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FireWire: over a billion ports served
Alright, so we've harshed a little bit on FireWire recently, but we've got to stop and give the venerable interconnect some love: the 1394 Trade Association says that there are now over a billion FireWire ports out there. That's quite an accomplishment, even if we're not so sure that the group's claim that "every 1394-equipped device sold now has 1 billion opportunities to connect" is the most accurate or useful way of measuring the success of the technology. Even still, growth is always a good thing, and with an estimated 15 percent expansion rate in existing markets and some new applications like in-car networking showing potential, it looks like FireWire is set to hold its own against USB and eSATA for a while longer.
1394 is -- still -- coming to home theater
Things have been a bit quiet on the 1394 front since the HANA announcement, but they want us to know things are still progressing. This article from EETimes goes into the issues faced by the connector and why it hasn't taken off yet. We all want all of our devices to be able to talk to each other and share their content but so far that hasn't materialized. Helping get the ball rolling are planned 1394b support in a Vista service pack and the ability to send 1394 signals over ethernet or coax. Still, many CE manufacturers seem to be backing ethernet and the DLNA as a way of connecting devices, and this stalemate is even more complex than Blu-ray/HD DVD. As it is, most of us have cable or satellite boxes equipped with FireWire, ethernet and USB ports that are mostly unsupported, unless you like to tinker. Is the (easily) connected home 6 months or 6 years away?
