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morcheeba writes "Yet another wireless protocol for personal computers! In addition to existing 802.11 variants, bluetooth, and ultra-low-power newcomer zigbee, Cypress semiconductor is releasing a simple low latency, low cost (<$2), medium speed (200kbit/sec) protocol with USB human interface devices (HID) compatibility. Partners include Saitek (game controllers) and NMB (keyboards & mice). EETimes has an informative article."
In other "news".
"Ten years from now, they could do it in a few seconds." -- The Racketeer of the Hellfire Club, 1993, Phrack 42
p.s. jk
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3650 costs +300-400 without operator tie in/bundling(which is illegal here.). But still, worth the money, writing from one right now.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I know that all Apple laptops have bluetooth
Only the 12" and 17" PowerBook.
The optional BlueTooth adapter Apple offers (for $50) with the 15" PowerBook is a D-Link USB adapter. Funny that they don't offer it as an option for the iBooks.
An updated 15" PowerBook with built-in BlueTooth should be announced Real Soon Now(TM).
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It is fact that 802.11 chipsets are now cheaper than Bluetooth chipsets (and this event is recent).
802.11 is targeted towards exactly the area which Bluetoth now occupies. All that was holding it back was the price of the chipset. Now that barrier is gone you will see 802.11 replacing Bluetooth in the next generation of products. I'm talking chipsets here, so it will take a short time to flow onto the consumer market.
I've had pretty extensive discussions with one of the guys that invented802 style WLANs. His vision as always been world domination for 802.11: LANs, headsets, remote controls, TVs, light switches, toasters, ... Everything Bluetooth does (and more) is in the sights of 802.11
I am one of the main designers of WirelessUSB LS at Cypress and have been involved with in WirelessUSB R&D for almost a year. Let me clear up a few misconceptions about WirelessUSB LS (LS is the low speed version with data rates maxing at 64 kbps). :-)
It's main competition is 27 MHz proprietary technologies. It only overlaps Bluetooth in areas that Bluetooth is weak in the first place such as HID devices where Bluetooth has power management and latency issues.
Currently WirelessUSB LS will be used in point-to-point connections that do not require standards-based protocols such as wireless mice, keyboards, gamepads, remote controls, garage door openers, etc. Does anyone care if their garage door opener uses an IEEE standard?
If your devices need to interoperate with one another or you need high data rates go with another technology, but if you just need a cheap, easy-to-use low speed, short range (sub 100m), point-to-point reliable wireless connection that will not interfere with Wi-Fi traffic and can handle co-location of hundreds of devices than WirelessUSB LS is the clear winner.
RS232 is not equal to serial port! All micro-controllers that I know and most of DSP chips have at least one serial port. Now, it maybe a SPI interface, classical UART or USART or any other form but besides the wiring and hardware protocol, they are all serial ports! And from software point of view usually they are similar. RS232 was never used on the system board (who level shifts the TTL to RS232 and then after 2 centimeters again shifts it back to TTL?!). Bluetooth chipsets actually don't support RS232, but usually they have a SPI connection. Yet, isn't it all a bit going too much into detials?
Ok, so Cypress is pushing this thing pretty hard. The FAE was here the other day handing out data sheets for this part when he was in for a different reason. But the deal is that the first version is really only 10 meter out of the box, or 100 meter if you add in an amplifier. Data rates on the first series are up to 250 kbit. And so far, this is not actually part of the USB standard, though they are trying to get it included in a future version of the standard. So do we really need another wireless protocol? I don't know. But the main drawback I see here is that the FAE was also talking about putting batteries in these devices. Personally, I'll just stick with the cord until that is not the case. I mean, how many of you want to have to stop using your computer to go find batteries for your keyboard or mouse? Granted some vendors could come up with a decent solution with rechargeables, like some mat you just have to leave things on that I remember seeing an article about a while back here. What would be really nice of course is things like the Wacom mouse that comes with their tablet. No cord and no batteries (but the tablet still has a cord.)
Range is 10 meters line of sight (although it does not need line of sight).
That is much better than what I get with my Logitech wireless mouse/keyboard, with comparable battery life.
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