Digital Home Thoughts: When High-Speed Is No Longer Fast Enough

"When it comes to backwards compatibility, you can easily plug USB 2.0 devices into USB 3.0 controller ports as they're exactly the same shape and size, differentiated only by their, blue rather than black, colour – so when USB 3.0 becomes universal you will still be able to use all your favourite stuff. You can also plug USB 3.0 devices into older ports so you could, for instance, plug your new USB 3.0 storage device into your mate's old computer to swap some files but it will of course be limited to the speed of the older standard."

Good old USB 2.0 has definitely been a boon to the computer industry. A wealth of peripherials have come out using the standard and with a single connector (usually) everything hooks up nice and easy. It kind of makes you wonder why it needs updating, but as anyone who has tried to transfer a lot of data on a USB drive can attest, it is starting to show its age. Enter USB 3.0, otherwise known as SuperSpeed USB! I am glad that they kept backwards compatibility with the new specification, however, I am saddened to learn that to make full use of USB 3.0, you need new cables. It is understandable, but now my tub-o-USB cables seems outdated and useless. With all that extra bandwidth (full duplex no less) what new peripherals will we see?