TripAdvisor announced Thursday at MWC that it has added a virtual tours feature that uses augmented reality to its iPad app.
More Uses for the Ubiquitous Chip

Paper will be electronic, using organic LED (OLED) technology. "Your cellphone will scroll out paper which can be totally flexible," Kaku said.

The wallpaper of the future will be both flexible and intelligent, and it will consist of hundreds of computers on the wall. "When you want to redecorate your house, you talk to the walls and they'll change to whatever color you want," Kaku said.

Office files will follow people around in the cloud as they move from room to room, or between the home and office, Kaku forecast.

"Today your office is structured around your PC," Kaku said. "Why? The content is more important than your platform."

Cars of the future will drive themselves, Kaku said. "Google is already investing millions of dollars into this technology and predicts that, in eight or nine years, your car will drive itself," he pointed out.
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), however, isn't hold too tightly to that time frame.

"We aren't going to put a hard number on when the car will be available on the road," Google spokesperson Jay Nancarrow told TechNewsWorld.

"The technology has made a lot of progress, but there are a lot of other external factors involved with putting cars on the road that make it more difficult to give an estimate," he explained. "The team is hard at work on some of the toughest computer science challenges in their field."
Reinventing Manufacturing

The ubiquity of chips will lead to mass customization, Kaku forecast.

For example, consumers will be able to walk into a store, select an item of clothing they want, and send a message to the manufacturer, who will create that item tailored exactly to them, Kaku said.

This is already happening now, Jake Sorofman, chief marketing officer at rPath, told TechNewsWorld.

"That's what Dell's (Nasdaq: DELL) doing," Sorofman elaborated. "They've outsourced manufacturing and they're just assemblers who configure their products to suit market needs. We see that at Ikea as well."
Eliminating Diseases

All medicine will be reduced to computer science, Kaku said.

"When Isaac Asimov did this in the movie 'Fantastic Voyage,' people laughed," Kaku elaborated. "In the future we'll do this. We've already done this with nanoparticles."

The California Institute of Technology has developed nanoparticles that can home in and destroy individual cancer cells, Kaku said. These have been up to 80 percent effective in trials.

Smart toilets will help eliminate cancer, Kaku suggested. "Your toilet will have DNA chips which can zoom in on individual cancer cells and can tell you if you have cancer," he explained. "It will tell you that there are 100 cancer cells in a colony in your body 10 years before that forms into a tumor."