PCI EXPRESS CABLE TO HIT 32Gbps BY 2013

Thought Thunderbolt (the data cable, not the phone) was the only superfast interconnect in town? Well, it is and will be for a little while yet, but the PCI Special Interest Group has just held its annual meeting and developer conference in California, where plans for a 32Gbps PCIe cable were revealed. Details are still fluid on precisely what such a connector would look like and do, but the expectation is that it'll be built out of copper wire, will be flatter and thinner than Thunderbolt's rotund construction, and will be able to channel power as well as data through to devices up to 10 feet (3m) away.

Targeting consumer applications, and extra skinny tablets and laptops in particular, this cabled variety of PCI Express will start off based on the 3.0 spec in 2013, but will then move on from there to PCI Express 4.0 and, potentially, optical data conveyance. Oh yes, PCIe 4.0 also got announced by the PCI SIG, though that's at least four years away at this point

APPLE UNVEILS NEW iMACS

Apple has updated its all-in-one desktop computer line, the iMac, with Intel’s latest processor family, Sandy Bridge, and improved specifications. Available in both 21.5-inch and 27-inch models, the new iMac can be configured with quad-core Sandy Bridge processors starting at 2.5 GHz and will come standard with AMD Radeon HD graphics cards, 4GB of RAM, and a 500MB or 1TB hard drive.

The computers will also include Apple’s new Thunderbolt I/O port for high-speed data transfers. “Starting at $1,199, the new iMac is up to 70 percent faster and new graphics deliver up to three times the performance of the previous generation,” reads the press release. “The iMac continues to feature its signature aluminum and glass design, gorgeous IPS LED-backlit high resolution display, SD card slot and comes with Apple’s innovative Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.”

RUMOR: SANDY BRIDGE COMING TO iMACS NEXT WEEK

Apple as early as next week will deliver a much-needed refresh to its iMac line of all-in-one desktops, adopting Intel's newest family of Core processors and the latest in personal computing I/O technology, AppleInsider has learned.

More specifically, people familiar with the matter say Apple plans to introduce the new models on Tuesday, May 3, swapping out the systems' first-gen Core i processors and miniDisplay ports for second-generation Core i chips and the company's new high-speed Thunderbolt port. However, rumors that 2011 would see changes to the iMacs' display panel size and the inclusion of 6000-series AMD Radeon HD chips, could not be confirmed with any degree of certainty.

In the days leading up to major product launches, Apple routinely makes certain requests of its various operating segments to assure the rollout goes as smoothly as possible. This week saw several of those measures put into place, according to those same people, who've continually provided accurate information when it comes the Mac maker's future plans.

In addition, people familiar with the Cupertino-based company's retail operations confirmed to AppleInsider that a "visual night" is similarly slated for the early morning hours of May 3rd. "So it is highly likely that whatever new product that is going to be refreshed or introduced will be done on [that day]," one of those people said.

These visual nights see several Apple retail employees in each location work throughout the evening and early a.m. hours, making significant modifications to the product layouts on the showroom floors, often removing previous generation products in favor of newly introduced models.

For Apple, next week's launch will mark the first time the company has refreshed its flagship desktop line in over 9 months. It also comes at a crucial time for the iMac -- and Mac desktops in general -- which are rapidly approaching an all-time low when it comes to their share of the Mac's product mix.

As Apple slowly transitions into a full-fledge mobile company, desktops have seen their share of Mac shipments slip into a slow but inevitable decline, falling from more than 50% of the company's Mac product shipments in the first quarter of 2006 to just 26% of the total units Mac units shipped during the second fiscal quarter of 2011

IBM TO SUPPORT USB 3.0 AND THUNDERBOLT IN IVY BRIDGE IN 2012

Beijing, the Chinese capital, is the site of Intel's currently ongoing developer conference, which is where Kirk Skaugen, VP of the company's Architecture Group, assured the world that the promise for native USB 3.0 support in Intel chipsets will be fulfilled. Not this year, mind you, but it'll be with us in 2012 as part of the Ivy Bridge CPU refresh. That matches AMD's plans to support USB 3.0 in Fusion APUs, and was augmented with a strong word of endorsement from Skaugen about the connector's future. He urged developers to embrace USB 3.0 on an equal footing with Intel's proprietary Thunderbolt interconnect, describing the two technologies as "complementary."

SOME USERS OF MACBOOK PROS WITH THUNDERBOLT SEEING FLICKER

Since launch, a number of frustrated customers have been reporting that their new unibody laptops -- of all three sizes -- are causing random flicker on both 24-inch and 27-inch Cinema Displays when connected via their Mini DisplayPort / Thunderbolt combo port. Some also confirmed that even replacement machines from Apple are exhibiting the same behavior, though a source says this doesn't seem to be a widespread issue, and that the company's hardware engineers are already looking into this. Either way, we're likely to see a firmware fix for this bug soon.

HTC THUNDERBOLT FIRST VERIZON PHONE TO DO VOICE AND DATA SIMULTANEOUSLY

At CES, Verizon had mentioned that "some... but not all" of its first LTE handsets would support the simultaneous use of voice and data. That's not news for 3G customers on T-Mobile and AT&T, nor WiMAX customers on Sprint -- but for Verizon subscribers, this is a very novel concept, indeed. Well, we can chalk up the mighty ThunderBolt from HTC as one of the models that'll support it, if leaked training materials for the phone over on Android Central are to be believed. On a related note, the very existence of these materials gives us hope that we'll be seeing it on store shelves before too long.

RUMOR: SPECS OF VERIZON'S FIRST LTE PHONE

According to HTInside, a German blog, the HTC Thunderbolt (formerly the Incredible HD) will be Verizon's first LTE enabled phone. The specs according to the blog include:

1. 4.3 inch screen
2. 1.2GHz Snapdragon dual-core processor
3. 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with dual LED flash
4. 5 megapixel front-facing camera
5. WiFi b/g/n
6. Bluetooth
7. GPS
8. aGPS
9. 16GB internal storage
10. micro-SD card slot compatible up to 128GB
11. 1800mAh battery
12. Android 2.3

Sounds pretty impressive if it is true. [HTInside translated]