By Chris Scott Barr

Batteries. Let’s face it, you probably can’t live your daily live without relying on them. They’re in your car, your laptop, and even the remote to your TV. It’s likely that the most common ones that you actually have to change are of the AA and AAA variety. These tend to power smaller devices like keyboards, mice, game controllers and the like. They also tend to run out of juice when you need them the most.

If you rely on AA and AAA batteries for a lot of your gadgets, then you’ve no doubt invested in a few sets of rechargeables. This is a great economic way to make sure that you always have a fresh set around (without having to keep buying new ones all the time). Now if you’re on the road a lot with these battery-loving gadgets, you don’t want to clutter up your luggage with another charger, do you? Of course not. Instead, what you need are batteries that can be recharged without a special adapter. These USBCell batteries seem like just the thing.

At first glance, these seem like the perfect solution for the road warrior. They are a set of AA batteries, which have built-in USB adapters. You simply insert each into a free USB port on your computer, and they will start charging up. The question is whether or not they’re actually worth buying.

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By Andrew Liszewski

At first glance this small, 10-inch LED lamp appears to be yet another crappy USB gadget designed more for novelty purposes than anything else. But it hides a secret that actually makes this lamp a somewhat useful multi-tasker. The shade pivots to reveal a fan that’s hidden beneath its flowery design, so not not only will the lamp provide a bit of extra light for those late-night WOW sessions, but it will also keep you cool in the heat of battle. Not surprisingly it’s available from Gadget4all.com for just $16, which is probably $15 more than it cost to make.

[ USB LED Desk Lamp + Fan ] VIA [ GadgetReview ]

By Chris Scott Barr

If you have a phone with an unlimited data plan, it can be frustrating when the carrier won’t allow you to use your phone as a modem. After all, if you’re paying for unlimited data, why shouldn’t you be able to use it as you please? One company has designed a very special USB cable that claims to let you do just that.

Pretec’s new H220 Intellicable cable has a built-in flash drive, which contains a special suite of software. This allows your computer to trick the phone into thinking it’s a USB modem. Thus, free internet for your laptop. The software takes care of all the necessary communication handshakes in roughly 10 seconds, with nothing actually being installed on your computer. It’s supposed to work with most phones that use either mini-USB or micro-USB. We’re not sure when this will be available, or for how much, but it sounds like it would be worth looking into.

[ Pretec ] VIA [ EverythingUSB ]

By Ian Chiu

Even though USB 3.0 is starting to appear on high end PCs and notebooks, the rest of us are still stuck with slow and old USB 2.0. There’s no point in investing in something that you couldn’t even take advantage of for now. This is especially the case with USB 3.0 flash drives which get a massive boost in performance, but they come at a jaw-dropping price premium. So, there’s still a market for USB 2.0 flash drives even if the room improvement is small.

Corsair’s latest Flash Voyager GTR flash drive – backed by a generous ten-year warranty – comes in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. What makes them special isn’t the sequential read or write speed (which is already bottlenecked by USB 2.0), but the small file write. This is noteworthy since transfer rate tends to drop as file sizes get smaller. The Flash Voyager GTR is able to maintain a respectable 21MB/s during 2MB write test, twice the speed of other drives. The large file tests are equally impressive. All in all, it makes sense to check out write performance as most companies primarily focus on read.

[ Everything USB - Corsair Flash Voyager GTR Flash Drive Review ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I still think the SoundRacer is the coolest replacement for your car’s cigarette lighter, but if you’d rather swap in something more practical, you can’t go wrong with this Micro USB Charger. It basically gives you a USB port that can be used to charge cellphones or MP3 players, and with a design that sits flush enough to look like it blends into your car’s interior, a glowing blue ‘X’ so it can easily be located in the dark and a price tag of just $24, I’m hard pressed to find any reason why a non-smoker wouldn’t immediately want one for their own vehicle.

[ Micro USB Car Charger ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Back at CES we showed you an awesome little keychain that doubles as an iPod connector. We weren’t exactly sure on a street price or date, but now we are. The flipSYNC comes in two flavors, one that caters to the iPhone/iPod user, and the other features Mini and MicroUSB connectors.

Both of these models are now available for $20. They’re the same size as your average key fob for your car, so it’ll fit nicely on your keychain. If you’re someone that is always in need of a charging cable, then it’ll definitely be worth it.

[ Scosche ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I try to see the good in most products, but I’m really having a hard time figuring out why anybody would buy this collection of miniature light up signs that each plug into a USB port. The signs include warnings or phrases like On Air, Fasten Your Seat Belt, SOS and an assortment of others that feature a combination of Japanese and English words, or just strictly Japanese. Besides wasting a USB port, which is still a precious commodity on most computers these days, the signs will also serve to drain your battery. And while you might think you’re impressing the people around you with one of these plugged in, no one outside a three foot radius will be able to read what they say. Available sometime in May from Play-Asia for a yet to be disclosed price.

[ Light Up USB Warning Labels ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]

By Ian Chiu

MS Arc Keyboard seems to have something for everyone. Whether you need a miniature wireless input device for your HTPC or an easy-to-carry laptop keyboard replacement, the Arc looks like it can serve these roles just well enough to get by. The keyboard itself has a familiar layout for touch typists, and has acceptably low latency to satisfy casual gamers. Though, the D-pad is a pain to deal with during text selections. There’s also no built-in mouse controls which may not be particularly important in a home theater PC environment.

The lightweight Arc keyboard measures just 12″ x 6″, making it extremely portable especially with the bundled nylon pouch. A tiny USB receiver can be quickly stowed into an open compartment on the underside of the keyboard. It’s a shame however that the keyboard and the Arc mouse couldn’t share the same nano USB dongle, unlike Logitech’s Unifying receiver. As the Arc is primarily made to save precious desktop space and to minimize carry weight for road warriors, the miniature keyboard with a slight curvature lacks a lot of advanced features found on similarly priced alternatives yet it should fit nicely in various environments.

[Everything USB - MS Arc Keyboard Review]

By Chris Scott Barr

As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time at my desk. So much in fact, that there is a mini fridge withing rolling distance of my chair. It’s nice to be able to grab a drink without breaking my flow of concentration. Of course prepping some food still means going downstairs and taking care of it. What I want is something I can set on my desk that will warm up my food.

Here is yet another desktop microwave concept. Why are there so many concepts without an actual product being on the shelves? It’s like the designers enjoy teasing us. Anywho, this one is also USB-powered (which makes me wonder at its effectiveness) and only appears to heat up special meals. Sure, the means would come with a RFID-equipped plastic utensil that programmed the time into the microwave, but it won’t cook my Spaghetti-o’s. Is that really too much to ask?

[ Yanko ] VIA [ GearFuse ]