By Caitlyn Muncy

There are times when all of our grand technology runs out of juice, all at once. The only problem being that we don’t have enough USB charge ports available to us to charge everything at once. FastMac finally has their U-Sockets shipping out as you read this. A U-Socket has all the normal capabilities for three-pronged ports, but also has USB charge ports as well.

These super charger outlets can be installed on any pre-existing outlet, which makes for a very easy transfer. This is definitely the first of it’s kind on the market, and will improve the lives of gadget and gizmo-lovers across the states. Hopefully there are some designed for those around the globe who have a different shaped socket. These are only going to cost $19.95, and will help you charge everything when it needs to be charged instead of one at a time.

[ FastMac ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

By Chris Scott Barr

When it comes to your desktop, you rarely worry about having your keyboard and mouse stolen. After all, your desktop doesn’t often move from your desk, does it? If you’re a gamer who attends LAN parties, then you might be one of the few that does have to worry about your peripherals running off, and there’s a good chance that you don’t stick to the cheap stuff either. That’s why you need the Bunker.

This device is installed in one of your 5.25” bays and gives you four USB ports. What makes it different is that there is a door that swings shut over the ports, and locking. There is just enough room for your cable to stick out, but not for the plug to come through. This keeps your fancy gaming keyboard and mouse securely in place. For $25, it’s a must-have for LAN party-goers.

[ NZXT ]

By Chris Scott Barr

It’s rather apparent that the old video rental store model just isn’t working in today’s world. With companies like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster going under (the latter isn’t completely dead just yet, but it is getting there), I wonder how many years we’ll still see this type of business. The three biggest alternatives are discs by mail (Netflix), streaming video (also Netflix, Hulu, etc) and rental kiosks (RedBox, Blockbuster). One company is hoping to get in on the latter, with a twist.

How would you feel about going to a kiosk and renting a movie, loading it up on a USB flash drive and taking it home? Tha’ts what Flix on Stix is aiming for. They want to slap a movie on your USB flash drive (or sell you one) and program it to automatically disable playback after a set amount of time. Their rates certainly aren’t bad with $1 for 3 days, $2 for 6, $3 for 9 days and $4 for 12 days being talked about.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Liszewski

If you find your desk severely lacking in the adorable department, this novelty tractor trailer-themed USB hub + flash card reader will remedy that. Always ready to deliver extra connectivity or photos from your digital camera, the cab includes three USB ports while the trailer includes slots for pretty much all the important flash card formats from SD & CF to MemoryStick. The trailer is also removable if you just need a few extra USB ports, and when the cab’s USB cable is connected to your PC the truck’s headlights turn on letting you know it’s ready to roll. Available from Sanwa Direct for just over $18 (¥1,480).

[ USB Hub/Flash Card Readin' Tractor Trailer ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Ian Chiu

As with most things in life: BIGGER is BETTER when it comes to portable storage and no company knows that better than Seagate. They were the first to come out with single 3.5″ form factor monster 3TB hard drive and what better way to put all that space to use than in an external storage solution?!

With a very reasonable footprint that is no larger than previous models, the 3TB Seagate GoFlex Desk is a marvel of engineering. The ultra dense platters of the 3TB hard drive contained within gives this drive the potential to be just as fast as it is good looking. Sadly, its stock configuration is less than optimal as Seagate has hobbled it with the down right ancient USB 2.0 interface. Luckily, where it is a GoFlex drive the interface can easily be upgraded. When you combine USB 3.0 bandwidth with this drive, the potential of the GoFlex 3TB is fully leveraged. But you have to be willing to pay the price all that space and speed demand! Is this price worth it? Only you can answer that question for yourself. Everything USB has the full review.

[ Seagate GoFlex Desk 3TB External Drive Review @ Everything USB ]

By Ian Chiu

More and more companies are starting to catch on to the fact that the SuperSpeed interface is a veritable godsend for flash drives. When you remove the bandwidth bottleneck that was really the only thing keeping flash drives back what you can get can be astonishing; as you can get power & performance that still can fit in the palm of your hand!

The latest company to bring out a USB 3.0 flash drive is Kingston (following Super Talent) with their Data Traveler Ultimate 3.0. Compared to the older Data Travelers, this new model’s official speed of 80MB/s read and 60MB/s write are a much needed improvement, but the write speeds are a tad on the low side when compared to competitors in its price range. Luckily, its above average read speed does make up for some of this shortcoming and only you can really decide if it’s the perfect match for your needs or not. Everything USB has the full review.

[ Everything USB - Kingston Data Traveler Ultimate 3.0 Flash Drive Review ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Being able to charge electronics from your computer’s USB port is a handy convenience, but even on a desktop machine, they can run out pretty quickly. But I promise you that running out won’t be an issue with Thanko’s charging board which features 80 ports letting you charge pretty much every single USB device you own at the same time.

Looking at Thanko’s website the board obviously needs its own power supply to juice every port, though I’m not sure if it actually comes with one, or the photos are just there to remind you that you probably don’t want to tie this into your PC’s existing power supply. It’s not wired for data though, lest you think you’d be able to attach 80 flash drives and use it as some kind of hackney RAID. ~$182 (¥14,800) available from Thanko’s website, or cough up $249.99 from AudioCubes and save yourself the import headaches.

[ 80 Port USB Charger Board ]

By Andrew Liszewski

For everything R2-D2 did for the Republic and the Rebellion you’d think they’d have let him retire to some beach on Naboo, but it appears the only thing the poor astromech droid has to look forward to is a lifetime of inane servitude. This time around he’s serving as a miniature USB-powered humidifier that you crack open and fill with water that will slowly be turned to steam thanks to a piezoelectric heating element. He draws power from a USB port so you won’t need a restraining bolt to prevent him from wandering too far from your PC or laptop, and he’s available from ThinkGeek for just $19.99.

[ R2-D2 USB Humidifier ] VIA [ Lá em Casa ]

By Ian Chiu

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a brand new motherboard with integrated USB 3.0 ports; yet, many want to take advantage of the theoretical tenfold increase in speed the new copper interface has to offer.  For this burgeoning market many manufacturers have started to offer small add-on cards which can upgrade an existing rig to USB 3.0.

Sadly, not all of these add-on cards are created equal as there seems to be two separate and distinct types: PCI Express x1 and PCI Express x4. The latter seem to be the better choice if the ASUS U3S6 is any indication.  This particular board packs in not only two USB 3.0 ports, but also a pair of SATA 6GB/s ports.  It’s a killer combination with one caveat – the U3S6 isn’t an optimal solution unless your existing motherboard is on the extremely short ASUS approved motherboard list. If you disable the SATA 6, the USB 3.0 ports will most definitely work, and you can expect speed up to 245MB/s with a USB 3.0 SSD. For under $30, it’s a price that is hard to beat.

[ Everything USB - Asus U3S6 USB 3.0, SATA 6 Card Review ]