Gizmo Ground

New laptop models introduced this week from Apple include the fastest peripheral standard ever shipped in
mass-market computers, providing a connection to both monitors and storage devices through a single port.
Thunderbolt, a technology Intel developed with close Apple involvement, has a data-transfer rate of 10 gigabits per second to and from a computer. Moreover, the version Apple built into these laptops has two Thunderbolt channels in a single port, for a combined raw rate of 20 Gbps in each direction.
This rate is 40 times faster than USB 2.0, four times zippier than the new USB 3.0, and 20 times speedier than gigabit Ethernet, the fastest widely available local networking standard.
Thunderbolt combines the graphics information to drive a monitor or HDTV set and the features necessary to move data at high rates between external hard drives and other peripherals. The standard also allows eight-channel audio found in high-end home-entertainment systems. (Technically, the graphic standard is known as DisplayPort and the data standard as PCI Express.)
Apple has no lock on the technology, which Intel intends to push heavily. Intel has had tepid interest so far for USB 3.0, clearly because of its development of Thunderbolt. USB 3.0 doesn't include support for video displays.
Thunderbolt can handle two displays per port, but in the laptop version, one of those is the integral screen, which cannot be disabled in favor of an external monitor. A future Mac mini or Mac Pro, desktop machines without built-in monitors, would take full advantage of this. The Mac Pro likely will include multiple Thunderbolt ports as well.
A total six devices may be chained one to the next from the single port found on the new MacBook Pro laptops. Hubs and splitters are possible, too, although Apple has nothing to offer at present.
Forrester Research Vice President Frank Gillett said Thunderbolt has the potential to turn USB into a necessary second standard for less-expensive devices, while Thunderbolt could take the lead. The combination of fast data transfer and graphics makes it appealingly simple.
"This is what makes multiple displays easy to deal with, because you can daisy chain them," Gillett said. While USB will persist, "what this knocks off is FireWire 800 and eSATA," separate, far slower transfer standards.
La Cie and Promise Technology already have announced hard-drive products using Thunderbolt. (The new laptops continue to retain a FireWire 800 port.)
Thunderbolt is backward compatible with DisplayPort, letting users with existing monitors continue to use them. The standard also functions with DisplayPort adapters for analog (VGA) and digital (DVI) monitors, as well as HDTV sets.
The new professional laptops Apple introduced, in 13-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch display sizes as before, also include an updated video camera, now called FaceTime HD. The camera allows video chat at up to 720p using Apple's FaceTime system to another new MacBook Pro user.
FaceTime first appeared on the iPhone 4 and later on the fourth-generation iPod touch. A beta version of FaceTime for Mac OS X was released in late 2010; the official release of the software came this week as well. FaceTime 1.0 is bundled with new laptops, and is 99 cents through the Mac App Store.
The laptops also have been goosed with much-faster processors and improved graphics systems.
Apple provided a more extensive description of its next update of Mac OS X, dubbed Lion. Lion incorporates many optional features brought over from the iPad, such as a screen of application icons that can be organized into folders, more extensive multifinger gesture support (through a trackpad), and automatic resumption of programs from the precise point at which you left off after they are quit or the system has restarted.
A full-screen program mode will emulate the feel of having an iPad turn into a single app at a time, too.
Users who dislike these features may disable or ignore them, but all Mac owners will appreciate the addition of automatic document saving and retention of older versions. (Software developers will need to update programs to take advantage of some features.)
The new release also will let Mac users exchange files using a wireless connection without both parties being hooked up to the same Wi-Fi network or any Wi-Fi network. The feature, AirDrop, relies on newer hardware that allows a computer to have a Wi-Fi connection for Internet and local access while simultaneously talking peer-to-peer to other nearby devices.
Apple has erased the difference between its regular and server versions of Mac OS X. Lion includes the features of both at the same not-yet-disclosed price. Users can add server features later — a new installation is not required — although Apple declined to provide details at this point.
Mac OS X Server once was either $499 or $999, depending on the number of simultaneous users desired, then reduced to $499 for unlimited users with Mac OS X's current release. Now, it's free.
The new MacBook Pro laptops are available for order immediately. Lion is expected this summer, although Apple has provided no details on price, system requirements or shipping date.

A concerned multi-iPhone owner has taken it upon himself to test the two primary means of charging the iPhone 4, AC outlet and USB port. The test wasn't executed very scientifically, calls came in as well as text messages, while the test was going on. The results are however fairly interesting and by interesting we mean obvious. The AC adapter, having a near constant and regulated high current charge, beat out the 2008 laptop. The only real surprise is exactly how wide the variance is, 30 minutes longer than the AC's 130 minutes. This is at least good to know if you are about to leave and need to get as much juice as possible in a short period. The knowledge of just how large the difference is, should help guide others to better choices.
One thing to note, in the past few years, Apple has increased the power output to its USB ports. Most notably to iPad owners who cannot charge their iPads from anything except an AC outlet or a new Apple laptop/desktop. We'd be willing to guess that new Macs would charge faster than the old ones. Hopefully someone takes on the challenge and tests that theory.

In what is sure to help give even more ulcers to company IT security admin's around the world, comes news of a new exploit that can compromise a computer (and by extension any network connected to that computer). The idea of rooting & hacking a computer via software or hardware exploits is about as old as computers themselves. This new exploit though, is certainly an interesting tweak on things as it has the potential to be not only devastating, but completely silent and unnoticed.
Two bright researchers at George Mason University have discovered a way to surreptitiously modify Andrioid's USB drivers so that it does some pretty nasty things. In a nutshell what this modified driver can do is allow a nasty piece of malware on the phone to slurp up all important data on the computer as soon as it the phone's USB cable is plugged into the computer and then spit that data to whomever the author wants! Even worse is the fact that this exploit could easily be customized to work on other phones running different operating systems such as the iPhone; so it is not as simple as simply boycotting Android based phones.
Worse still, is you could easily not realize that your phone has been compromised - nor your computer - as it is very unlikely typical anti-virus software would consider this an unwanted activity and just consider it a legitimate data transfer request. Luckily, this exploit is not in the wild yet and still only been done in the lab. Of course now that malware authors know it is possible, it probably won't be too long before it becomes a reality. As with anything computer related, being careful in what you download and what you run on your phone is your best defence against nasty pieces of work like this.

Members of the device tinkering community have managed successfully get a Droid device to connect to USB peripherals. The Linux-based Android OS should be readily extensible, but the hardware that is wrapped around the OS isn't always conducive to all the possibilities. The trick isn't quite polished, it involves making your own USB cord and some cable swapping during a hard boot. It's still a little buggy, but it's a great step forward.
Once the hack gets a few more people working on it, there should be more stability. Currently, it's not even really useful, devices are detected and powered up but not quite accessible. With the door open the Linux community should hop on board and knock the kinks out of it. Being able to access flash drives, MP3 players, TV tuners or digital cameras through USB On-The-Go should help extend high power cell phones like Droid into mobile Internet devices. Any thing that can run on Linux should be able to work on Droid. Lookhere for more news, hopefully wiring diagrams for the cable will show up so you can get in on the phone too. Video demo after the jump.

To no one's surprise, Apple iPhone 4 looks exactly like the one obtained by Gizmodo in mid-April. Today's announcement by Steve Jobs just confirms almost every feature you may find on the new phone. The iPhone 4 is slightly thinner yet contains a battery boosting better run time (7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of video and 10 hours WiFi browsing). The phone has an stainless steel border going around outside; the material doubles as an antenna.