I’ve placed my order for a 4th Generation iPod about 15 minutes after I read the announcement on September 1 (after work, after soccer, after dinner).  I tried to “Chat” with an on-line Apple Store person, but there was a 13 min wait, so I called the local Apple Store on my landline.  I got someone on the phone in about 1 min.  Then I placed my order online.  Then the online Chat person came on about 11 minutes after I finished my order.  I think they were really busy online.

As everyone else expected, the iPod has all the iPhone 4 features:

1. Retina Display – Better display
2. HD Video Recording
3. Picture taking (no flash, like the iPhone)
4. Video conferencing & Facetime
5. A4 Processor – Same as iPad and iPhone 4
6. Up to 64 GB of Flash
7. Up to 50 hours of battery life

The image above is from Apple and you can read more at their website here

The iPod has up to 50 hours of battery life, which the iPhone doesn’t have.  For casual users, you only need to charge the iPod once a week, if you only use it at the gym or on the drive home.

No DSC or DVC for me

This device means that I won’t be buying another Digital Camera or a Digital Video Camera for awhile.  I may get a DVC with USB 3.0 (and a really bright lens, but only when USB 3.0 is available.  I don’t expect the iPod the lens to be awesome, or any image stabilization, but this could be good enough for 60% of what I need.

Some crazy reporter said: The entry level iPod touch is $229 and an iPhone is only $199 for the same features. Of course for the $199 iPhone 4, you commit to 2 year contract with AT&T which will cost you $55-$70 a month for the phone plus data service.  If you have a data plan already, then it makes sense.  If you don’t need data out and around town, then the iPod touch does just fine.

New Nano

The New Nano uses a small touch screen, probably to save space and still provide a display.  The Nano is the first iPod to include the FM Tuner.  To me, the Nano can truly be worn like a fashion item with rotating pictures and music.  Video isn’t enabled.  I expect the video experience just wouldn’t be great and it would drain a small battery.

This image is from the Apple website and More from the Apple website here.

The previous version included video recording, but that feature is now in the Touch, so nano really has it’s niche of portable music for those that only need a solid MP3 player and want select what they want to listen to.  The Shuffle offers a no display version, but if you read this blog you already know that.

Competitors to Apple

To your left you’ll see the Sony S3 Walkman that outsold the iPod for a 4 week period this year.  The only time that it has outsold the iPod for a long time. 

The Samsung 7 inch Galaxy Tablet looks pretty cool running Android, and you would expect it to look good in an ad from Samsung.

Dell Streak Reviews – This 5 inch tablet runs Google Android also.  This 2 min video gives a nice summary of multiple reviews.

Peel for iPod

The Peel turns the last generation iPod into a phone.  It lets you connect any SIM card into the Peel  Engadget reported that it is a case, a battery, and a baseband chip.

BluLighting Cards & USB 3.0 – The BluLighting card uses standard USB 3.0 receptacles.  These are the same receptacles that you will find on your Mobile phone or digital camera.

For the Consumer, This reuse allows you to use standard USB 3.0 cables to connect to the card to your laptop.  No special card reader is needed.  The same cable you use to connect your camera or phone to your PC will let you connect to the card.

For the Manufacturer, standard receptacles mean you can get cheaper USB 3.0 connectors that are produced with high quality in high volume.  Again, you get to reuse USB controllers, software, IP.

For the PC Maker, they can (potentially) have one less slot on the PC, like an SD slot, or at least you need to add a new slot for a new form factor.  (More on this in a later blog post)

BluLightning in DSCs and DVCs

Future digital cameras (DSCs) or digital video camera (DVCs) will include both a USB 3.0 Device and a USB 3.0 Host.

The USB 3.0 Device will replace the current USB 2.0 Device in your DSCs/DVCs for connecting to your PC, or TV, or Blu-Ray Player.   You’ll use this USB port just as you always have to view, transfer, and print your photos from your camera.

The USB 3.0 Host will be inside the camera.  It will receive the USB 3.0 receptacle on the BluLightning Card that you purchase.  The USB 3.0 Host in the camera only needs to support USB 3.0,, there is no need for any USB 2.0 circuitry or a USB 2.0 PHY.  This can save significant area and power in the camera.  USB 3.0 only means USB 3.0 power savings which means more aggressive power savings that USB 2.0.  So using BluLighting maximizes throughput, minimizes area, and minimizes power usage.

See previous blog for pictures.

