Back in 2011, Iomega sent me a fantastic surprise: A blistering fast 256 GB USB 3.0 SSD. My review was extremely positive, since it really was state of the art at the time. However, like most buyers, my experience has since turned sour as the USB connector failed. Here’s how to recover some usability from it.
USB 3.0
Cable Matters USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter: Hands-On Review
Should you buy a Cable Matters USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter for your Mac or PC? On the hardware and software side, it seems fine. Once the drivers are installed, it functions adequately. But I am deeply concerned that a vendor that would cut corners on the MAC address and OUI would cut corners other places, leaving me skeptical about the company and its products. Therefore, I cannot recommend this device.
Apple Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter: A Mini Marvel
The Apple Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter really is a full PCI express device, complete with its own Ethernet controller! This is easily the smallest and cheapest Thunderbolt peripheral to date, and suggests a bright future for similar devices in the future.
Apple’s Thunderbolt Display Shows the Future
Thunderbolt is important not because it is fast but because it extends the PCI bus outside the computer chassis. The next iteration of the Mac Pro could be as tiny as the Mac Mini, as long as it has two or more Thunderbolt ports and an expansion chassis for video and I/O cards.
Three Key Storage Features Missing in Mac OS X “Lion”
Apple is not in enterprise storage company to be sure, and news from WWDC dashes any hopes we had for ZFS and iSCSI support. USB 3.0 seems a foregone conclusion, but Apple seems intent on ignoring it as long as possible. Although I welcome the new storage features included in Lion, it is disappointing that these were left out.
