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Posts with tag usb

USB Drive Featuring the Mars Volta's Latest Album Sells Out

by Thomas Houston, posted Feb 20th 2008 at 9:12AM

In yet another attempt to revitalize sagging record sales, record labels are touting USB albums as the future of audio. Michael Lippman, manager of Matchbox Twenty, says, "you don't have to download it on a computer, you put it in and it comes up, (and) there's plenty of room to add additional material."

Rock band The Mars Volta released its latest album, "The Bedlam in Goliath," on CD and a $30 USB drive, which aren't quite as cool as the White Stripes USB drives released last year.

As flash drive prices continue to drop, they're becoming a viable medium for album distribution. Because flash album prices are still high (around $30), the emerging format is targeted towards hardcore fans looking for collectibles. Record labels are excited about the ability to load the flash drives with extra multimedia -- like links to Internet sites, images and behind-the-scenes video -- but the effort seems awfully similar to the ill-fated Enhanced CD technology of the late '90s.

If music on USB/flash-memory-based music takes off, it's going to leave us missing ripping through CD packaging to listen to the album on the way home from the record store.

From Crave

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Your Laptop Gets Hot? This Keeps Your Lap Cool.

by Will Safer, posted Jan 7th 2008 at 3:23PM



Notebook Cooler by Swissgear

Sometimes you just need a simple accessory for your laptop. Nothing big. Nothing fancy. Nothing overpriced. That's why we like this notebook cooler from Swissgear, which the company introduced here at CES last night. This cooling mat for 14-to-17-inch notebook computers has two built-in fans and an exhaust system that prevents overheating and keeps your thighs from getting hot, too, if you happen to have your machine sitting on your lap.

It comes in black and pink and has a slick Swiss Army type design scheme. We like the 19-ounce light weight, the non-skid rubber tear drops, and the whole tray expands and contracts to your computer's depth and width. A USB cable draws power from the computer and slips into a storage compartment when not in use.

Price is $34.99 and should hit store shelves soon.

It's nice when design and function come together in a product like this. We're keeping our eyes and ears open for more great accessories as we prowl the show floor here in Las Vegas.

From Swissgear by Wenger.


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USB Santa Boots Make a Heated Fashion Statement

by Alon Avdi, posted Dec 11th 2007 at 3:52PM




Even Santa gets cold feet sometimes, and we're not talking about when he married Mrs. Claus. Japanese gadget trove Thanko has introduced a pair of USB Santa Boots, a gadgetized way to keep the feet warm during the frigid winter months. These slippers, which look suspiciously like footwear belonging to a certain white-bearded, rotund Christmas hero, are heated by a USB connection from the slipper to your computer.

We're a little torn -- as nice as toasty toes are when it's cold no matter how many pairs of socks you're wearing, there's something just not right about slippers and USB connections in the same sentence. Are they dumb, funny, or cute? You be the judge.


From 7 Gadgets Via geeksugar

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10 Dumbest And/Or Funniest USB Gadget Gifts

by Phillip Crandall, posted Dec 7th 2007 at 7:17PM

As far as computer ports go -- and technologies in general -- USB has got to be the friendliest. Not only does it lovingly accept almost any kind of gadget imaginable, it also generously parcels out power to those gadgets so that they don't need to be plugged into a wall. As a result, it's quickly become the de facto interface for our printers, scanners, digital cameras, iPods, thumb drives and every other techno-majig we've come to rely on. However, this ubiquity and good will has led to the misuse of the USB port, which is increasingly being used to juice products that have no business being connected to a computer. In the following pages, you'll find the 10 dumbest miscarriages of the USB port we could find. These doodads are either the hilarious joke gifts for the right person, or useless wastes of plastic and metal that will go right into your gift recipient's trash bin.

Thanko USB Ashtray

Thanko USB Ashtray
Do you smoke at your desk? Do you often mix up which Red Bull can you're drinking from and which one you're ashing into? Then, it's a lucky thing there's this $16.50 ashtray, which employs a USB-powered motor to suck up the smoke from your nicotine log. Once it hoovers in your smog, the ashtray passes the smoke through two built-in filters to keep your workspace from being damaged by the very same toxins and poisons you're brutalizing your insides with.
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Decorate Your Desk With the USB Christmas Tree

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Dec 3rd 2007 at 1:29PM

Decorate your Desk with the USB Christmas Tree
Even though listening to the Backstreet Boys version of 'Christmas Time' every hour on the hour -- at least while we're out shopping -- makes us want to seal our eyes and ears with a caulking gun, we still like to get into the holiday spirit... we just want to do it on our own terms.