Synopsys Virtual Synposium Aug 31-Sept 2

I invite you to our first every Virtual Synopsys trade show where we will have a special area focusing on USB 3.0, HDMI, DDR, PCIe, SATA, and more.   Synopsys IP people will be on duty for live chat sessions throughout the conference.  I’ll be on duty August 31 from 3pm to 5pm so come to the Virtual Booth and lets chat.  Register here for the Synopsys Virtual Synposium.

More USB 3.0 Hard Drives

The Samsung starts shipping the new Samsung S2 USB 3.0 Drives seen on the right this month the European Union.

The IOmega eGo drives will include USB 3.0 without a changes in price which means they’ve somehow been integrate it into their product with no change in cost, or in a grab for market share.   They look cool too.

DDR Hard PHY Video

This is the most awesome IP Video you will ever see. 

Today at the Flash Memory Summit, Lexar’s Jonathan Hubert presented “The Future of High Performance Flash Cards.”   The proposed standard called “BluLightning” transfers data faster than SDXC. In fact, BluLightning uses USB 3.0.

The Problem

Anyone buying a digital camera these days knows that transferring 2 or 4 or 8 GB of pictures takes forever.  This is limited by the card speed itself.  You can see from the LegitReviews.com website that the faster card readers are limited to about 27 MB/s.  This speed is probably limited by the SD read speed more than anything else. USB 2.0 might be the bottleneck, if it’s a bad host implementation or a poor host PHY, or similarly on the Device.  These days,the cheapest give-away USB flash drives still have this problem.

The fastest SD standard, SD UHS-1 goes up to only 104 MB/s compared to USB 3.0’s 320+ MB/s.   But, to my knowledge, these devices aren’t yet available.  If SD UHC-1 was available, you’d need a USB 3.0 card reader to make it work fast.

The point is this, the bottleneck is the flash card standard, not USB 2.0. 

The Solution – BluLightning

BluLightning is a flash card form factor with the same volume and physical dimensions of a CompactFlash cards.  BluLightning uses USB 3.0 to provide a really fast data transfer PIPE from something like a Digital Camera to a Flash Memory Card.     USB 3.0 at 320+ MB/s  runs faster than SD UHS-1 at 104MB/s.   This means that there is room to grow.  You can use USB 3.0 to get your photos and videos from your Card to your PC much, much faster.  This is even more important for HD DVCs that record Gigabytes of data per hour of HD video recorded.

I should point out at this point that this eliminates the need for a Card Reader, you just use a standard USB 3.0 Cable. So that saves Consumers some money.  You can use the same USB 3.0 cable for your camera, DVC, or card reader.

So speed is good, but why is BluLightning cool?

BluLightning cleverly employs USB 3.0 standard protocols, electricals, connectors, and cables.

Um, again, why is this cool?

This means that you can re-use existing USB 3.0

1. Software Drivers & Stacks – you can leverage open source drivers, 3rd party software like those from our USB Software Alliance
2. IP/Cores/Controllers – The protocol engines can be used “as is” like the IP from Synopsys
3. PHYs – The PHYs are identical to existing USB 3.0 IP

It turns out that Synopsys has all this USB IP, specifically USB 3.0 PHY IP, USB 3.0 Digital Cores, and USB 3.0 VIP.

And our USB Software Alliance partners with USB 3.0 can provide compatible drivers and stacks.

Wow, that will save me months, and months of engineering time and money, while lowering my risk at implementing a new standard!

Probably. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

That’s not very objective!

BluLighting solves a problem everyone with a Digital Video Camera knows about and can feel.   (and Camera owners too).  The more leverage we get as an industry from existing standards, the faster we can get time to result, time to market, and value into consumers hands.

Who backs this standard today?

“BluLightning is a Lexar initiative with open industry meetings under the Compact Flash Association”*

This means the people that actually build digital cameras and DVCs

think and breathe this everyday and night.

How do I find out more?

Ask questions below, I’ll answer. I can get answers from Jonathan and his team behind BluLightning.  I’ll post more on this in the next few days including more on form-factor, applications, and other interesting stuff.

*All the data, graphics, basically everything on BluLightning was taken from Johnathan Hubert’s presentation with permission of Lexar.

**All opinions are mine, and mine alone. (But you knew that).

We launched our USB Software Alliance program last week with our participants, Emsys, Jungo, MCCI, and MicroDigital.

