the onda

Engadget has the scoop about a project called "Light Peak" which seems to be a single connector for all of the input/output needs of computers that Apple is trying to get Intel to push.

While this may seem like a Jobsean obsession with fewer plugs being equal to more elegance, I suspect it has just as much to do with the future of the most important peripherals market over the coming decade: new HIDs for smartphones.

Unless you've been living under a rock, it is clear that the smartphone is going to be the primary computing device for regular people— and real soon now. Before we get there though, these pocket computers need to somehow grow their interfaces for times when people sit down to interact with a lot of data. Half of that is the output side which we can already get to through the GPUs being increasingly packed into iPhones, GPhones, and Pres. But the component 1/8 inch video cable is a terrible choice for anything other than low-res video, unlike this proposed 10Gbps optical interface that Light Peak promises.

And more importantly, we're going to need all sorts of input devices. Keyboards and mice seem to be a good starting point, but as interfaces take advantage of silicon for processing multimedia, we'll probably need enough bandwidth for audio and video as well.

It's great to see Apple and Intel engaged in a new type of peripheral interface. Interestingly enough, USB, the last such standard, was also something that Apple helped Intel evangelize by getting on board before any of the PC manufacturers. Hopefully, if Light Peak sees the light of day, it will help get us closer to that Star Trek scenario of just walking into a room and setting the tricorder to get it running all the equipment in the room.