So, for those of us who want to spruce up our cubicles for the holidays and would rather skip those lame snow flake cut outs that are the province of elementary school teachers, we suggest a USB Christmas Tree from Vat 19.
Made of six inches of clear plastic, this 'tree' is lit up from within by LEDs that shift from blue to red to green. The six -foot USB cord ensures you wont the tree crowding your desktop mousing space. And, at only $9.95, the USB Christmas tree is much cheaper than a real tree.

From Popgadget

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Audio-Technica AT-LP2D-USB Digital Turntable

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 23rd 2007 at 9:51PM

Audio-Technica AT-LP2D-USB Digital Turntable (Music Hound, $250 and Under)

Unplayed since the dawn of the CD era, your Dad's pile of vinyl is just sitting there, collecting dust. Those records look good, smell good, and sound even better. But the potential for wear and tear has relegated them to conversation pieces.

Now, if your Dad (or other vinyl-loving person) had the Audio-Technica AT-LP2D-USB digital turntable system, he could capture the audio of those old records and transfer it to a variety of digital audio formats -- MP3, WAV, WMA, or even just straight to CD. The turntable plugs right into a free USB port on a Mac or PC. Using the included Cakewalk Pyro or Audacity software, users can capture, clean up (if removing those tell-tale vinyl clicks is what someone really wants to do), and store their vinyl music collections for all posterity (or maybe just for an iPod).

List Price is $229, but a little searching can turn up this gem for as little as $101.

From Audio-Technica

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Podera Luxe USB Hub and Reader

by Evan Shamoon, posted Nov 21st 2007 at 5:33PM





For aesthetes who like their desktops to look as fresh and clean as everything else in their Japanese-influenced, eco-friendly homes, Podera has some relevant USB hotness. Its Luxe Hub and Luxe USB 2.0 Hub and Luxe USB 2.0 card reader, both priced at $16.95, are absolutely gorgeous pieces of design. They perform simple tasks, but with grace: The former splits a single USB port into four, while a large base keeps it standing upright. The latter looks like something out of Tron, and allows for access to Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick HG, MMC, SD, SDHC formats.



From Ryder Products
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New Mimobot USB Drives Based on Japanese 'Domo' Mascot

by Tom Samiljan, posted Nov 13th 2007 at 5:42PM

Looking for the perfect stocking stuffer for a kid, a nerd or a Japan-o-phile? Mimoco -- the creator of limited-edition USB pocket drives in the shape of 'Star Wars' characters, Happy Tree Friends, and Halo -- has just announced its latest series based on 'Domo,' which is the mascot of Japanese network NHK and huge in Japan. Mimoco's new 'mimobots' are out in time to commemorate the debut of a 'Domo' TV show on the Niktoons Network.

As with previous mimobots, each 'Domo' drive will come loaded with 23 animated shorts from the show, Domo-themed desktop wallpaper, avatars, and special sounds that play every time the device is ejected from the computer.

The USB 2.0 drives come in 1-gigabyte ($49.95) 2-gigabyte ($69.95) and 4-gigabyte ($109.95) sizes and are available now at the Mimoco site.

We imagine most nerds won't even be using these to save files or whatever, but will instead leave them in their boxes to sell on eBay years from now.

From Mimoco

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Mmm....Doughnut USB Drive

by Evan Shamoon, posted Nov 5th 2007 at 8:52AM



Ignoring, for a moment, the deep irony to be found in the fact that Americans spend their money on USB devices shaped like food, while 90% of the world can't get their families their daily five grains of rice without walking sixteen miles in the desert, behold the newest in food-based storage: the Doughnut drive.

And if you want to take the Homer Simpson approach, you can get one for just $3.63 -- as long as you buy 500 of them. See Vavolo.com for a smorgesbord of storage-based food items.

Mmmm....USB doughnuts.

From Geeksugar

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USB Alarm Clock Blends Balls and Plays Game Show Themes

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 30th 2007 at 11:15AM

70s Throwback USB Blender / Alarm Clock
In case you were wondering how to make sure we cover your product, here's the secret recipe: USB + sharp blades. Oh, and it doesn't hurt if it plays music. That's why you get to read about the USB Blender Alarm Clock. This little toy from Brando is powered via your USB port or by batteries (though the product page doesn't say how many or what kind). When it's time for the alarm to sound, the blades spin up tossing the carafe full of tiny balls flying while it plays '70s game show themes.

You know what, on second thought, this thing sounds terribly irritating, something that belongs in the junkyard of the world's dumbest USB gadgets. We never liked 'The Price Is Right,' so why would we want to wake up to it? And the sound of balls being whacked around a blender carafe might look good on paper, but we think it might traumatize us after a couple of mornings. If you find yourself feeling that masochistic, you can head on over Usb.Brando.com.hk and get yourself one for $25.

