USB
World’s smallest portable 2.5-inch USB hard drive
July 29, 2008 Tech companies just love being able to lay claim to that “world’s smallest” title, and hard drive manufacturers are no different with Freecom boasting the “world’s smallest and lightest” portable 2.5-inch USB 2.0 external hard drive with the Mobile Drive XXS.
Brando's 16-port USB hub can share your stuff between two computers
July 25, 2008 Brando's new "Super" USB hub packs a whopping sixteen USB ports, and gives you the ability to use all the connected peripherals on a second machine at the flick of a switch. Needless to say, if this thing can't quench your thirst for USB ports, you can't be helped.
Firebox VHS to digital video converter
When a new technology usurps a previous one there are often casualties. With the downfall of VHS the casualties were the stacks and stacks of VHS cassettes people had collected over the 30 year period when VHS ruled the Earth. Of course there’s no need to say goodbye to those precious magnetic memories with a range of digital converting options available - but possibly none as easy as that provided by the imaginatively titled USB VHS Converter. Just connect the machine to a PC, pop a tape in the machine, select your desired output format and press play.
Nyko PS3 Media Hub with USB ports
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July 7, 2008 When Sony cut the price of their PS3 console in late 2007 they also cut a few features including backwards compatibility with many PS2 titles, memory card reader, and a couple of USB ports. Gaming peripherals manufacturer, Nyko Technologies, has addressed two of these three losses with their Media Hub for the PlayStation 3. The Media Hub attaches to any available USB port and provides three additional USB connections as well as a media card reader that supports SD cards and Memory Sticks. The unit is designed to match the color and shape of the PS3, is compatible with all versions of the PS3 and snaps into position so it can be used with the PS3 in either the horizontal or vertical position. Now if only they could come up with a $20 USB device to give the PS3 back its backwards compatibility they’d be sure to make many a console owner happy.
CD player design straight out of Johnny Mnemonic
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While the Compact Disc may be on its last legs, usurped by Flash based personal media players, DVDs and now Blu-Ray Discs, that hasn't stopped South Korean designer Kim Yong Seong turning out an interesting design for a portable music player that supports CDs and MP3 files. Kim has dubbed his proposed design the DMP, short for Dual Music Player, which plays MP3 files in the compact closed position and then flips open to form two arms that support a CD. MP3 files and charging would come courtesy of a USB connection and the device would also do away with messy headphone cables through Bluetooth support.
LaCie Rugged HDD capacity supersized to 500GB
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April 28, 2008 LaCie has pushed mobile capacity to 500GB for its Neil Poulton designed Rugged Hard Disk. The LaCie Rugged features a unique scratch-resistant aluminum shell and a shock-resistant rubber bumper to protect data against the everyday bumps, bruises and hard knocks. Utilizing a Hitachi Travelstar 5K500, 2.5-inch internal hard disk, LaCie was able to produce a product nearly identical in size to its previous Rugged offerings.
Portable memories: Kaiser Baas Digital Photo Key Ring
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Digital photo frames are hot stuff among consumers at the moment and from Kaiser Baas comes this handy 1.5 inch Digital Photo Key Ring - a mini digital photo frame that lets you can take your memories with you wherever you go.
HTC Shift: ultra-compact, dual-interface mobile computing
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April 23, 2008 With a form factor that sits somewhere between a fully-fledged laptop and a pocket-size PDA, the light weight HTC Shift mobile PC offers a full QWERTY keyboard and a 7-inch "slide-‘n-tilt" touch-screen interface backed by Wi-Fi and HSDPA/3G connectivity, a 40-gigabyte hard drive, two days standby battery life and a handy "always-on mode" that allows access to emails and other features without the need to fully boot up the device.
Plustek updates line of OpticFilm slide scanners
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March 28, 2008 Available this April, Plustek’s new range of OpticFilm professional-grade scanners convert slides into high quality, 48-bit color digital images at a whopping 7200x7200 dpi resolution.
Corsair to release 16GB Flash Voyager GT high performance USB drive
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February 29, 2008 Corsair has announced a new 16GB high performance USB 2.0 flash drive dubbed the “GT” which offers a significant boost to data transfer speeds.
Blaupunkt New Orleans MP58 offers uninterrupted MP3 playback
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February 13, 2008 Blaupunkt's latest car radio release caters to digital music formats by including a fixed 1 meter USB cable for connecting external digital storage devices along with "no-interrupt browsing capability", meaning you can continue to listen to the current track while searching through playlists.
