Hasta La Gadget!

Broadcom has focused most of its 802.11ac WiFi efforts this year on high- and low-end mobile chips. Today, it’s swinging that attention back to bigger machinery like PCs and set-top boxes. The company’s new BCM4350, BCM43556 and BCM43558 all carry more robust, 2 X 2 MIMO antennas that help them hit 866Mbps speeds and optimize traffic through beamforming. Any differences, Broadcom notes, revolve around everything but the WiFi. The BCM4350 carries a more PC-like set of interfaces that includes Bluetooth 4.0, PCI Express and SDIO 3.0; the BCM43558 drops the PCIe and SDIO in favor of USB 3.0, while the BCM43556 also sheds Bluetooth. Although we don’t know which companies plan to use the nimbler wireless technology, it should ship to gadget makers in the second half of this year.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Laptops, Tablets, Networking, HD, Mobile

Comments

Source: Broadcom

AMD might not be able to keep up (down?) with Intel in the CPU power consumption race, so it’s taking another tack with the new Opteron X-series: horsepower. It just announced the Opteron X1150 and X2150 64-bit processors for microservers, part of the Jaguar-codenamed family of CPUs arriving in the next-gen Xbox One and Sony PS4 consoles. Thanks to its ultra-low power 6-watt Atom S1200 chips, Intel excels in the low-power server market, and at 9W and 11W respectively (minimum), AMD’s CPUs consume considerably more juice. But AMD is pitching them as a better solution overall, thanks to those four cores (compared to two in the Atom), integrated AMD Radeon HD 8000 graphics on the X2150 model, support for 32GB of RAM and integrated SATA ports. AMD’s chips are pricier, though, at $64 (X1150) or $99 (X2150) compared to $54 for Intel’s Atom S1200 (all in quantities of 1,000). To top it off, Intel has new 64-bit Atom SoCs coming soon promising even lower power consumption — possibly leaving AMD to play catch-up again.

Filed under: Peripherals, Networking, AMD

Comments

It’s comparatively easy to run fiber optic lines at high speeds; it’s another matter to sustain that pace between continents. Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs has found a way to go that extreme distance by relying on the basic concept behind noise-cancelling headphones. When the researchers send data across two light beams in opposing phases, they can superimpose the signals and neutralize the distortion that would normally occur at long ranges. Such clean output lets Bell Labs ramp up the signal strength and maintain high speeds across whole oceans: its test pushed 400Gbps through 7,954 miles of fiber. There’s no word on how soon we’ll see twin-light technique put into practice, although we suspect that a networking giant like Alcatel-Lucent wants the extra bandwidth as quickly as possible.

[Image credit: JL Hopgood, Flickr]

Filed under: Networking, Alt

Comments

Via: BBC News, The Verge

Source: Nature Photonics

Customers with Sky Broadband might find their speeds crawling northward toward the end of the year. The broadcaster is paying Virgin Media’s business arm £49 million ($74 million) for some of Richard Branson Liberty Global’s deliciously fast fiber infrastructure. While there’s no mention of BT, we wouldn’t be surprised if this technological makeover was prompted by its corporate rival’s recent assault on Sky’s sporty golden goose.

Filed under: Networking, Internet, HD

Comments

Via: The Next Web

ASUSTOR will be attending Computex 2013 and exhibiting a brand new series of NAS devices featuring the latest Intel® Atom™ processor along with its new-look ADM 2.0 operating system and 2 new mobile apps, AiData and AiMaster. ASUSTOR sincerely welcomes everyone to visit them at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, 4^th Floor, Booth L0404, from June 4^th – June 8^th, 2013.

Taipei, Taiwan, May 8^th, 2013 – ASUSTOR Inc., a leading innovator and provider of network storage solutions, has announced today that it will be exhibiting at Computex 2013, the second largest consumer electronics show in the world. At the exhibition, ASUSTOR will be showcasing its award winning high performance AS 6 Series NAS devices (AS-602T/ AS-604T/ AS-606T/ AS-608T/ AS-604RD/ AS-604RS/ AS-609RD/ AS-609RS) as well as introducing a brand new series of NAS devices designed for home and SOHO users, the AS 3 Series. The new 3 Series uses the latest Intel SoC (System on Chip) which is designed for home multimedia use. It also features an HDMI interface along with a built-in infrared receiver that allows for it to be used with a remote control. The available models in this series are the 2-bay AS-302T model and the 4-bay AS-304T model. ASUSTOR will also be unveiling its newly styled ADM 2.0 operating system along with 2 new mobile apps. These 2 apps are AiData, which can be used to remotely browse and access data on an ASUSTOR NAS and AiMaster, which can be used to remotely monitor and manage a NAS.

