usb

Spy Camera/Video Watch

3 Comments / Gizmo of the Day, Miscellaneous, Portable / By /

Spy cameras have been around for quite some time, but now spy cameras that were once futuristic items in action flicks are now commonly available items. Take this wrist watch fro example. Classy looking watch that includes a video camera, that takes AVI videos and has 8GB of storage!

Not too shabby either at 15FPS and a resolution of 352×288 and a built-in microphone. You can’t even see the camera lens in this photo. The price is also surprising – $100.

Buy Now!

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)

Analog to Digital Converters – Round Up

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Books, Music and Movies, Cameras and Photo, Computers, Gizmo of the Day, Recommended, Software / By /

Slide and Negative to Digital Converter

Here we have a furious round up of some of the many analog to digital converters we’ve featured over the years to persuade you to digitize your precious analog collections of audio cassettes, vinyl records, photographs, slides/negatives and VHS tapes. Let’s go!

Audio Cassettes

With CDs looking like they’re being overtaken by new performance discs and music simply being downloaded and stored on computers, it’s amazing that some people still have audio cassettes – we’ve said our goodbyes, now it’s your turn. The Ion Tape2PC USB Cassette Deck lets you do that by sticking your tape into the slot and transferring it to your computer in MP3 format. Audacity and EZ Tape software suites are included to make make everything run smoothly and is compatible with PC and Mac.

Buy now! – $125

Slides, negatives, photographs, vinyl records and VHS tape still to come. Read on.

…

Analog to Digital Converters – Round UpRead More »

MyChime Wireless Door Chime and Bell Push with USB Sound Card

Gizmo of the Day, Tools, DIY, Home, Office / By /

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

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USB Switch Enables Multiple Computers to Access and Share USB Devices

Computers, Gizmo of the Day / By /

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!

Powerstick V2 Portable USB Charger by Ecosol

Gizmo of the Day, Portable / By /

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.

Buy now!

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)

Belkin Mini Surge Protector and USB Charger

Computers, Gaming & Toys, Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation / By /

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.

Gimme!

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)

Flex Your Tech With USBee Drive

Computers / By /

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. …

Flex Your Tech With USBee DriveRead More »

Sony hopes to make TransferJet fly

Miscellaneous / By /

TransferJet is Sony’s next shot at taking a leadership role in founding and rallying support behind a new technology standard. TransferJet is a wireless data transfer tech that claims up to 560Mbps speeds. Sony hopes to get this into consumer electronics gadgets next year (2009).

TransferJet is only meant to go short distances, much like Bluetooth, but with a much higher bandwidth so that people can do things like quickly transfer their pictures from their camera to their computer or to a TV or to someone else.

One of the selling points of TransferJet is its touch-to-pair idea, much like Microsoft does with its Surface table, to make it easier to pair up devices quickly for transfer.

Sony now has 14 large CE firms on board, including Canon, Kodak, Panasonic, Samsung and Toshiba, and has formed a consortium to progress their goals.

Kensington ShareCentral – share your USB devices across multiple computers

Computers, Gizmo of the Day / By /

Chances are that if you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably got multiple computers in your household, but on the other hand, you’ve probably decided against cluttering your home with multiple printers, external hard drives and the like. But it can be such a pain to keep swapping those devices amongst your various computers.

Enter the Kensington ShareCentral USB sharing device. Essentially, you hit a button corresponding to the computer you want to have control your USB peripheral and away you go.

You can even use the ShareCentral as a partial KVM switch, because you can plug in your USB keyboard and mouse.

Gimme!

More info from the manufacturer

Price: $62.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

CarMD – Handheld Engine Code Reader

Automotive, Gizmo of the Day / By /

CarMD Engine Code ReaderFor a single Benjamin Franklin bill (hundred that is), you can pick up the CarMD Handheld Engine Code Reader that interfaces with your car’s computers to tell you what’s wrong with your car in seconds.

This little gem works with all 1996 and newer model cars and provides complete diagnostics on your car’s engine and whatever else your car’s computer tracks. CarMD comes with Windows software that helps you track up to 3 of your cars’ health. In addition,the website www.CarMD.com has an online database of thousands of problems and their solutions as seen by auto techs over the past 10 years.

Naturally, it has a USB hookup to your computer for easy connectivity and data dumping. If you’ve got a car that gives you any sort of trouble, or you want your very own second opinion, in this time of rising gas prices, then this gadget may just pay for itself the first time your mechanic tries to hoodwink you.

Buy Now!

Price: $107.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

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