From Engadget

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MatchBox Twenty and Others Release Music on USB Drives

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 19th 2007 at 11:42AM

Record Industry Releasing Music on USB Drives

Shhh... you hear that? That's the sound of the record industry grasping at straws. The latest desperate attempt to lure in consumers is selling albums on USB drives. This isn't the first time artists have gone the digital drive route, but the move is getting a renewed push from the record industry.

Universal, Warner and EMI have all announced plans to sell music on USB Flash drives. Details are scant, and there's no word on format, bit rate, DRM-or-not... nothing. All we do know is that they'll pack the drives up with extras like videos, desktop wallpapers and icons. We also know that these drives will be more expensive than their CD counterparts. As you can see from the above picture, the drives will come in fan-friendly wristband forms, for starters.

Earlier this year, the White Stripes dropped its latest album 'Icky Thump' on overpriced, albeit cool looking, USB drives. The band was beat to market by the Barenaked Ladies by a full two years, though. Now, Matchbox Twenty is preparing to release its next album 'Exile on Mainstream' on a USB bracelet.

Willie Nelson, the estate of Bob Marley, the Rolling Stones, and UK group the Fratellis all have also jumped on the bandwagon. However we can save the labels some time by letting them in on a secret: no one buys these things.

From Engadget and USA Today

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World's Dumbest USB Gadgets

by Phillip Crandall, posted Oct 12th 2007 at 12:26PM

As far as computer ports go -- and technologies in general -- USB has got to be the friendliest. Not only does it lovingly accept almost any kind of gadget imaginable, it also generously parcels out power to those gadgets so that they don't need to be plugged into a wall. As a result, it's quickly become the de facto interface for our printers, scanners, digital cameras, iPods, thumb drives and every other techno-majig we've come to rely on. However, this ubiquity and good will has led to the misuse of the USB port, which is increasingly being used to juice products that have no business being connected to a computer. In the following pages, you'll find the 10 dumbest miscarriages of the USB port we could find.

Thanko USB Ashtray

Thanko USB Ashtray
Do you smoke at your desk? Do you often mix up which Red Bull can you're drinking from and which one you're ashing into? Then, it's a lucky thing there's this $16.50 ashtray, which employs a USB-powered motor to suck up the smoke from your nicotine log. Once it hoovers in your smog, the ashtray passes the smoke through two built-in filters to keep your workspace from being damaged by the very same toxins and poisons you're brutalizing your insides with.
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USB 3.0 Coming Next Year, 10x Faster than 2.0

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 19th 2007 at 10:03AM

10x Faster USB 3.0 Coming Next YearIntel is working with competitors to develop USB 3.0, a new standard that will be 10-times faster than USB 2.0.

The initial USB 1.0 specification in 1996 had a maximum speed of about 1.5 megabytes-per-second, which means that a one gigabyte file transfer takes about 11 minutes. When 2.0 came around in 2000, that speed was upped by a huge margin to 60 megabytes-per-second, meaning that same file transfer could be completed in less than 20 seconds. USB 3.0 will deliver speeds of approximately 600 megabytes-per-second, so that same one gigabyte file will be transferred in less than two seconds.

USB 3.0 is still on paper at this point, with the details being finalized by all interested parties. Intel hopes to have the specification detailed by early 2008 and, if that goes according to plan, we might see blazing-fast USB 3.0 devices by the end of next year. It'll be the perfect companion for those 39-megapixel images from your new $37,000 Hasselblad camera.

From DailyTech

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USB Eye Massager Aims to Help Tired Computer Users

by Evan Shamoon, posted Aug 3rd 2007 at 8:07AM




Question number one: Who buys this stuff? Chinese company Sundayo has released its highly-unanticipated USB Eye Massager, which is meant for those of us who spend our days staring into the pixilated abyss known as the computer monitor.

But it also begs question number two: Does using your real fingers to manually massage your eyes really require that much effort -- especially at the risk of losing your vision or, for that matter, taking up a precious USB slot?

We hope these don't catch on, lest we become a population of super-weak, bad-vision-having Popeyes (before he eats the spinach).

From GeekSugar


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Singer Sewing Machine Goes High Tech

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 27th 2007 at 12:04PM

Singer Goes High Tech

You probably know Singer as the 150 year-old company that makes sewing machines. Seems the old stitch maker is getting with the times and has released a new line of sewers that interact with computers via USB. These aren't the first such machines with USB support, but Singer's new line will range between just $699 to $1,399 (cheap for a quality sewer).

The USB interface means you can upload pictures directly to your machine and let it do the embroidery for you. You can also use included software with clip-art to make cutesy designs and sit back while it does all the hard work. For traditionalists, the new Singers include standard features like a built-in needle threader, a selection of 80 stitches, a buttonholer, and, perhaps best of all, a "handy vinyl accessory storage bag."

We can't think of a better way to make some Pac-Man-themed pillows for that gaming nephew of ours -- assuming he knows who Pac-Man is.

From Technology Live

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