Although we provide reference drivers and programming guides for our USB Cores (and other cores too), many of our customer outsource their software drivers to other companies. Projects differ.  A cell phone, digital camera, or a set top box require different USB drivers for different functions. Operating systems vary.  You might need drivers that go inside the device (peripheral) or on the PC or both.

These companies have all developed drivers and stacks that run on the Synopsys USB Cores.  Some provide Software Development Kits and some provide full services including customization, testing, and on-site support.

Take a look at our USB Software Alliance announcement then take a look at our Alliance members.

Fastest SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Performance in the West

I should have titled my last entry “Fastest SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Performance in the West” or something like that, but,  “No,” I titled it a ridiculously long title that no one would ever click on.   It was the fastest performance I’ve seen, so hopefully it’s the fastest you’ve seen now.  Look below or search the archives for “USB Video” to see the video.

34 days without an iPod Touch

I’ve been using my wife’s iPod Touch (in a Pink Case) to get me through the next few weeks.  Entire websites are devoted to the next generation of iPod, and this just amazes me.  If it really has a camera and video conferencing, I’ll buy a second one to give to my mom, so she can video conference with my kids.

Elderly iPad Users

My dad, who’s not elderly in my opinion, pre-ordered an iPad.  This BusinessWeek article confirms what I’ve already seen.

Seniors:

1. Have Money
2. Like the Intuitive Interface
3. Have Free time and curiosity
4. Like to stay connected to others
5. Have Money

Basically, the intuitive interface, and range of applications, like games that stave off dementia, make it either a great gift item, or a great tech toy.

USB IP at IDF

We will demonstrating our IP and USB IP including:

• SuperSpeed USB 3.0 PHY
• SuperSpeed USB 3.0 xHCI Host
• SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Device
• Synopsys HAPS FPGA prototyping platforms
• PCI Express 3.0 (Gen 3) Solution
• SATA Solution

Register now for IDF and find us on the exhibit floor

USB 3.0 and new standards

I’ve written before that USB 2.0 basically doesn’t cut it for some consumer applications, this will really make some consumers really, really happy.

Watch this space Thursday for a new standards proposal that will use USB 3.0 create, story, carry, and transfer videos, music, pictures and more. I’m not kidding.

We’ve achieved read speeds of 320 Megabytes per second (MBps) with the following configuration:

Synopsys USB 3.0 xHCI Host Controller

• Running on the Synopsys HAPS 51FXT FPGA
• With our Synopsys SuperSpeed USB 3.0 65nm PHY
• On Windows 7
• Running the MCCI USB 3.0 Host Stack and Drivers

On the Device side we use the Synopsys USB 3.0 xHCI Host Controller

• Running on the Synopsys HAPS 51FXT FPGA
• With our Synopsys SuperSpeed USB 3.0 65nm PHY
• On Linux
• Running Synopsys Mass Storage Reference Firmware

Our 320 MBps Read Speed means our Host, Device, and PHY with the MCCI Drivers runs faster than any other combination out there.

Here’s the demo video

So we can achieve these speeds with our USB IP (cores and PHYs).    This is the fastest we’ve see yet.  If you’ve seen faster speeds, let me know.

Latest USB 3.0 Performance – 5 Flash Drives

The latest speeds I’ve seen published can be found at Tom’s Hardware here.  In the review of 5 USB 3.0 Flash Drives/SSDs including the OCZ Enyo, Walton Chaintech, SuperTalent (2 versions) and PQI SSD S533-Es.  If you read through the data, you will see that most of the devices read at up to about 180 to 190 MBps, with the fastest reads at up to 220 MBps.  This is about 6-7x faster than the typical USB 2.0 performance of 32MBps.

As I’ve mentioned before, there are a lot of reasons for this potential slowness relative to where USB 3.0 should be including:

On the Host Side

• Host Controller latencies/quality
• Host Operating System latencies
• Host Stacks and Drivers

On the Device Side

• Device Controller (on the peripheral) latencies/quality
• Device OS latencies
• Device Stacks and Drivers
• Quality of the PHYs on both the Host and the Device
• Latencies to access the Device memories

So while the performance of the devices tested by Tom’s hardware, it can be better.  It should be better. 
In fairness to the devices, the quality of the Flash makes a big difference, and if the device uses cheap, cheap flash, access times will be slow because cheap flash just doesn’t have fast access.

(I’d like to point out that our demonstration achieves 10x USB 2.0 speeds, with Windows 7 and MCCI drivers and our PHY and our controllers, without any optimization on our part yet)