If you’ve got a device like a Motorola RAZR with it’s funny looking USB connector, then you have a USB On-the-Go (OTG) device. Those little connectors have made things handy for sure (well, except Motorola’s use of it since it won’t charge the RAZR with any OTG cable since it’s an “unauthorized” charger) and now the USB Implementers Forum has decided, like SD cards, to make things smaller. Today it has announced at the Intel Developer Forum Spring 2007 that the micro-cable is coming!
“The USB-IF continues to optimize its suite of specifications to meet the evolving requirements of the industry,” said Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF President. “Our move from the Mini-series cable connectors to the Micro-series reflects our support of the industry’s need for smaller form factor devices.”
So prepare for getting even more cables and connectors to keep your newest electronics connected and charged. Mmm, more stuff for the junk drawer!
Is SD (Secure Digital) just too large for you? Do those micro SD cards poke you in the leg when in your pants pockets? Looking for something smaller…yet faster in speed for data transfer rates? Whelp, we’ve got it for you. May we introduce to you the SQ flash card. It’s an itsy bitsy tiny weaney card that measures in a perfect square at 2.0×2.0×2.0mm. Your eyes read correct. That makes it smaller than an SD or micro SD card.
While small, this card ain’t no square when it comes to moving data. It’ll read at speeds of 32.4MB and writes at 21.5MB for the 2GB version. The fastest Smokey caught this on radar was a scorching 60MB’s.
The cool thing about the SQ card is that it’s based on the USB 2.0/OTB standard. That means you should be able to see transfer speeds at 480 MB's. Ala, when future SQ cards reach higher speeds, you won’t have to purchase new hardware. Further, the USB spec allows manufacturers to utilized the 127 USB device per host limit to its advantage. Multiple SQ card sockets into a CE product. Piece of cake. Read: add more than one SQ flash card at a time to help feed the hunger of certain memory aggressive applications.
Now if you’re wondering about the four sides all having contacts on them, well that’s been done on purpose with a purpose, and the purpose being (I swear I’ll stop with purpose) it increases the life of the card by 400%. Nice.
If you want to do some bed time readin’ on this, then head on over to www.sharedrives.com or e-mail info@sharedrives.com
Flash drives with U3 smart technology let you bring some applications along with you where ever there is a USB port on a Windows machine; however, it won’t fully replicate your desktop. You need literally to just bring your hard drive with you to make that happen. Enter MojoPac. It in fact does just that in the form of any USB device such as your iPod. Since you can purchase an iPod with 80 GB of hard drive space, you could potentially bring your entire computer with you every where you go!
The folks at RingCube Technologies, Inc. have created an ingenious bit of software that installs on your iPod (or any other USB device) that then loads your desktop and your programs onto the host device. Not to worry, if you’re using this at work, as the hosts desktop can easily be brought up with a click of a button. Nothing changes on the host other than a new row of icons on the top of the screen. Clicking another button brings up your personal environment. Your programs, your desktop, your screen saver, your stuff. Anything that installs on Windows XP will install on MojoPac. Unlike U3, applications do not have to be specially brewed to work with MojoPac!
For $49.99 for a single license, this is really a great deal for the ability to bring your entire desktop with you. If you’re not fully convinced, then download the trial and see for yourself just how cool this really is.
Today equinux is introducing TubeStick, a white Apple-esque DVB-T receiver designed exclusively for the Mac. TubeStick connects to a USB port and ships with equinux’ new TV software “TheTube”, TV on the Mac is now simple and intuitive. The device also works seamlessly with equinux’ own media center solution, MediaCentral.
“TubeStick is a perfect match visually for all current Macs, and thanks to its small size, it is particularly attractive for notebook users. Together with our new TV software ‘TheTube’, TV on your Mac is a lot of fun. For our product launch, we are also bundling TubeStick with MediaCentral, for free. So users get two powerful equinux software products as well as the TubeStick hardware for the price of EURO 39,95 (rrp)”, says Till Schadde, equinux CEO.
TubeStick is based on the DVB-T standard, which has found widespread adoption across Europe and is available in most European countries, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Scandinavia, France and the UK.
