Day: July 26, 2017

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USB 3.2 doubles your connection speeds with the same port

Your future computer or phone will be capable of stupidly fast transfer speeds. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group unveiled the USB 3.2 specification that effectively doubles the current USB 3.1 spec by adding an extra lane. As such, it will allow for two lanes of 5 Gbps for USB 3.0, yielding 10 Gbps, or two lanes of 10 Gbps for 20 Gbps with USB 3.1. As a bonus, the "superspeed" USB-C cable you’re currently using already has the capability for dual-lane operation built in.

By way of example, the group says that a USB 3.2 host connected to a USB 3.2 storage device will be capable of 2GB/s transfer over a "superspeed" certified USB 3.1 cable. "When we introduced USB Type-C to the market, we intended to assure that USB Type-C cables and connectors certified for SuperSpeed USB or SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps would, as produced, support higher performance USB as newer generations of USB 3.0 were developed," said USB 3.0 Promoter Group Chairman Brad Saunders.

You should take those Thunderbolt-like numbers with a grain of salt, however. USB 3.0 or 3.1 devices (which confusingly use USB-C cables) rarely come close to their certified speeds. For instance, The Wirecutter found that the fastest USB 3.0 flash drive, the Extreme CZ80, could read and write at 254 MB/s and 170 MB/s, tops — half of what USB 3.0 is capable of. (Some USB 3.1 superspeed SSD drives can saturate a USB 3.0 connection, however.)

Still, flash storage is advancing rapidly, thanks to 64-layer and higher tech from Toshiba, Intel, Samsung and WD, and those kind of speeds are handy if you’re editing RAW or 4K video. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group (with Apple, HP, Intel, Microsoft and others as members) says that the 3.2 spec will be finalized by the end of 2017, so don’t expect to see any devices until then. In the meantime, we’ll hear more about it in September this year in North America during the USB Developer Days.

Source: USB 3.0 Promoter Group

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Xiaomi’s answer to Alexa is a $45 smart speaker

Xiaomi’s Mi division, which sells some accessories in the US but still no phones, is getting into smart speakers. It just unveiled the Mi AI Speaker, its equivalent to Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home and other personal assistant-type models. However, it play music and take voice commands for a lot less, costing just 299 RMB or around $45 when it hits shelves in China starting next month.

It features "high-quality" sound and a six microphone array to detect voice commands from any direction and distance like its rivals. More importantly, it has artificial intelligence built-in, so you can order it to play streaming music and act as a personal assistant, giving you weather, calendar reminders, news and so on. (Xiaomi also unveiled a "Smart assistant" built into its MIUI Android variant, but that’s merely a quick launcher.)

The Mi AI Speaker will accept third-party apps, much like Alexa’s Skills via its "Platform Waterdrop." It’ll also be able to control other Mi products like the Mi TV, Mi Box and Mi Robot Vacuum Cleaner, or even dumb appliances using Mi’s Smart Plug or Smart Strip.

Along with the AI Speaker, Mi also unveiled the Mi 5X phone, a 5.5-inch mid-range model with pretty nice specs. That includes 4GB of RAM, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, dual 12-megapixel cameras with wide and telephoto lenses and an HD screen — not bad for 1,499 RMB ($222). That will be powered by Xiaomi’s new MIUI 9 Android OS, featuring the aforementioned Smart Assistant and a few other new upgrades.

If you’re in China and lucky enough to be one of the first 1,000 in the Mi AI Speaker beta, you’ll be able to get it for a mere one yuan, provided you’re willing to help train it. After that, it will go for 299 RMB, or $45. There’s no word on US or UK availability yet for either the Mi 5X or AI Speaker, but as with other Xiaomi products, don’t count on it.

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Japanese company preparing for country’s first private rocket launch


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  • Meet the Momo sounding rocket, built by Interstellar Technologies.


    Interstellar Technologies

  • It will launch from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.


    Interstellar Technologies

  • The rocket is about 8.5 meters long.


    Interstellar Technologies

  • It has a diameter of about one-half meter.


    Interstellar Technologies

  • And a cool logo.


    Interstellar Technologies

  • Here is a nominal flight profile.


    Interstellar Technologies

  • And how much mass did you want to fly into space?


    Interstellar Technologies

The United States has by far the most rich and diverse commercial aerospace industry in the world, but that doesn’t mean companies in other countries aren’t giving it a go as well. One of those companies is Interstellar Technologies, which began as a group of hobbyists in 1997 and became a corporation in 2003.

After more than a decade of engine and booster development, Interstellar is poised to make its first launch attempt—and the first launch of a private rocket from Japan—this weekend. As early as Saturday, the company will attempt to launch a sounding rocket named Momo from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The launch window opens from 10:20 to 12:30 local time.

According to the Momo rocket’s users guide, the vehicle stands 8.5 meters tall, has a dry mass of 250kg, and a 0.5-meter diameter. It can deliver 10kg to an altitude of 130km, or 20kg to an altitude 120km. The duration of the entire flight lasts about 10 minutes depending on the mission profile, and this includes about four minutes of microgravity. Afterward, the payload can be recovered from the ocean.

A single liquid-fueled engine, which uses ethanol for fuel and liquid oxygen as an oxidizer, powers the rocket. This engine (shown being test fired in the embedded Tweet) has a relatively modest thrust of 12kN. By way of comparison, each of the nine Merlin 1-D engines that powers SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has a thrust of 845kN.

Still, it’s a start. And because the company is using liquid-fueled engines rather than solid rocket motors, the traditional means of powering sounding rockets, it suggests that Interstellar eventually plans to get into orbital flights. The company hopes to do that by around 2020. “The next main business is launching a satellite,” the company’s chief executive, Takahiro Inagawa, said this week. “I want to make that step.” But first, they’ll have to master suborbital flights.

Listing image by Interstellar Technologies

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Elon Musk shares footage of The Boring Company’s first working car elevator

Elon Musk’s Boring Company is getting closer to becoming a reality.

The businessman conceived the idea in December in response to the pain of clogged up roads and traffic jams, and it has begun to take shape thanks to work carried out this summer.

The basic idea is that underground tunnels can transport vehicles from A to B more quickly and efficiently than roads, with no time wasted sitting in traffic. A car drives into a collection point located on the surface, after which it is taken underground via an elevator and moved to its desired destination using a sled on wheels that traverses a network of underground tunnels. Essentially, it’s an underground railway system for vehicles, and potentially more.

Musk shared details of the elevator last month, saying at the time that it was close to operational, and now he’s published footage of one in action. The tunnel networks themselves will take more time to complete, of course, but it’s a sign that this ambitious project is moving forward with speed.

The theory is shaping up to become a reality, and Musk hasn’t wasted time getting buy-in from key authorities. He said before that he had gotten “verbal approval” from the government to build a network to connect New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC, and he has held “promising” talks with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti over the project.

Written by Jon Russell for TechCrunch.

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