The Universal Serial Bus, or USB for short, was introduced in 1996 as a solution by technology giants like Microsoft and IBM. The idea was to make connecting hardware to computers less of a hassle and ...

The arrival of USB Type-C connectors and the final USB 3.2 standard have both heralded a new age of consumer convenience. However, there remains quite a bit of confusion about what these new standards ...

Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and ...

The Universal Serial Bus standard has come a long way since its introduction in 1996. Backed by a consortium of companies led by Intel, Compaq and Microsoft, it offered some unheard-of features for ...

To be fair, USB-IF is being consistently confusing, since the initial release of USB 3.1 was called USB 3.1 Gen 2, and USB-IF also then retroactively renamed USB 3.0 to USB 3.1 Gen 1. What was wrong ...

This story has been updated. When Don Stovicek set out to buy a fast USB 3.0 flash drive, he discovered that the advertised speeds fell well below even USB 2.0’s official capabilities. The now-aging ...

USB has been around for decades, and the sheer number of USB and Thunderbolt versions in 2025 can be bewildering. Here's what you need to know about USB 3, USB 4, Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and ...