firewire
Latest
Scosche Passport FireWire-to-USB iPod adapter gets reviewed
Okay, so this adapter doesn't directly convert a FireWire 400 socket into a USB port, but for all intents and purposes here, it does as much. You see, Scosche's Passport was designed to channel the energy from older FireWire-based iPod charging gear into the USB prongs that the newer iPhone / iPods only accept. Macworld was able to get ahold of one for review, and in testing, it found that everything worked well when toying with new iPods, and while it was designed specifically for in-car applications, critics found that it even worked (albeit inelegantly) with dock-cradle accessories. Was it worth $30? Absolutely, so long as you'd rather burn $30 than replace that mess of wires you've got behind the dashboard (and you would).
OWC introduces first external Blu-ray drive with quad interface
It's debatable whether or not Apple is losing its touch with FireWire, but you can rest assured that OWC hasn't. Said outfit has just announced the industry's first Blu-ray external drive with a quad interface, meaning you can link it up to your PC or Mac via FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 2.0 or eSATA. The Mercury Pro SW-5583 arrives with the capability to toast BD-Rs at a rate of 4x and includes a pair of 25GB BD-R discs for $499.99; the closely related Mercury Pro SW-5583T throws in a full retail version of Roxio Toast 9 Titanium (OS X) and sells for $579.99. Now, if only we could convince Steve that Blu-ray and Macs could indeed get along together, we'd really be satisfied. Full release after the break.
Migration DVD and CD Sharing update available
Apple has released Migration and DVD/CD Sharing Update 1.1. While Software Update states that the update is recommended for all users, the support page lists the MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008) and MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008) as the affected machines. According to Apple, this update "... provides enhanced customization capabilities and improved performance for migration over FireWire, ethernet, and wireless networks."This update is 11.1MB in Software Update. If you experience any trouble after installation, let us know.
FireWire feedback from readers and Apple
Yesterday's discussion post about the exclusion of FireWire from the newest MacBooks generated a tremendous amount of reader feedback and discussion. We decided to take an unscientific straw Twitter poll which generated a large response, underscoring that for the Mac community, FireWire is a big deal. The responses to the blog post were largely in support of my thesis: that losing FireWire from the MacBook is a big deal and a potential (or actual) deal-breaker for many, many users. This was to be expected, as people who are upset about FireWire's disappearance are more likely to respond to an article sharing that sentiment. On Twitter, however, when we just asked, "Is the lack of FireWire on the new unibody MacBook a deal-breaker for you, yes or no?" the data was less skewed.A majority of the Twitter users that responded to our poll said "no, it is not a deal-breaker." Many commented that the loss is disappointing, but ultimately it won't prevent them from buying a new MacBook. Still, more than one third of the responses were "yes, this is a deal-breaker." Many users are considering putting off upgrading altogether; others expressed discomfort with being forced to buy a MacBook Pro (either the new units, or the now heavily-discounted older units). A note to concerned future MacBook Pro users: you can get an inexpensive cable with FW400 on one end and FW800 on the other -- no adapter needed, just a new cord for your camera or audio device. Be warned, however, that the presence of a FW400 device in the chain will drop the speed of any FW800 devices to the older standard. Reader David sent Steve Jobs (or sjobs@apple.com) an e-mail, expressing his disappointment by the lack of FireWire on new MacBooks. The response (which David forwarded and we verified had the correct mail-header information), is pretty interesting...
Farewell FireWire?