For more information on TubeStick, visit the equinux TubeStick site.
Newer Technology, Inc. (NewerTech) , today announced new lower prices on its award-winning line of miniStack V2 FireWire/USB 2 external hard drive solutions. Available in capacities up to 750GB, prices start at just $114.99 for 80GB - $449 for 750GB. The best value is the 400GB drive, which is priced at only $199.99 from $239.99, a $40 price reduction (see full price list below).
Winner of “Top Product” Macworld Magazine, “Editor’s Choice” MacAddict, and “Accessory of the Year” 123Macmini.com, the NewerTech miniStack drives now include the award-winning Prosoft DataBackup™ II for OS X (a $59.95 value) and award-winning NovaStor NovaBACKUP® for Windows (a $49.95 value). Both software products include the same full technical and update support that comes with the stand-alone retail versions. “Add Your Own Hard Drive” utility/performance and backup software bundles are also available from $69 (a $200 value).
Perfect for audio/video, computer backup, music and photography storage, and more, the NewerTech miniStack drives are ultra-compact with dimensions of 6.5” x 6.5” x 1.5” and feature 3 USB2 and 2 FireWire ports that function as hubs to connect other devices to the computer. The drives also have a unique cooling system, including a Smart Fan.
(Pricing info after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »
Tritton recently debuted it’s brand new 5.1 gaming headphones, designed for video game consoles, PC gamers, and USB to SVGA adapters. The Audio Xtreme 360 Dolby 5.1 headsets are designed specifically for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Playstation 2 and Playstation 3. These headsets boast true six station surround sound with removable microphones.
The Audio Xtreme High Performance Headsets are designed for the hard-core PC gamers and are second to none in the current market. It also features the true Dolby 5.1 surround sound with 8 speakers. These are provided through USB and provide an awesome gaming experience, complete with front, back, and center immersion, removable microphone, and of course, built in rumble effects.
And now, the USB 2.0 to SVGA adapter. This adapter lets PC users to extend their desktops to one or more displays without having to mess with their graphics or add a special graphics card. the SEE2 Xtreme SVGA supports not only video playback, but also mirroring.
But that isn’t all Tritton has to show off, oh no. Also recently released was Sound Bite, Warp Drive 2.5, and Xtreme Media NAS. Sound Bite is a portable USB speaker system with a compact, folding design for easy transportation. It integrates a sub woofer and 2 satellite tweeters for superior 2.1 sound and has the ability to connect to any PC or Mac notebook.
Warp Drive 2.5 is a portable instant backup solution. Warp Drive connects to any PC using a USB port and offers 80GBs of either complete or select backups. It’s housed in a sleek aluminum case which is very stylish. And finally the Xtreme Media NAS boasts bittorrent and iTunes server, along with UPNPAV capability to allow users to stream videos, photos, and music to any Digital Media Adapter.
When a certain writer of a certain web site was shown a certain tank by a certain mother at the age of seven, his reply was, “I want one!” Well, years later, this certain writer now finally can have his very own Multiple Launch Rocket System or MLRS as it is known around certain Pentagon hallways.
Vavolo has got an USB Missile Control Tank which allows you to plug in the remote control (RC) of the tank into your PCs USB port. Thus, it qualifies it as an instant business tool. Now that the RC is tucked away into your company provided computer, you can control the tank fully from your keyboard. No worry on batteries on the RC either, it’s sucking more free power from your company’s computer. (Hey, Facilities will thank you for not begging them for more AA batteries.) With full sound effects and a 20 foot distance for each of the 10 rockets, you’ll easily be able to take out your enemy, er, co-work at least two cubes down from you. Pure and highly productive work we think. Grab yours for only $80. Trust me, it’s way cheaper than the real deal!
On January 30th, Newer Technology Inc. reported the release of the NewerTech USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter. This adapter makes it extremely easy to transfer from your old hard drive to your new one via USB at a speed of 480Mbps. The Universal adapter works with any hard drive and any optical drive (no matter what brand it is) using a USB as long as your computer is running Mac OS 9.2 or higher, Linux 2.4.X, or Windows 2000 or higher. The Drive adapter is perfect for file transfers, backups of your most important files, and accessing information with backup storage.
