USB 3.0′s 4.8Gbps? Psh. NEC claims triplified 16Gbps speeds possible with USB 3.0 spec.

USB 3.0 hasn’t even reached mass popularity (or adoption) yet and already someone, somewhere is trying to steal it’s spotlight. 4.8Gbps may seem fast, and in truth, it really is. But there’s always something bigger and better, right? Right. NEC has gone on the record books claiming that the USB 3.0 spec can actually go faster.

How’s 16Gb/s sound? Such speeds will no doubt be part of future USB spec ratifications in USB 4.0 and beyond. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. The biggest problem with super speedy USB over longer distances is the signal interference and breakdown of the transmission. Countering such a problem involves sending a simple signal back down the line to confirm that it was sent correctly. But as you increase the transfer speeds, the speed of that “confirmation signal” has to increase as well. And such things can only go so fast.

NEC’s solution: delay the feedback/confirmation signal and dramatically increase the transfer speeds. In theory it’s simple, effective, and makes sense. The real world as we know it however, rarely works that way. Looks like USB 3.0 just became a little less cool huh? Ready for 16Gb/s USB?

Pocket-Lint

Darth Vadar as a house wife…

This one is for the Star Wars fans. I won’t rule out a specific gender as…well…it could really go either way.

Darth Vadar was always portrayed as this hard ass dude with a big black helmet, scary voice, and heart of cold steel. But deep down inside, he was a much softer, gentler man. He liked cats. He had a pet fish. Long walks were his favorite past time. And he loved, loved baking. Word is he cooked a mean Ewok pie.

If you’d like to touch upon this darker side of cooking, now you and yours can tap into everything that makes dark cooking what it is. For $19.99 you get the uber cool apron and that sense of dark evil. The mask unfortunately is not included. Though I’m sure a quick trip to Toys-R-Us could net your a suitable, cheap stand-in. Who’s ready to bake?

[ThinkGeek]

Walyou

Bionic hands now look/move more like…human hands.

If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of having lost a hand, a prosthesis is usually the easiest and best route to go if you’re still interested in maintaining a somewhat normal lifestyle. Even with modern science, bionic hands can be at times rather crude. Thanks to UK-based RSLS Sleeper, bionic hands just became a lot more realistic and functional. Using Myo-electric technology, electrical impulses are captured from the brain and shuttled into the bionic hand giving wearers the ultimate “glove fit” on their super human hand.

While I love both of my hands just the way they are, I can’t deny that having a set of these babies should the unfortunate circumstances arise would be mighty sweet. Think I’m nuts? Check it out for yourselves below.

Video

Geeky-Gadgets

WinPhone 7 dev policies leaked!

Worried that Windows Phone 7 won’t let you play with multiple apps at once a la Apple? Well, if the leaked Windows Phone 7 development policies are anything to go by, there may be some hope. According to dev policies, “preemptive” backgrounding will be enabled. However, apps must pass through an app submission and provisioning process for further scrutiny — fruit anyone?

Much like the Zune environment which the Windows Phone 7 OS pulls from, Silverlight, XNA, and .NET Compact Frameworks comprise the bulk of the underlying structure. For Windows Mobile developers, it won’t take long to realize that this is a clean break from the past and holds up to Microsoft’s statements that Windows Mobile applications will need to be totally re-written.

The leaked documents do shed quite a bit of light onto how Microsoft is going to handle this new shindig, although, there’s still plenty to know. Looks like we’ll still have to wait until MIX 2010 to really feed our hungry heads. All I can say is, I hope Microsoft doesn’t get overly restrictive like Apple has.   If so, it will choke the life out of Windows Phone 7 for sure.

New headphone feature: Brainwave sensor.

For most, when searching for a new pair of headphones, audio quality is usually somewhere near the top of the list. You know, being a device designed purely for audio reproduction, I would surely hope this is the case at least. But people have different likes and dislikes and companies cater to each and everyone. Some headphones shaped like animal heads, some actually vibrate to simulate the 18′s in the back of trunks, and even farther “out there” still, some headphones now feature brain wave sensors.

Brain wave sensors you say? Yes, a sensor that groups the unseeable waves emitting from your head. The headphones are built by Toshiba and are actually designed for consumer use. Along with the headphones, a software dubbed “Brain-wave Visualizer” hooks up to the headphones and displays the brainwave data onscreen.

You won’t see people rockin’ out in the streets with these, but for those closet geeks who’ve always wanted to know what goes on in their head — well, this is your deal.

Ubergizmo > TechOn

US skier Jake Zamansky bashes NBC’s god awful coverage. Critical tweets automatically displayed on NBC Olympics website. NBC responds by censoring Jake’s athlete Twitter account.

You know, with each passing day of not being able to see the Olympics live either how I want on TV or god forbid, stream anything worthwhile, it becomes more and more clear — NBC flat out sucks as a network. Earlier this year they handled the whole Tonight Show/Jay Leno/Conan Obrian fiasco in a less than stellar manner and now they are in the process of making this one of the worst Olympics yet. To say coverage is terrible is a gross understatement. The blatant tape delays until prime time are greed at it’s worst and a complete pain in the ass for those who actually care about the games, as by the time they actually see the tape delayed events, the outcomes of each have been spilled onto the internet in one form or another. But so far, this is all from the viewers perspective. That is until US Skier Jake Zamansky started tweeting of NBC’s shit filled Olympic’s broadcasts as well. Then it got interesting.

Earlier today, Jake Zamansky made a few critical tweets calling out NBC. The tweets were then automatically pulled onto the NBC Olympic website’s live scrolling Twitter feed. Pretty funny stuff huh? Oddly, NBC didn’t feel the same way. Instead, they’ve gone ahead and begun removing any and all negative or critical tweets from Jake Zamansky’s athlete Twitter page — censorship at it’s finest.

Perhaps the saddest part is in the fact that CCTV in China — a government run TV channel in a communist country who routinely takes pride in censoring outside media — has more and better live coverage of the Olympics. What does that say for NBC’s corny “fireside chats” each and every night, recapping old news and Olympic highlights that our hours upon hours old? All of this grief is merely touching on the TV aspect. We haven’t even gotten into the whole live streaming thing yet.

To recap: NBC completely butchers live Olympics coverage for their own personal gain — not in any way to actually broadcast and showcase the games in any sort of way….and they censor the hell out of critics. Awesome! Hopefully NBC doesn’t get their hands on the next Olympics and ruin them too. Then again, they couldn’t suck any more than they do now…

AlleyInsider

[Image Source]

Ubisoft fails to learn from peers’ failures, Settlers VII and Assassin’s Creed II require constant internet connection to even run.

This whole massive fight against so called “piracy” that has been blamed for everything from the death of the music industry to the cause of world hunger is unfortunately, not going anywhere anytime soon. I can tell however, who will be going somewhere (as in out of business somewhere) very soon – Ubisoft. Let me clarify — Ubisoft will go out of business if they continue to release games with DRM like that of the cancer that’s found in recently released Settlers VII and Assassin’s Creed II.

Just like EA’s follies of the not too distant past, Ubisoft is requiring these two titles to maintain a constant internet connection in order to play the game — at all. If the game’s connection is interrupted even for a second, no matter where you’re at in the game, it’s lights off and game over. Best of all, your progress isn’t saved. Ya, it sucks.

You’d think these senseless idiots who run these companies would realize such restrictive DRM is the worst possible way to stop piracy when in fact, such measures will actually increase piracy. But that’s really what they want I guess…

ThatVideoGameBlog