Looking around on the LaCie website recently I found these interesting looking USB devices: Coin Shaped USB Flash Drives
They can survive a shock in their nicely coloured die-cast casings and the USB connector can twist inside the coin. Transfer rates are up to 480 Mbit/s.
Brilliant, handy, unique – all words to describe the USB Hot Lunch Bag! Perfect for keeping your lunch warm for your lunch breaks, this new lunch box plugs into your USB port and runs off your computer power to keep your lunch warm. When you think of ‘packed lunch’ you usually think, ‘cold, soggy mess’ but this need not be anymore – anything you could have at home with a cooker you can just about take on a trip with you.
With USB Thermo flasks already available on the market, it was only a matter of time before this came about. I guess the next step is thinking about the other uses for this; emergency organ transportation, or maybe even to warm your hands up on a cold winters day?
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $22.00(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
Picture the scenario; you have an 80GB SATA drive, but want a 160GB one, do you sell the 80GB and buy a 160GB? No. At least not with this gadget, all you have to buy is another 80GB and get them plugged up together with the External USB SATA Drive Dock. Or, if you have lots of SATA drives, you can swap between them with the touch of a button thanks to hot swap.
Available in either single- or dual- dock, the simple plug-and-play system will work equally well with Windows, Mac OS or Linux and has a very usable transfer speed of 480Mbps when connected via USB 2.0, or a fast 3Gbps when connected via eSATA. You don’t need to worry about the type of HDD you have either – it accepts both 2.5” and 3.5”.
Price: $39.99 – $77.99(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
Are you tired of your boring old doorbell tones? This gizmo replaces your chime and include a USB sound card that allows you to download custom tunes. Imagine your favorite college fight song playing when someone rings the doorbell. This all-in-one kit installs in minutes allowing you to customize and convert sound files to chime tunes of your favorite band, holiday tune or sports team’s fight song.
The MyChime Wireless Door Chime and Bell Push with USB Sound Card is a great solution for homes that don’t have a pre-wired doorbell for the front entrance. It will also work well with apartments, travel trailers, back entrances, garages, dorm rooms and offices. What sets this apart from similar products is the ability to pick your own song or sound for your door chime. You can choose the song or sounds you want to hear and simply download them onto the included USB sound card. The bell push unit communicates with the chime module via radio frequency (RF), and each are powered by battery, so no wires or professional installation is required. There are seven pre-loaded chime sounds available and an adjustable volume setting. The chime module is portable or can be mounted anywhere in the house up to 150 feet away from the bell push module. The bell push module is rated for outdoor use and has a UV resistant plastic housing with a rainproof push button. It can be mounted with included screws or double-sided tape. The modules have 16 adjustable address codes to prevent interference with other transmitters such as PIR movement detectors and telephone ring detectors.
Suggested Price: $57.99
Do you have multiple old monitors sitting around collecting dust. Well with DisplayLink technology, you can use those monitors with some adapters or you can snag some of the new monitors that have DisplayLink tech built into them.
Just imagine being able to use a complete mismatch of up to 6 monitors with one PC. Just download the DisplayLink software and then plug those monitors and/or adapters in via USB. It doesn’t matter what the resolution and/or size of the monitors are.
There are already a bunch of DisplayLink products out there, so you can get those 6 monitors on your desk and office wall going right now!
Share USB peripheral devices between four computers with this gizmo by using a “hot key” from the keyboard to switch between computers.
The USB 2.0 Manual Share 4 Port Switch is a great computer system adapter that allows up to four computers in the same home access to the same peripheral device such as a printer, scanner or mass storage hard drive. It can be used to create a network printer that is shared by everyone or even as a way to share multimedia such as music and videos. Simply connect a USB peripheral device of your choice to the input of the switch, then connect up to four PC computers to the output of the switch via USB. For long runs of USB cable from a computer to the switch, a USB balun is sold separately. No software is necessary for installation; each computer will recognize the switch automatically, which is confirmed by a solid LED light on the corresponding switch input. Accessing the shared peripheral is as easy as double clicking the ‘Hot Key’ (Scroll Lock) from any of the connected computers. A small investment in this switch saves you money in long run, as you won’t have the expense of purchasing, maintaining and consuming energy from the same type of peripheral device for every computer in your home.
Suggested Price: $19.99
Buy Now!
Here’s a product we first featured back at 2007’s CES show. Since then Ecosol has updated their Powerstick product which is a portable USB charger.
It’s an energy cell that is a bit larger than a USB stick, that can be used to power your portable devices. For example, it can fully charge a typical Blackberry. To charge something, just plug it into the device’s regular power adpater interface via an adapter. The Powerstick itself can be recharged simply by plugging it into a computer’s USB port. It can be recharged up to 500 times.
Version 2 of the Powerstick gets to you to 90% of full charge in less than 90 minutes.
Price: $59.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
Yes, that’s right – a 64GB USB 2.0 thumb drive. I’m not sure what else to say, except perhaps to wonder when the 128GB drive is coming!
Ok, ok, so you get a few bonuses with this $190 flash drive – the JetFlash software pack that includes:
Price: $189.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
This nice, compact device gives you multiple (3) surge-protected power outlets plus the ever needed USB power outlets (2). The Belkin mini surge protector is inexpensive and travels well. It rotates 360° with four lockable positions to fit any outlet.
The surge protector is good to 918 Joules with a max spike current of 36,000A. Not too shabby.
Price: $19.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
It’s probably fair to say most of use have damaged a USB drive while stuck inside a computer by bumping it, jamming it or stuffing it in via the wrong direction. To reduce the possibility of damage and increase the life of your USB stick, designer Damjan Stankovic has come up with a flexible USB device.
The “USBee” is a new prototype design which includes a flexible neck just after the USB connector but still keeps the flash memory useable for data storage. The USBee is shaped like a Bee and has thin wire between the USB connector and flash memory to provide flex under stress.
It does look like a manufacturing nightmare, but hey, if we can build automobiles with robots, I’m sure we can string out some wire between point A and point B to make a flex drive. …
