PC ports explained: Get to know the back of your computer Almost any modern communication need can be handled with a wireless solution. File transfer, streaming video, peripheral connections – all of these can be accomplished without a physical connection. The future is now. Yet the port persists. No, more than that: It’s alive and well. Take a gander at your home office and you’ll likely find wires of all sorts leading to various connections: USB, HDMI, DVI, Thunderbolt, the list goes on. Physical connections are still the quickest, most reliable way to transfer data. Which means it’s still important to know what goes where, and why. Let’s clear the air and make room for some modern knowledge of old-fashioned connectivity. USB The Universal Serial Bus would make a good role model for super-villains everywhere. It pledged to take over the world. Then it did so. It took well over a decade, but it has happened. FireWire is basically obsolete. External SATA is ne...