Oh! Gizmo

By Chris Scott Barr

The era of USB 3.0 will soon be upon us. Devices are slowly being talked about, and compatible motherboards being announced. Of course unless you’re planning on building a new machine in the near future, you’ll either have to live with your old 2.0 ports, or buy an add-on card. Asus has announced such a card that not only gives you two of the latest USB ports, but also a pair of SATA 6.0 ports.

The card allows you to experience the full power of both new standards, provided you have a free PCI-E port on your motherboard. Sure, it’s probably still a little early to really start thinking about USB 3.0, but this is a case where I really don’t see an issue with it. The card is only $30 (USB 2.0 cards were at least twice as much when it came out) and you’re going to get SATA 6.0 ports to boot. According to Asus, the card will be out “soon.”

[ Asus ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Have you been pining over that USB 3.0-equipped Asus motherboard that we showed you last week? Sure, there aren’t any peripherals that actually take advantage of the new standard, but at least you’d be prepared. At the time Asus hadn’t provided us with any pricing or availability on the board, however, now we know exactly when this baby will be shipping. That would be never.

Apparently Asus has decided to scrap the board, without really giving any reason. The only thing they mentioned was that they were working on other things. I guess maybe it is a little early to get excited about USB 3.0, but you can’t use peripherals without ports. Then again, what good are ports without peripherals? Now we’re back to the old chicken and the egg thing.

[ Tom's Hardware ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Anyone here remember switching over from USB 1.1 to 2.0? The difference in speed was like going from dial-up to T1. Well we’re finally approaching that kind of change again with USB 3.0. We’ve been hearing about this new standard for years, but until now there hasn’t been a single device that supports it. Well someone had to come first, and that someone is ASUS.

If you’ve ever wondered which came first, the port or the peripheral, the answer is apparently the port. Asus has been working on their new P6X58 Premium motherboard, which will feature a pair of USB 3.0 ports. You’ll also have support for the latest i7 CPUs, six DDR3 slots and three PCI-Express 2.0 slots. No word on when it’ll be hitting the market, or how much of a premium it’ll fetch for the USB 3.0.

[ Xfastest ] VIA [ UberReview ]

By Shane McGlaun

The netbook is one of the most popular categories in the notebook market right now. According to recent numbers form DisplaySearch netbooks accounted for 20% of the total notebook market in Q1 2009 and sales keep growing.

Asus sired the netbook category with its Eee netbooks back in 2007 and some of those early machines have tiny SSDs for storage. Super Talent has announced a new line of upgrade SSDs for owners of the Eee 900, 901, 901A, 901 GO, and S101 netbooks.

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By Jonathan Kimak

Asus has announced a new controller. The Eee Stick is a wireless controller that senses motion. But don’t let the similar sounding name, design and function of the Eee Stick fool you, it’s made for PC gaming.

The controller will be bundled with a variety of Asus brand computers and some games designed specifically for use with the Eee Stick.

So are the controllers a good alternative to Wii-less people who have a PC but not a Wii? Or is it a cheaply made knock-off intended to sell mini computers? Only time, and comments from consumers will tell.

[ Asus ] VIA [ Electronista ]

By Luke Anderson

I’ve spent several years working as a network technician, and can appreciate the need for security. Unfortunately many people just don’t seem to understand the importance of locking down their wireless network, and thus I can connect to no less than 3 such networks while sitting in my living room. Sure, some of them might know it’s a bad idea, but are scared to set up their encryption for fear of destroying the internet. Well, if you pick up one of these new wireless routers and a USB adapter, anyone can set up a secure network.

With these new EZLink-enabled devices from Asus, you can set up a secure network simply by pressing a button on the router, then a button on your USB wireless adapter. Alternatively, you can simply enter a PIN which is located on the device. Either way, this is definitely the easiest method for securing a wireless network that I’ve seen.

The USB-N11 adapter supports 802.11n Draft up to 150Mbps, and will work on Windows, Mac and even Linux operating systems. No word on pricing or availability.

[ Asus ] VIA [ EverythingUSB ]

By Luke Anderson

Two-in-one (or more) convergence devices are always hit-or-miss. Some things just don’t need to be combined into a single product. I mean, you wouldn’t want your toaster to also work as a measuring cup, would you? Here’s a flash drive from Asus that also functions as a wireless mouse. While it’s not nearly as bad as my toaster idea (patent pending) I just don’t see this as being something I would want to use for even a short amount of time.

As a flash drive, it looks bulkier than most, and I likely wouldn’t want to carry it in my pocket. As a mouse, my hand starts cramping up at the mere though of using something that tiny. I think I’ll have to pass on this one. If you’re interested, you’ll be sad to hear that pricing and availability aren’t currently known.

[ Asus ] VIA [ EverythingUSB ]

by Shane McGlaun

Asus has a new line of UMPC’s that are called Eee for easy to work with, easy to learn, and easy to play. While the UMPC isn’t a new product with lots of them on the market, what is new is a UMPC that is down right affordable with versions of the Eee going for a mere $200.

Rumor has it that the cheapest version won’t be sold here in the states, but on the top end the Eee is reported to run around $400. You won’t get much in the way of performance for that amount of money with a small 7” LCD display, 512 MB of RAM, a small flash based hard drive rumored to be around 4GB and WiFi.

Asus would undoubtedly alloy users to upgrade their Eee system with more storage and perhaps more RAM as well. The notebook is planned to weigh around two pounds and be an inch thick or less. This won’t be a machine for ardent road warriors needing access to office applications, but for those who merely want to surf the net and chat, the Eee might be just the thing. Heck, bulk this think up a bit with enough RAM to run Windows decently and enough storage for Microsoft Office and I’d buy one for under $500.

VIA [ Asus ]