NEC unveiled the first add-on cards based on its recently announced µPD720200 USB 3.0 host controller. This is the typical route taken by a company to propagate the standard in an environment where motherboard vendors and chipset makers haven't yet embraced it. For the desktop segment, the reference-design PCI-Express x1 add-on card provides two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports that are backwards-compatible with USB 2.0, 1.1, and 1.0. NEC also released an add-on card for notebooks, in the ExpressCard-34 form-factor based on the same controller, offering the same two ports. With these reference designs, NEC plans to propagate add-on card vendors to design their own cards based on the NEC µPD720200 controller. Typically, these cards should be priced around the $15~20 mark. A successor to USB 2.0, USB 3.0 offers 10-times the bandwidth (4.8 Gbps), although it will take a while for devices to use all that bandwidth, let alone support the standard. Perhaps this is why the company seems to find PCI-Express x1 sufficient as its system interface.

Solid State Disks (SSDs) come are coming in all shapes, sizes, and interfaces. I-O Data is preparing a new SSD design that is compatible with the ExpressCard 34 slot that most notebooks feature. The purpose of this design could be portability, or simply expanding the notebook's storage beyond what its hard drive allows. The ExpressCard interface provides fast connectivity between the system and the SSD's own storage controller (up to 2.5 Gbps in PCI-Express mode).

The drive measures 34x74x5 mm, and weighs around 21 g. It comes in two variants, based on the storage they offer: 32 GB and 64 GB. Backed by a one-year warranty, the 32 GB variant is priced in Japan at US $170, and the 64 GB at $243.

OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today introduced the Slate Series ExpressCard, a storage expansion drive for the latest generation of performance notebooks. The integration of express card storage is ideal for mobile users who want the peace of mind knowing they will always have a backup option and experience the convenience of an internal solution that eliminates peripheral devices.

Creative today announced the Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook ExpressCard. As the name suggests, device is a sound card for notebooks with ExpressCard slots. The X-Fi Notebook comes in two modules, the card itself and the portion that protrudes outside the notebook. It provides wired as well as wired interfaces. The card can transmit audio to wireless speakers. Features that are usual to the X-Fi series, such as CMSS-3D and 24-bit Crystalizer aling with EAX Advanced HD positional audio. The package includes a pair of earphones with microphone attached.

Additionally, the card provides theater DSPs such as Dolby Digital and DTS Surround through PowerDVD. Would you want to use this on a gaming notebook as an audio enhancement? While the card does provide features such as CMSS-3D and EAX Advanced HD, the audio processing itself isn't native. The card doesn't feature the CA-20K series audio processor, so there isn't a performance enhancement on offer. The card is priced at US $90. More details are provided on the product page.

Gigabyte announced that a new low-priced tablet PC, the M912V. This ultra-portable and affordable tablet PC has a 8.9" frame has a screen that swivels 180 degrees. It has a screen resolution of 1280 x 768 px. The LCD is backlit to enhance battery life. At the heart of this is a 1.60 GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of DDR2 memory, a 160GB SATA HDD, 802.11b/g wireless, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. Connectivity includes 3 USB 2.0 ports, 56k modem, NIC, an ExpressCard slot, and an internal expansion slot for HSDPA.

With so much packed, the M912V tipps the scales at only 2.86 lbs. Gigabyte's new netbook will be available for purchase later this month with a price tag of $699.

Lexar Media, Inc., world wide known for digital media technologies recently announced it's high-capacity, removable solid state drive (SSD) series. It's currently shipping in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities for the ExpressCard, the successor of the CardBus PC card slot. While the CardBus is widely spread it's drawback is it's connection to the rest of the system using a PCI-bound interface controller. The ExpressCard slots nowadays built into modern notebooks because it is connected utilizing a PCIe x1 or USB 2.0 connection and thus makes it far superior in terms of bandwidth, it's roughly 2.5 times faster. Devices like this SSD card then won't get limited by insufficient bandwidth, Lexar say the maximum speed is around 250MB/s. A disadvantage which I don't want to keep quiet about is the incompatibility of ExpressCard to the CardBus standard.