The 6 Series

All of ASUSTOR’s AS 6 Series devices come equipped with an Intel® Atom™ 2.13 GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of DDR3 memory (expandable up to 3GB). The devices also feature SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and eSATA ports along with support for SATA III and SSD hard disks. Dual GbE Ethernet ports provide support for link aggregation and blazing fast transfer speeds of over 200 MB/s. All devices in the series are also verified as being VMware, Citrix and Hyper-V ready. Business-ready features such as two-way transfer support, AES-256 bit shared folder encryption, and video surveillance make the 6 Series an optimal choice for small to medium sized businesses that are looking for a flexible and cost-effective virtual storage solution.

The 3 Series

The 3 Series features a new platform that is based on the latest Intel SoC (System on Chip) which integrates a dual-core Atom™ processor with a handful of media processing units and communication interfaces. The devices also feature an HDMI interface that provides HD audio-visual output which allows the NAS to become a high quality multimedia player. The built-in infrared receiver allows users to use a remote control to control the multimedia playback on the NAS. Further pairing the NAS with a stereo amplifier truly allows users to create a one-stop home entertainment center. Users can also download any NAS Apps of their choice from ASUSTOR’s App Central. App offerings include: Download Center, iTunes Server, Surveillance Center, Dropbox, SABnzbd and more. In addition to being used as a digital entertainment center, the 3 Series can also be used as a full featured private cloud storage server that is able to safely store all of the users’ ever-expanding digital multimedia content.

ADM 2.0

ADM (ASUSTOR Data Master) is an operating system designed exclusively for use with all ASUSTOR NAS devices. Different from traditional NAS operating systems, ADM was designed using an App-based concept that provides a user experience closely resembling the simplicity that can be found on most tablet computers. It features an elegant web-based user interface that is intuitive and easy to use, bridging the gap between user and machine. ADM provides users with a bevy of convenient features such as Dr. ASUSTOR which performs health checkups on the NAS, automatic firmware updates, and Cloud Connect technology which allows users easily connect their NAS to the internet, creating their own personal cloud.

Newly updated version includes:

• Fresh new interface: Now more user-friendly than ever, the updated user interface features support for the uploading of custom background images, the all new “My Favorites” function and dramatically increased browsing speed.
• Searchlight: An industry first, Searchlight allows users to quickly find files, folders and applications on the NAS and also provides support for fuzzy searches.
• FTP Explorer: A built-in FTP client that allows the NAS to directly browse files from any FTP sites and also featuring support for drag and drop file transfers.
• SoundsGood: A Web music player that allows users to stream the music from their NAS through a Web browser. SoundsGood also allows an ASUSTOR NAS to be turned into a digital audio player with thousands of songs after directly connecting the NAS to an amplifier or DAC/USB speakers.
• Photo Gallery: Allows users to set up their own personal web photo album in just one easy step, helping users share their lives with family and friends.

Newly Added Mobile Apps (Supports iOS and Android Mobile Devices)

AiData: Users can use AiData to remotely browse and access all files on their NAS. AiData can also be used to instantly upload photos and share files from the NAS. Integration with popular cloud storage service, Dropbox, allows users to use AiData to seamlessly integrate their NAS with Dropbox.

AiMaster: Users can use AiMaster to manage their NAS from the convenience of their mobile devices. AiMaster allows users to change settings, monitor their system, receive instant notifications on system status via push notification and more.

ASUSTOR sincerely welcomes everyone to visit them at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center (4F) booth L0404 to experience first-hand ASUSTOR’s innovative cloud storage concepts.

ASUSTOR’s Computex exhibition information is as follows:

Location:

Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center 4th Floor, Booth L0404

Date and Time:

Tuesday June 4th – Friday June 7th, 2013, 09:30 – 18:00

Saturday June 8th, 2013, 09:30 – 16:00