Thunderbolt may become as ubiquitous as USB one day as Intel VP Chris Walker recently shared news that Intel is planning to make the Thunderbolt Protocol specification free beginning sometime next year. Intel also shared news that Thunderbolt 3 will be integrated into future CPUs although no information was provided as to which processor would receive integrated Thunderbolt support first.

Thunderbolt 3 has amassed decent popularity over the past few years as a faster external interface alternative to USB 3.1. Current generation Thunderbolt 3 is capable of bandwidth up to 40Gb/s, which is 3x faster than current generation USB 3.1 Gen 2 which features maximum [...]

A former TSMC Engineer was charged for stealing trade secrets to a competitor, according to a report by DigiTimes.

The former TSMC engineer, Hsu, was recently accused of stealing trade secrets on TSMC’s 28nm process to give to China-based Shanghai Huali Microelectronics (HLMC). TSMC’s 28nm process is a proven process which has been used in many chips including Apple SoCs, Qualcomm SoCs, Nvidia GPUs, AMD GPUs, and more. Hsu had recently taken a job at HLMC, but was arrested before he could start.

Of course this isn’t the first time this has occurred. A number of China-based memory chip makers have been aggressively poaching talent from Taiwanese [...]

Multi-user support, one of the most highly requested features for the Google Home has recently been released by Google.

According to a recent blog post, Google Home can now support up to six users by utilizing voice recognition in order to identify the person speaking. This allows Google Home to deliver personalized information for each user so users no longer get the wrong information when they ask Google about their day, their calendars, their commute times, etc.

In order to take advantage of the new feature, simply update the Google Home app to the latest version and a prompt to utilize multi-user should pop up. After saying “OK Google” and [...]

Monitoring your home while you’re away is about to get easier thanks to D-Link’s new Omna 180 Cam HD.

According to the announcement, the D-Link Omna will be one of the very few home cameras that will feature up to a 180° ultra-wide field of view. Most solutions are restricted to 120° which either requires the camera to rotate or suffer limited vision.

Behind the ultra-wide 180° lens is a 1080p sensor which ensures that the camera records with clarity and a set of IR LEDs lets you see up to 16 feet in complete darkness. A built-in microphone allows for easy two-way communication and motion detection alerts you when things get [...]

Remember all those guys spewing all that non-sense on how smartphones and tablets are going to replace gaming PCs? Well, it looks like it hasn’t gone to plan. The PC gaming market is exploding, now reaching a massive $30 Billion with a projected 6% CAGR through 2019, according to market intelligence firm Jon Peddle Research. Previously, the PC gaming hardware market wasn’t expected to reach $30 Billion until 2018. PC Gamers FTW.

According to the research numbers, the $30 Billion market is split into three categories – Entry Level, Mid-Range, and High-End. The High-End portion of the market, which is led by North American and Western Europe, [...]

LeEco is a company many people in the US have never heard of, but the company has been making a huge effort to capture the American market. After its purchase of Vizio last year, and release of its own-branded smart TVs and smartphones last year, the company has made the next move in becoming a household name in the US; it’s started selling its products on Amazon.

It's true! You can now get ecophones and ecotvs @Amazon! https://t.co/SkTkv1H3oJ #LeNext pic.twitter.com/OVY2Cx6Dlm

— LeEco Global (@LeEcoGlobal) January 16, 2017

The products the company has now made [...]

At CES 2017, FLIR launched a new lineup of consumer friendly thermal cameras designed for the consumer market.

The first two thermal cameras are from FLIR’s popular ONE lineup which offers thermal imaging at consumer friendly pricepoints. For CES, FLIR unveiled an updated third generation FLIR ONE along with the FLIR ONE Pro. The third generation FLIR ONE builds on the second generation FLIR ONE by now featuring an adjustable height USB-C connector which will allow use of the FLIR ONE even with thick and bulky cases. The new FLIR ONE with its USB-C connector is also more future [...]

Tired of kicking your cables every time you take a step? Looking for a way to hang your headphones without permanently drilling holes into your house? Maybe you need a NZXT Puck in your life.

The magnetically-attaching Puck is a cable and device organizer that can be magnetically stuck on any metal surface. It can also be split apart for extended cable coverage or mounted on narrower surfaces. According to its promo video, half a Puck was shown to hold up an entire headset all on its own which is pretty impressive. Its specs sheet indicates that it can support up to 2kg of weight, which is more than enough for most everyday accessory cables.

Got fancy cases [...]

Ever since the Nest introduced their smart learning thermostat back in 2011, smart thermostats have become one of the most popular upgrades for people looking to make their homes just a bit “smarter”. While Nest is without a doubt the most popular name in home automation thanks to Alphabet Inc’s (Google) acquisition of the company back in 2014, numerous other entrants into the smart thermostat market have appeared with one of the most promising being Ecobee, a Canadian home automation company currently specializing in smart thermostats.

The flagship Ecobee smart thermostat which we’ll be reviewing today is the ecobee3. The [...]

Google Home, Google’s new home assistant will be $99 starting now for a limited time in celebration of Black Friday.

For those unfamiliar with Google Home, it’s Google’s “voice-activated speaker powered by Google Assistant”, similar to Amazon’s Echo home assistant. It accepts voice command from the user and feed you the relevant information, just like a real assistant.

The simple, smooth shell is home for a speaker, signal processor, and a touchscreen. Activating the far-field voice recognition mic is as easy as saying “OK Google”. If you have a huge house, multiple Google Homes can be wirelessly linked together to [...]