Because there are so many things you can now put on a hard drive, it can sometimes be difficult large digital video files, music, and photos on an older computer. But what happens when you finally get a new unit? How do you transfer all of your data from the old to the new? NewerTech has made it very easy to do just that with it’s Universal Adapter, all with the simplicity of USB 2.0. Everything you need comes in the box, the hardware you need and the software for you Windows users. This amazing product is available now for just $24.95 at www.newertech.com. Not a bad price at all considering what you can accomplish.
This is also a great helper for hard drives that get malware and spyware invested and need to be cleaned off on another computer. You don’t even have to remove the drive physically from the PC. Just yank the IDE cable from the back, insert this gadget, and turn on the power of the PC. Sure it won’t boot, but it’ll power up the drive and then your other computer will see it as an external drive ready for you to grab the important data and then format that drive for a clean install of the dreaded Windows OS! — Sven
Clever-Stuff Limited, one of the leading digital consumer product specialists has teamed up with the Oxford University Press to launch the first U3 enabled flash memory drives that come pre-loaded with a digital version of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.
The U3 enabled disgo lite and disgo classic feature a multitude of second wave applications including Migo and SignupShield. The new U3 Smart Technology allows applications to be installed directly to the on board Launchpad. This means that personal email, desktop settings and preferences can be accessed anywhere on any computer. The Migo software allows any computer that is used to look and act the same as the primary computer. Outlook® can be transmitted, documents and files, windows settings, favorites and wallpaper, from computer to computer. Once the disgo is removed no trace of the work completed on the guest PC will be left behind. Migo will also synchronize any changes and updates when the flash drive is plugged back into the primary computer.
Disgo lite and Disgo classic also include SignupShield Passwords, an intelligent manager that tracks passwords and can automatically fill in web-based, network login and FTP login forms when needed. It also comes with the Oxford English Dictionary, though it is only a 30 day trial. If you want to purchase the full version, you have to dish out $14.99 at www.mydisgo.com.
“Clever-Stuff is delighted to be working with the Oxford University Press to help create a new market for smart drives containing valuable digital reference products. We both share the same long term vision for the application of this technology and expect this emerging market to be worth more than €40 million globally by 2010.” said Lorraine Hughes, Head of Business Development at Clever-Stuff.
These disgo products are available at Dixon’s and PC World for about $39.
This year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), it was the coming out party for Wireless USB. Not too many products were retail shelf products, but there was an abundance of prototypes, many that were very appealing. Alereon demonstrated two digital cameras transferring pictures from one to the other and vice versa, all using wireless USB technology. Now that in itself is awesome, being able to send pics from one camera to the other without wires is cool. But this will also work with cell phones, which is even more compelling. All those teenage girls who can’t stop text messaging will love this. Alereon also demonstrated printing photos from a Kodak camera on a Kodak printer, also using the Wireless USB technology. It’s extraordinarily fast, and you don’t have the messy wires to deal with. They also demonstrated the ability to transfer pictures onto an HDTV.
This new WUSB technology is an awesome feature that provides very fast performance and keeps your desk nice and neat at the same time, free of all those annoying cables. This was demonstrated by Toshiba. They used a high data rate version of Wireless USB and a 5:1 compression to connect a laptop to a wireless-enabled docking station. This in turn drives the LCD monitor. According to representatives, using this technology you can have your laptop 18” to 30” away from your monitor with yup, you guessed it, no wires. Alereon demonstrated a similar mechanism using a chip from DisplayLink of the UK. It’s a PC driver that transmits in a compressed fashion display data over WUSB. At the other end the chip decompresses the data and drove it to an LCD monitor. Using this method, you could be on your couch with your laptop looking at photos, watching music or youTube videos, all on your LCD screen! All without the hassle of wires. Very cool.
In the automotive world, Intel and DaimlerChrysler demonstrated the connection between a mobile PC and a monitor in the headrest of a car, using controller chips from Intel and WUSB chips from Alereon. This can also be used for video iPods and other MP3 players. Life without wires. Sounds good to me.