Kingston's DataTraveler Micro Reader and USB Drive
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February 13, 2008 Kingston Technology has announced the DataTraveler Micro Reader, a USB Flash drive with a storage capacity of up to 4GB and an expansion slot for microSD, microSDHC and Memory Stick Micro cards.
Zonet's SATA Enclosures for PC and Mac
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February 8, 2008 Zonet has released a line of SATA Enclosures for PC and Mac desktops, laptops, and peripherals. Ranging in price from US$25 to $35, the four models can convert any 2.5-inch or 3.5- inch SATA hard disk drive into SATA and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 external hard drives by connecting the drive to the cables inside the enclosure.
Dual interface LaCie Little Disk 2.5 features extractable USB cable
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February 6, 2008 Designed by Sam Hecht, the LaCie 320GB Little Disk 2.5 features an integrated, extractable hi-speed USB 2.0 cable and two FireWire ports.
Callpod Dragon Bluetooth 2.0 Headset offers 100+ meter range
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February 4, 2008 Callpod Inc’s Dragon Bluetooth headset for mobile phones, PDAs, VOIP products and computers boasts a range of 100 meters or 328 feet – a big step up over the standard 10 meter or 30 feet range common for Bluetooth headsets. The Dragon also silences ambient noise and annoying pops and clicks with its proprietary Dual-Mic Noise Suppression technology, which isolates the user’s voice while removing background noise. In addition, the Dragon can connect with the PC for Skype calls while on a mobile call, allowing users to switch between the PC and mobile phone with a press of a button.
SanDisk boosts speed and capacity for Ultra II SD memory card line
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February 2, 2008 In more good news for camera enthusiasts and their memory hungry devices, Sandisk has announced the upcoming release of a 32GB SDHC card with significantly increased read and write speeds along with an 8GB version of its two-in one, USB-ready SDHC Plus line.
LaCie releases 320GB Rugged All-Terrain portable hard disk
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January 29, 2008 LaCie has announced increased capacity to its Rugged all-terrain hard disk, making a total space allowance of 320GB.
Kingston releases DataTraveler/110/ USB drives
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January 25, 2008 Kingston Technology is introducing the DataTraveler/110/ range of USB Flash drives, available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities. Designed to Hi-speed USB 2.0 specifications, the DT/110/ drives feature a capless, retractable USB connector that keeps the sensitive part of the drive safely concealed, and lacks a lid to lose or break.
Eikon Fingerprint Reader now Mac compatible
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January 15, 2008 Biometric security specialist UPEK has launched a software solution allowing Mac users to connect to its Eikon Digital Privacy Manager USB fingerprint reader. Announced at Macworld in San Francisco this week, the UPEK Protector Suite® for Mac software supports Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and OS X 10.5 Leopard.
Corsair ups capacity of durable USB drives to 32GB
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January 14, 2008 USB drives are usually treated pretty roughly whether in the bottom of a bag or attached to a set of keys. Designed to cope with these knocks and bumps that come hand-in-hand with portability, Corsair's ruggedized all-rubber Flash Voyager and aluminum-encased water-proof Flash Survivor line of USB drives have now been expanded to 32GB capacity.
Pre-production version of HydroPak water-activated portable power generator completed
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January 5, 2008 Millennium Cell Inc. and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies have announced the completion of a pre-production version of the HydroPak portable power generator that incorporates a unique water-activated cartridge system. The HydroPak product combines Horizon’s fuel cells with Millennium Cell’s Hydrogen on Demand storage technology to offer a clean and quiet power generator for use by consumers and professionals for emergency and recreational purposes.
SanDisk announces USB flash drive with automatic online backup
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January 4, 2008 While the development of Flash based USB drives have enabled people to store increasing amounts of data on ever smaller devices, they have also increased the risk of misplacing data in the event that these diminutive drives disappear. Recognizing this SanDisk has announced the Cruzer Titanium Plus, a 4GB capacity USB flash drive that offers automatic online backup for every file copied to the drive. In the event that the drive is lost, stolen or if users simply forget to bring the drive with them, quick access is provided to their backed-up files through a personal password-protected online account on any computer connected to the Internet.
Kingston 19-in-1 Media Reader
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December 14, 2007 Flash memory formats continue to expand but fortunately, so too do the transfer solutions. Kingston’s latest external, hi-speed multi-card reader supports 19 types of Flash memory cards in a 3.61" x 2.71" package for USD$17.