During the meta-liveblog yesterday, I was in full-out Apple fangirl mode. I won't lie; after the MacBook specs and design were revealed, I was already contemplating putting my current BlackBook (that I bought in August '07) on eBay or Craig's List, hoping that the RAM and hard drive upgrades and all the software I would include could net at least $900. Then I would buy a new MacBook. After the dust settled and the specs were released, a dark cloud quickly dashed my plans: FireWire 400 ports are no longer included in the redesigned MacBook. The old style MacBook (now selling for $999) still includes FireWire 400, but the new beauties are FireWire free. What a bummer! Back in January, we listed lack of FireWire as one of the biggest downsides of the MacBook Air. On our Talkcast earlier this week, we actually discussed the idea of FireWire being withdrawn from the MacBook line. I thought it was plausible on the then-rumored $800 MacBook (a rumor that never materialized, sadly), but I was really, really hoping it wouldn't be removed from the line as a whole. Whether the reason was based on user-feedback (which I'm sure Apple will claim), or done merely to force a schism between the "consumer" and "pro" lineups (as commenter Kai Cherry suggested), the net result is that a technology Apple has been pushing for nearly 10 years and that many of us have come to rely on, for external devices, target-disk mode and digital video needs, is no longer available in any laptop other than the MacBook Pro (or the older generation white MacBook). No company has pushed IEEE-1394 (the technical name for FireWire) more than Apple (though Sony is close). The iPod was a FireWire device until its fifth revision in 2004 (USB adapters were available for the third and fourth generation units). Target Disk Mode is arguably one of the most useful Mac diagnostic tools. As long as you have a FireWire hard drive, you can safely migrate, repair or perform component tests on Mac, without damaging the internal drive.
tru2way camp reassures FCC this is the open standard they are looking for
The cable industry keeps going out of its way to mention tru2way is open to all, so after Verizon blasted the tech in a letter to the FCC as inhibiting technical innovation, here's National Cable & Telecommunications Association CEO Kyle McSlarrow's waved his hand and sent over this bit of suggestion. Apparently the NCTA is happy to have Verizon as a friend in attempting to rid cable boxes of those icky FCC-mandated FireWire ports (since Ethernet is a suitable replacement, according to them), but wants to clear up the misconception that tru2way devices are incompatible with cable alternatives (satellite, fiber, etc.) since hey, you can still use a set-top box just like you do now. Unfortunately since many of us have the "misconception" that we'd prefer devices that worked with any provider without requiring additional hardware, that's probably not going to cut it. Empty gesture or a real effort towards a unified set of standards across all providers? Take a look at the letter (warning: PDF read link) and decide for yourself.[Via Cable Digital News]
FireWire 1600 and 3200 approved by IEEE
While FireWire 800 gear is still pretty rare and we've only seen one piece of FireWire 1600 kit, the IEEE is still pushing the standard forward -- it's just approved the 1394-2008 spec, which includes both FireWire 1600 and 3200. Interestingly, the spec is fully backwards compatible with both 400 and 800 ports, but it remains to be seen which connector gets used more prevalently. We'll find out in October, when the spec is made available to manufacturers -- looks like that controversial 2010 launch of USB 3.0 just got upstaged a little, huh?[Via CrunchGear]
Data Robotics announces second-gen Drobo with FireWire 800
For those whose major complaint about the Drobo was its lack of FireWire 800, today's your day. The new version of the virtualized-storage device features the much requested interface (and a second port for daisy-chaining), but despite the fact that it still lacks built-in Ethernet / WiFi, it does come equipped with an upgraded processor to better take advantage of FireWire 800's higher throughput, as well as a much larger, quieter case fan. Data Robotics claims their new model can achieve data transfer speeds of more than 2x over the original model, as well as outperform ReadyNAS and LaCie models (in RAID 1/5) when tested with identical drives.The price stays the same at $500 for the device itself, and (as before) you can buy it bundled with two 1TB drives (for $900) or four 1TB drives (for $1,300). For those waiting for the price to dip even lower, Data Robotics is also clearing out inventory on its earlier model; until they sell out, first-gen Drobos will be going for $350, or $750 and $1,075 bundled with two and four 1TB drives, respectively.%Gallery-27034%
Western Digital My Passport Studio Portable Drives for Mac
Are you looking for a tiny portable hard drive for doing Time Machine backups on the road? I do a lot of traveling with my MacBook Air and don't often get a chance to back it up to the 1 TB monster at home. Although there are several other diminutive hard drives on the market, when I saw the My Passport Studio line of portable drives announced today by Western Digital, I ordered one. After all, the case matches my AirBook!Available in 160 ($129.99), 250 ($189.99), and 320 GB ($219.99) flavors, My Passport Studio drives are about 3.2" x 5.0" x .71" (81mm x 127 mm x 18 mm) in size and weigh a featherweight 6.4 ounces (.18 kg). The drives are bus powered -- USB 2.0 or FireWire 400 -- so there's no need to tote a power brick when you're traveling. They're formatted as HFS+ Journaled, requiring Mac OS X 10.4.11+ or 10.5.2+.The drives are available from Western Digital, and through a variety of online and brick-and-mortar stores. The 250 and 320 GB drives are showing back-order status.Thanks to Denver pal Mike for the phone call tip this morning!
