Sony Starts a Standards War Over Wireless USB

Stony Stevenson alerts us to news out of CES that Sony has kick-started another standards war, this time over wireless USB. Ars notes that Sony "[never was] one to settle for an open standard when the opportunity to push a proprietary alternative presents itself." Sony's TransferJet technology uses low-power UWB at very short distances to transfer data at a nominal 520 Mbps. Almost every other large technology company — including Intel, Microsoft, HP, and Samsung — has embraced the W-USB standard, which promises transfer speeds of 480 Mbps at distances up to 3 meters, vs. TransfeJet's 3 centimeters.

Insensitive people...

[fuocoZERO]

...In Asia 3cm is long!

(Tasteless humor I know, but I had to. Really.)

Standards.

[Oliver Hope]

Sony's mom is an open standard.

But really...3 centimeters? Are they joking? Why not just plug it in at that point...

Re:Porn

[Max Littlemore]

I doubt pornographers will adopt this. While it is to be promoted as "touch-and-go", it's only good for 3cms.

Streaming media

[JustShootMe]

I think I'll start my own standards war. I went to the restroom today and streamed about a pint at a distance of two feet. Who wants to work on higher capacity and lower distance?

It's Wireless USPee.

Re:Losing a battle to win a war.

[Hal_Porter]

Well Sauron's Ring of Power had some positive features for the user too. Invisibility, Kick Assitude, Frothing Megalomania to name but three, but that doesn't alter the fact its primary purpose was to bind people in the darkness. Same with Cocaine really.

Don't let it fool you though. Pretty soon you'll be stealing from your best friends and family and/or selling your ass on the street to get the money for a copy of Eragon Special Edition BluRay though, unless you cast your PS3 into the fires of Mount Doom and buy a chipped Wii off eBay.

I mean, *vertically*

[Tony]

...only arranged horizontally...

It's arranged horizontally when you're drunk and lieing on the floor. Like I obviously am right now.

Normally, MS-WMC XMB rip-off is *vertical.*

Re:3cm is a Good Thing

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

Oh, that's easily fixed. All you need is a series of signal repeaters to the printers. There will be far too many for wall-mounting, but they could easily be incorporated into a long, thin, flexible sheath of rubber that could be attached to both the computer and the printer. Each repeater will need power, so perhaps a power chord could be incorporated into the design. In fact, you could have several of these rubber sheaths attached to different wireless devices, attached to a computer's, say, USB port.

Re:Losing a battle to win a war.

[Fred_A]

Well Sauron's Ring of Power had some positive features for the user too. Invisibility, Kick Assitude, Frothing Megalomania to name but three, but that doesn't alter the fact its primary purpose was to bind people in the darkness. Same with Cocaine really.

Wow, all this time people have been telling me that cocaine was bad but if it makes you invisible, the side effects might be worth it after all... (hmmm...)

Re:Most obvious use is a sync pad

[Fred_A]

I'd imagine this will be used more for something like connecting all your stereo components together (including video switching) without connecting any wires between them, etc...

Think '3cm', the maximum coupling distance according to the article. Definitely not a stereo hookup alternative.

3cm is plenty for lots of people... Um, do ants and mites buy lots of stereo equipment ? It could make a killing in that market segment.

Re:Sony obviously....

[somersault]

Buying something just because it's available in higher quality is stupid

Tell me about it, I'm fed up of all these people trying to get me to buy CDs, when I can get perfectly good tape recordings off of the radio, plus there are all these tapes around in these cool little shops that sell stuff that people don't want anymore! Who would be stupid enough to get rid of their old tapes in favour of the CD version?!! Insanity! Don't even get me started on colour TV..

New evil ratings are out

[blackjackshellac]

Sony moves up one notch, displacing Steve Jobs Apple in second place, for now.

1) Microsoft
2) Sony Corp
3) Apple Computers
4) Google
5) Facebook
6) The Mormons ...