One connection for all device mania has hit, and it's about damned time!
Today's breaking news is that a beavy of computer industry heavyweights want to create a new device connection between your monitor and computer called the unified display interface or UDI, by Q1 2006. This interface will not only be used for computers but also for consumer entertainment electronics unifying the two, seperated at birth, industries. UDI will be backwards compatible with DVI, and looking forward, will be compatable with HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), the standard digital interface for High Definition TVs (HDTVs). Sadly, UDI will also use High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP), a technology used today in HDMI-compatible products to prevent copying media to other devices.
Industry heavyweights involved in the movement to create this new interface (folks, it's just a new fangled cable) include: Apple, Intel Corp., LG Electronics, National Semiconductor Corp., Samsung Electronics and Silicon Image Inc., NVIDIA Corp., THine Electronics Inc., FCI, Foxconn Electronics Inc. and JAE Electronics Inc.. You can read the entire press release at eHome Upgrade.
Although this sounds to be an improvements, we already have a tangle of cords hidden behind our desks to deal with today. Lets take a look at a short and incomplete list, video (DVI/VGA), sound, three variations of USB, two variations of FireWire, our ancient standard power cord, ethernet, and now the Computer/Entertainment industry wishes to add another cable... whew, it almost makes a tech geek like me want to run and hide. I hope that this new cable standard will carry sound, USB and FireWire to the monitor, so that the snarl of cords really does get tempered.
This news follows closely on the heals of South Korean cell phone manufacturer's initiative aimed at creating one cable for all cell phones, making it easier for consumers to utilize their devices, and increasing the sales of cell phone accessories. You can read more about this development at engadget.com.
One Cable to Rule Them All.
One Cable to Find Them,
One Cable to Bring Them All
And in the Darkness Bind Them!
0 comments