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.
Symwave demoes FireWire 1600 gear
The 1394 Trade Association is already talking up FireWire S3200, but Symwave is taking baby steps, demonstrating a 1.6Gbps system known as S1600 (shocking) that's backwards-compatible with FireWire 800 and 400 this week at a conference in China. That's great and all -- transferring 1000 four megapixel images in five seconds sure sounds like a good time -- but speeds like that probably aren't going to cut it when FireWire 800 devices are already thin on the ground, everyone's looking forward to S3200, and the 4.8Gbps USB 3.0 spec is already making appearances on schedule for a launch in 2010. Not to mention that Wireless USB 1.1's target speed is 1.0Gbps -- you know we'll take a slight speed hit if we can ditch the cables.[Via PC World; Warning: PDF read link]
HDD Stage Rack gets even better: now with 300% more FireWire
Just like fine wine, the HDD Stage Rack keeps getting better with age. On its third iteration now, the latest version of the external HDD cradle not only includes the obligatory USB and eSATA ports, but it also boasts a 6-pin FireWire 400 connector and two FireWire 800 sockets. 'Course, this thing isn't slated to be available for US hands until the end of this month, but that'll give you a few weeks to swallow the lofty $165.33 price tag, at least.[Via AkihabaraNews]
Iomega beefs up eGo portable drive line with new capacity, Dual Interface
Iomega's svelte portable eGo hard drive lineup got quite a bit of love the first time around, and Iomega is working in new sizes and plugs at this year's Macworld. The 2.5-inch drive now comes in 160GB and 250GB sizes, priced $140 and $210, respectively, for the USB 2.0 versions, while the Dual Interface editions (which toss in FireWire 400) will run you $160 and $230, respectively. Both versions can be powered straight from the data plug. The drives are available now in Cherry Red, Jet Black, Midnight Blue and Alpine White.
A FireWire story
Once upon a time the Mac vs. PC debate found a kind of synecdoche in the FireWire vs. USB debate. FireWire had been invented by Apple way back in 1986 essentially to replace SCSI. USB 1.0 arrived on the scene in 1995 from Intel, Microsoft, and a few others. Somewhat ironically, however, it was the original iMac that gave USB a needed kick-start in adoption. In any case, for a while there was a clear sense that FireWire was the Mac peripheral interface in contrast with the Wintel USB, and even now FireWire 400 tends to outperform the higher-spec'ed USB 2.0 on Macs in the real world. Nonetheless, with Apple moving to Intel there has a been a notable shift in Cupertino away from the interface Apple invented (witness the USB-only iPods), and with the forthcoming USB 3.0 standard and the increasing prevalence of eSATA the future looked somewhat bleak for FireWire. But FireWire is not going down without a fight. The industry trade group has announced a new standard, FireWire S3200 which will use the same connectors as FireWire 800 but deliver approximately 4 times the performance. What's interesting to me is the question of whether and how far Apple will go to support the new standard. Is FireWire destined to become the bastard stepchild or will Apple once again reclaim its old standard and live happily ever after?[via Engadget]
Upcoming FireWire spec revs things up to 3.2Gbps
USB 3.0 really threw down this September with a theoretical max throughput of 4Gbps, but it looks like FireWire isn't going down without a fight. The latest and greatest FireWire version, dubbed "S3200" by those creatives up in marketing, uses the same ports and cables as FireWire 800, but boosts speeds to 3.2Gbps, which should make it pretty competitive with USB in the real world -- though actual real-life speeds will probably depend on who's adding up the bits. According to the 1394 Trade Association: "The S3200 standard will sustain the position of IEEE 1394 as the absolute performance leader," but we hear they're biased. They are claiming that where current FireWire 800 hard drives can move 90MB per second, S3200 should be able to do 400MB. Speed concerns aside, the power delivery, peer to peer architecture, and handy networking capabilities of 1394 mean that FireWire should hopefully be around for a long time to come.[Via Slashdot]
Medusa Hub provides ports galore, doubles as conversation piece
Far too many peripheral hubs are cranked out without a single thought given to design, but thankfully, the creators of the Medusa Hub realized that aesthetics do matter. This interesting piece, which is sure to claim a section of prime real estate on your desk, boasts a trendy white finish, four USB 2.0 sockets, a pair of FireWire 400 connectors, a fan and even a light. All of the strands are connected to your PC / Mac via an upstream USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 jack, and the unit is available now for a lofty (but respectable) $79.99. Click on through for a few more snapshots.[Via Engadget Japanese]Update: Yeah, look familiar? Seems a lot like these guys swiped LaCie's Huby images or concept to us. You be the judge.
