It looks like the 3.5mm headphone jack is going to suffer an abrupt end over the next few years. Not only is Apple planning to ditch it entirely on its next iPhone but now Intel has weighed in on the conversation and it seems that the chip making giant would …

The reversible USB type-C connector is something that the industry has been waiting for since the introduction of the original USB bus in 1997. This year PCs, computer components and mobile devices finally started to incorporate USB-C receptacles, but not all implementations necessarily support all features introduced by the latest …

Leading online stores in the U.K. and mainland Europe this week began to take pre-orders on the world’s first PC case with USB type-C receptacle on the front panel. The price of the novelty will not be prohibitively high, but the In Win mid-tower 805 is clearly not an affordable …

In Win Development, a well-known maker of stylish PC chassis, this week introduced its 805 mid-tower, the world’s first enthusiast-class computer case with USB type-C connector on the front panel. The new case is built of high-quality materials and provides rich expansion, cooling and PC configuration capabilities. The In Win …

Intel Corp. and Inventec demonstrated external graphics processing solutions featuring Thunderbolt 3 interface at the Intel Developer Forum this week. The devices are based on reference designs and it is unknown when the products could hit the market. Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 interface offers 40Gb/s of bandwidth (about 5GB/s), which is …

While there are many mainboards with USB 3.1 support available today, they feature type-C ports on their back panels and it is uncomfortable to use such connectors. Asrock this week introduced a special adapter that places one USB type-C and one USB type-A ports on the front panel of any …

EVGA has upgraded its micro-ATX mainboard for Intel Corp.’s high-end desktop processors. The new platform features all the advanced capabilities that the EVGA X99 Micro had to offer a year ago, but adds more Serial ATA-6Gb/s ports as well as one USB 3.1 type-C connector. The new motherboard is one of …

Although this year far not all mobile devices will get USB 3.1 type-C ports, next year a lot will change, according to Taiwan-based designers of controllers. Thanks to reversible form-factor, improved performance, higher durability and other benefits of USB 3.1 interface and type-C ports, many laptops and smartphones will adopt …

Asmedia and Intel Corp. have started to reduce prices of their USB 3.1 controllers in a bid to gain market share. Intel Corp.’s “Alpine Ridge” chip offers Thunderbolt 3 in addition to USB 3.1, but Asmedia’s controller is significantly cheaper to make and can be sold a very low price. …

Asustek Computer is working on an add-in-card that will add Thunderbolt 3 support to its mainboards. The platform will be based on Intel Corp.’s “Alpine Ridge” controller and will significantly expand input/output capabilities of modern personal computers. The add-in-board from Asus featuring Intel “Alpine Ridge” chip will come with one …

MSI's mid-range Z97 motherboard is the first to market with on-board USB 3.1 in the connection's Type-C form. With the port providing transfer rates of up to 10Gbps and support for new reversible USB Type-C devices, can MSI's Z97A Gaming 6 prove itself as a good option for users wanting …

Although virtually all leading makers of mainboards demonstrated their new products with USB type-C receptacles at Computex, it does not seem that makers of various peripherals are ready to embrace the new connector just yet. In fact, Patriot was one of a few companies at the trade-show displaying USB-C products. …

The first two generations of Thunderbolt interfaces revolutionized the market of external storage devices and professional equipment. With 40Gb/s of bandwidth, the third iteration of Thunderbolt can be a game changer for external graphics processing solutions designed for notebooks. In fact, MicroStar International is already working on two Thunderbolt 3-based …

Gigabyte Technology has announced that some of its upcoming mainboards for Intel Corp.’s code-named “Skylake” processors will support the Thunderbolt 3 technology as well as USB 3.1 type-C ports. Gigabyte is one of the largest makers of mainboards in the world and its support of the new standard is hard …

Intel Corp.’s Thunderbolt interconnection introduced in 2011 has been the champion in terms of performance and usability, but its limited adoption by PC makers, high price and other peculiarities have made it an outsider in the market. This week Intel introduced its third-gen Thunderbolt, which uses industry-standard USB type-C receptacle …