No strings attached: DisplayLink’s wireless USB monitors
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December 12, 2007 It's no secret that hooking up multiple monitors to a computer provides a clear productivity improvement and DisplayLink is aiming to make the setup even more efficient by incorporating Wireless USB technology into their designs. Alereon and DisplayLink have announced the availability of a reference design for a Wireless USB display adapter, which Alereon will display at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2008. The reference design will enable PC accessory Original Equipment Manufacturers to develop wireless display connectivity adapters and related products.
Digital photo frame includes built-in clock, alarm and calendar
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December 7, 2007 Genius DPF-241 digital photo frames seeks to set itself apart from the field by also offering the convenience of a built-in clock, alarm and calendar.
Neverlate Executive Alarm Clock: complete control of your waking life
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November 26, 2007 American Innovative has released a successor to their Neverlate 7-day Alarm Clock. The new Neverlate Executive Alarm Clock is a fully customizable 7-day Alarm Clock with everything from the backlight brightness (three levels of brightness or off altogether) to the total alarm duration being fully adjustable. The new model features the first-ever "preferences menu" in a clock radio and snooze duration, sleep and nap timer options are carried over from the original. If you're not a tinkerer however, these advanced features stay out of your way.
LaCie Hub plugs into style
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November 26, 2007 There are plenty of products out there that solve the problem of not having enough direct USB or FireWire ports on your computer, but few do it as effectively and with as much style as this Hub from LaCie.
Water-Activated portable power products possible for 2008
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November 22, 2007 Millennium Cell Inc. and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies are nearing completion of a beta version of a portable power generator that incorporates a unique water-activated cartridge system to provide 400 Watt hours of “instant power”.
CEO IQ’s rCard now available
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October 28, 2007 Gizmag first encountered the rCard – a device about the size of a business card with an interactive screen that displays text, graphics, photos, and slide shows – back in late 2005, and now this novel new technology that lends itself to countless business applications is hitting the market at a cost of around USD$40.
TakeTV PC-to-video recording device
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October 23, 2007 Most of us watch video content, movies and TV shows from the Internet via our PC or laptops screens but it’s not always the best avenue for viewing quality visuals. In response to this, SanDisk has released a new device that aims to simplify the process of taking videos from your PC and watching them on your TV.
Gresso release luxury USB flash drive range
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October 5, 2007 In another example of fashion meets function from the world of consumer electronics, manufacturer of luxury mobile phones and MP3 playersGresso has released an alternative to the dreary old plastic USB drive. The high-end collection of 1GB capacity drives called "Adam&Eve" are crafted from materials including African mahogany, blackwood, gold and white diamonds.
USB key adds physical element to enhance data security
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September 28, 2007 Where credit card and banking information is being processed, user authentication, accountability and data security are of paramount importance. The iKey 4000 is a USB device that authorized users carry with them at all times in order to gain access to secure systems. It adds an extra factor to the access control puzzle – you need to both have the physical key and know the correct password to get in, thus satisfying the highest Payment Card Industry security protocols.
USB 3.0 on the horizon
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September 23, 2007 Details of the proposed next generation of high-speed USB (Universal Serial Bus) connectors have been unveiled. The planned USB 3.0 system will target a transfer speed of 4.8 gigabits per second, ten times that of USB 2.0 models. Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, NEC and NXP Semiconductors have formed the USB 3.0 Promoter Group to make the high-speed connection a reality, with final USB 3.0 specification scheduled to be released in the first half of 2008 and backward-compatible products hitting shelves as early as 2009.
Philips and Swarovski unveil digital bling
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September 2, 2007 Philips and Swarovski announced their intention to work together to fuse fashion and technology in April this year and the first fruit of the collaboration was shown today at IFA 2007 in Berlin. As digital technology becomes all pervasive, it is inevitable that there will be a market for luxury technology and the Active Crystals collection directly addresses this need, beginning with the release of four USB Memory Keys and four headphones. The only problem is …
Sandisk doubles capacity of Cruzer Micro Flash drive
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August 29, 2007 Not so long ago we were using floppy disks with a 1.44mb capacity to save and transfer documents, even more recently a 500Mb thumb drive seemed like a revolution, but now it's all a matter of routine to be counting in gigabytes. SanDisk has introduced an 8 gigabyte model (that's the equivalent to 5555 floppy disks) of its Cruzer Micro USB Flash drive, double the largest capacity previously available in the Cruzer Micro line.