Intel's USB 3.0 and Wireless USB 1.1 target speeds announced: so long Firewire?
Intel's announced USB 3.0 specification could push throughput beyond 4Gbps (300MBps) at the application level while introducing Quality of Service in support of HD video streams. Besides supplanting Firewire once and for all, a clear goal of the new "SuperSpeed USB" is to keep up with the transfer speeds of flash chips. "We don't want to be the bottleneck in the system," says Intel's Jeff Ravencraft who is overseeing the 3.0 initiative. Intel, HP, Microsoft, NEC, NXP, and TI will present the initial spec for a design review in November with first silicon to be stamped in "early 2009." While the new interconnect (pictured) will remain backward compatible with USB 2.0 and prior devices, new cables laced with an optical link and a max length of 2-meters will be required to take advantage of those high speeds according to a senior engineering manager with NEC. Meanwhile, a 1Gbps throughput is being targeted with Ravencraft's other baby: Wireless USB 1.1. Sounds great, but with existing 480Mbps Wireless USB silicon only achieving about 40Mbps in practice, Intel would be wise to focus on efficiency, not theory. Of course, it's all just a lot of smack-talk 'til they deliver, but with Apple running Intel inside now, Sony putting USB in their camcorders, and eSATA proliferating for external disks... well, Firewire's days sure seem numbered. [Via EETimes and The Inquirer]
LaCie intros 4TB Biggest Quadra RAID drive
LaCie's 4TB Biggest Quadra certainly isn't the largest drive to rock the LaCie badge, but it does give users four ways to sync it up with their PC or Mac. The four-disk RAID drive touts FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces, supports RAID levels 0, 0+1 and 5, and will automatically shut down if temperates get too high. Reportedly, the device will ship with backup and recovery software and is slated to land in October for $2,199, right alongside the $1,099 2TB and $1,599 3TB versions.[Via TGDaily]
Migrating to a new Mac - say hello to a Mac Switcher
Well, what better way to introduce myself but to sing the praises of the almighty Mac! I'm Jason Clarke, and I'm brand new to TUAW, although I've been writing over on sister-site Download Squad for a couple of years now. I was also briefly the lead blogger for The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog, until it was rolled into Download Squad. Despite my checkered past, this post is going to be me preaching to the choir, so consider yourself warned.Today was a very happy day for me, because my MacBook Pro that I've been eagerly anticipating arrived. I've been a very happy Mac user since I received my first MacBook, about 4 months ago. Now, receiving a new primary computer for me has always been somewhat bittersweet; the excitement of the new machine is always offset by the pain of migrating from the old one. When migrating from and old to a new Windows machine, I would always plan for two days of hell, followed by two weeks of minor (and sometimes major) aggravation when some utility that I needed in that moment had yet to be installed or configured. I had heard that Macs have a migration assistant, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Find out what happened (as if you don't already know) after the jump.
Ask TUAW: Windows Printing, AutoFill, FireWire HDs, MacBook power adapters and more
It's time again for Ask TUAW, our weekly feature where you ask the questions and we make up the answers... er, I mean carefully research and determine the optimal solution. This week we'll be tackling questions about printing from OS X to a printer connected to a Windows box, AutoFill in Safari, problems with a FireWire hard drive, using a MacBook Pro power adapter with a MacBook, and more.As always readers' suggested answers are most welcome! Please leave your questions for next week in the comments.
