Hasta La Gadget!

Thought Thunderbolt was the only superfast interconnect in town? Well, it is and will be for a little while yet, but the PCI Special Interest Group has just held its annual meeting and developer conference in California, where plans for a 32Gbps PCIe cable were revealed. Details are still fluid on precisely what such a connector would look like and do, but the expectation is that it’ll be built out of copper wire, will be flatter and thinner than Thunderbolt’s rotund construction, and will be able to channel power as well as data through to devices up to 10 feet (3m) away. Targeting consumer applications, and extra skinny tablets and laptops in particular, this cabled variety of PCI Express will start off based on the 3.0 spec in 2013, but will then move on from there to PCI Express 4.0 and, potentially, optical data conveyance. Oh yes, PCIe 4.0 also got announced by the PCI SIG, though that’s at least four years away at this point — no need to sweat about having it in your next motherboard, not yet anyway.

PCI Express cables could take us to 32Gbps speeds by 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 02:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think your cable connection’s fast? Arris thinks it could be a lot faster. At today’s NCTA Cable Show in Chicago, the company will demo a new system that can support download speeds of 4.5Gbps, and upload rates of 575Mbps. To achieve this, Arris devoted more of its DOCSIS 3.0 cable channels to broadband (128 downstream, 24 upstream), sourced through a C4 cable module (pictured on the left). Of course, this would leave less space for conventional TV channels, but we’re guessing the accelerated streaming speeds would more than make up for it. Unfortunately, the prototype is still in the proof-of-concept phase, so it may be a while before you reap its benefits. Head past the break for the full PR.

Continue reading Arris’ cable technology teases us with 4.5Gbps download speeds

Arris’ cable technology teases us with 4.5Gbps download speeds originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An early release over the weekend took any surprise out of the news, but now TiVo has officially announced its plans for the new TiVo Premiere Q and TiVo Preview set-top boxes and an update for its iPad app at the 2011 NCTA Cable Show. Both boxes are firsts for TiVo, the Premiere Q (pictured above) because it has four tuners and can stream video to up to three other boxes in the home, and the Preview because it lacks a hard drive or any DVR capabilities entirely. The Preview can function on its own or as a multiroom thin client streaming from TiVo DVRs, and both promise full integration with video on-demand and other cable-provided services. There’s no word on any retail plans and as expected RCN and Suddenlink will be the first to offer the boxes. The TiVo iPad app is also getting a cable-friendly makeover with a new version that can browse video on-demand offerings and flick them to any available TiVos for viewing, just like it does for internet video. We complained about the slow pace of updates for the existing Premiere DVR yesterday, so we’ll try to have a fresh outlook on the official announcements (PR and more pictures are after the break) and consider a future where TiVo isn’t tied to DVRs or being offered at retail.

Update: @BrennokBob points out a post on DSLReports revealing the Premiere Q will ship (at least for RCN) with a 500GB hard drive, up from 320GB on the standard Premiere but less than the 1TB of the XL model or Virgin’s TiVo in the UK.

Continue reading TiVo Premiere Q and Preview boxes are official along with an updated iPad app

TiVo Premiere Q and Preview boxes are official along with an updated iPad app originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve repeatedly hammered Time Warner Cable (and its big-cable cronies) for crying to the North Carolina legislature about municipal broadband. TWC claims it can’t compete with taxpayer-backed ISPs such as Wilson, NC’s Greenlight — and that it shouldn’t have to. In fact, Greenlight and four other municipal providers came about specifically because corporate players refused to provide inexpensive, fast broadband. And now that local governments have proven they can provide it, the cable companies have cried foul, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into select political pockets all the while. That’s the drama so far, and now a bill restricting municipal broadband — mandating that providers pay taxes similar to private companies, for example — has landed on the desk of Governor Bev Perdue. She won’t veto the bill, meaning it will soon become a law; for whatever it’s worth (read: not much), she also refuses to sign it. The reason? Here it is from the horse’s mouth:

I will neither sign nor veto this bill. Instead, I call on the General Assembly to revisit this issue and adopt rules that not only promote fairness but also allow for the greatest number of high quality and affordable broadband options for consumers.

The legislation strikes a blow against public ISPs in a country that ranks ninth in the world for broadband adoption and download speeds. And that, apparently, is what “fair competition” looks like in the US.

[Image courtesy of IndyWeek]

NC governor will let cable-backed bill restricting municipal broadband become law originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 May 2011 02:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Comcast rolled out a v1.5 update today for the iPhone / iPod Touch versions of its Xfinity TV app which allows them to access the video on-demand streaming that has been available on the iPad since February. Just like the iPad however, they’ll only work over WiFi — no streaming over 3G or downloading for offline viewing here, although unlike Cablevision and Time Warner’s iPad apps, you don’t have to be on your own WiFi for it to work. The slate of content has expanded to include 25 networks and over 6,000 hours of video, so for those confusing times when you’re within reach of WiFi but can’t get close to a TV, you can still queue up something for viewing. The official Twitter account advises a delete / reinstall for those having issues since upgrading, if you’re a Comcast subscriber who hasn’t already snagged the free app for its channel changing and remote DVR scheduling capabilities, you can do so at the link below.

[Thanks, Nick & Colby]

Comcast brings Xfinity TV VOD to iPhone, iPod Touch, but only on WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 02:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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