USB and Its Development

One revolutionized innovation in gadget technology is the emergence of USB. USB or Universal Serial Bus is a simple device but has extraordinary function. This serial bus standard enables many different devices and peripherals to connect to a computer. The word "universal" means that the device is compatible to many functions. In its development, USB has enhanced its capability with plug and play function using its hot swapping that allows us to disconnect the device without turning off the computer or rebooting it. Furthermore, USB is very energy saving as it needs low power consumption to work. Since the first edition launched in 1996, USB has developed which now it has USB 3.0 edition, though still rarely used. The most commonly used is USB 2.0 with hi-speed rate of 480Mbit/s that was introduced in 2001. This edition allows us to transfer files of about 3.6GB per minute in its maximum speed.

Because of it effectiveness, USB has replaced many serials and parallel ports such as LPT ports and PS2 ports which used to used to connect printers and mouse. Besides these ports, many other devices have also used USB to connect them to the computer. Just mention some like keyboards, digital cameras, PDAs, cell phones, modems, sound card readers, media players, flash drives, portable optical ROM, external hard disk drives, cooler fan, joysticks, and many others. As the result, USB has allowed many devices to improve their functionality. That's why, from its first edition up to the recent edition, USB becomes a standard connectivity used in computer motherboards.

The most massive innovation affected by the presence of USB is removable storage called Flash drive or Flash disk. This removable storage is small in size (as small as a candy bar) but store huge number of files or documents. The product comes in various capacities ranging from 64MB to 64GB. Compared to the first storage device created which was as big as a refrigerator, the presence of flash disk is truly a big revolution in modern technology. Today, most of people use flash disk to store their files; personal files or business files, so that to be easily carried wherever they go. At the same time, manufactures are competing to creatively design unique USB products, including flash disks, to attract customers. So, we can find the products in the shape of animals, cartoon characters, watches, or even eyeglasses.

Technology advances rapidly beyond our imagination. Something that we think is impossible to happen can happen. We even find it overwhelmed to keep abreast the advancement of technology. It seems that the device that we bought yesterday is outdated today. Besides that, it can be possible that one day many more of our utilities are fully computerized and USB supported. As the result, we do not need to be hustle doing our home or office tasks. The development of usb has proved that what used to be complicated in the past is now simple and easy. usb technology has revolutionized the simplicity of gadget connectivity.