Gizmodo posted about a new product which is a docking station for your iPhone which turns it into a corded land line phone. WOW…how times have changed.

Clearly two steps back, a dock station for an iPhone and it’s not even cordless.  But looking on the positive side, maybe the old timer middle management crowd can finally embrace technology of the iPhone without giving up their corded desk phone.

It’s seems to be more of a concept phone.  Lets only hope.  What do you think?

Source:  Gizmodo.

GetUSB Dealz just spotted a D-Link RangeBooster for your laptop or PC for only $9.  Sure you can take a piece of tinfoil and make a paraball and reflect your signal off the router, but where is the fun in that?  Besides, it looks cheap.

So here is the dealz…the D-Link RangeBooster has a list price of $48.  There is a $41 discount and Buy.com is throwing in free ground shipping.  Net cost, only $9 USD.

Here is the company line:

ENHANCED WIRELESS PERFORMANCE
Connect to a fast and secure wireless network by adding the D-Link RangeBooster G™ USB Adapter (WUA-2340) to your desktop or notebook PC. Access your network’s high-speed Internet connection while also getting secure access to shared files, music, and photos from other computers in your network.

RANGEBOOSTER G™ TECHNOLOGY
Built with RangeBooster G Technology, this Wireless USB Adapter delivers faster wireless signal rates and better reception than most other 802.11g devices. Having a faster connection gives you more time to enjoy listening to music and watching videos rather than spending time waiting for files to finish transferring. With better wireless reception, you can connect to the network from farther distances.

TOTAL NETWORK SECURITY
This USB Adapter offers total network protection by supporting WEP and WPA encryption. These features safeguard your data and privacy by giving you access to a secure wireless network.

EASY TO INSTALL AND USE
Set up the Wireless USB Adapter in minutes with D-Link’s Quick Setup Wizard. In addition, D-Link’s new utility detects available wireless networks so you can quickly connect to the network. It also keeps track of the networks used most often so that you can easily rejoin them. This Wireless USB Adapter is backward compatible with 802.11b standard, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of wireless routers and networks.

Victorinox has done some outlandish things in the past with respect to flash drives, including their $6,000 flash drive, and today they raise the bar once again.

Victorniox is offering £100,000 to any hacker who can crack their new biometric drive.  Now there is a company with confidence.

But it’ll take one talented hacker to get the cash.  Victorinox is running the hack challenge at their flagship store in London and hackers are given 2 hours to crack it and access the content stored on the disk.

The bio-drive uses a core technology called Secure Pro, which employs fingerprint reader with additional thermal and oxygen sensors to confirm that the pattern actually comes from a real, live finger. The USB stick also employs a single-chip architecture with 256-bit AES hardware encryption engine to minimize the chance of being intercepted on the circuit. As if this isn’t enough, any brute-force attempts will be dealt with by Secure Pro’s self-destruct mechanism, which literally fuses memory chip silicon beyond recovery all through the power of the USB bus.

Source:  EverythingUSB.com.

Here is another USB prototype design and it’s called the Infinite USB Plug.  The pictures look great and the concept is clever, however it just doesn’t work.  Never will.

Designed by Gonglue Jiang, the Infinite USB Plug allows you to keep adding your peripherals without the need USB hubs or hot swapping your devices on USB ports when needed. The color coding on plugs will make it easy to identify which plug belongs to which device.

The problem is the way USB typology works.  When connecting multiple devices via USB you cannot daisy-chain them.  You cannot piggy back them, it must be in a logical pyramid typology.  Which means, this concept requires a hub.

Designed by Gonglue Jiang, the Infinite USB Plug allows you to keep adding your peripherals without the need USB hubs or hot swapping your devices on USB ports when needed. The color coding on plugs will make it easy to identify which plug belongs to which device.

The problem is the way USB typology works.  When connecting multiple devices via USB you cannot daisy-chain them.  You cannot piggy back them, it must be in a logical

We have talked about USB turntables for years now.  One’s which rip directly to your iPod, one’s which rip vinyl and CDs, hoods, no hoods…it goes on and on.  Today I was tipped off about a $49 system made by Innovative Technology, the ITUT-201.

Encode your Vinyl Albums to MP3′s. The USB Turntable takes your favorite vinyl records and seamlessly converts them to MP3 digital format. Enjoy your music on your laptop or iPod, wherever you go! Easy to record with and use on any computer.

• Records Vinyl to PC via USB connection
• 3-Speed Turntable (33, 45, 78 rpm)
• One-Touch Play / Stop Control

Features
Records Turntable to PC via USB cable
3-Speed Turntable (33 1/3, 45, 78 rpm)
Ceramic Pick-up
One-Touch Play / Stop Control
Built-in Equilizer
RCA Line-out for Audio Amplifier
USB connection to enable Recording with PC
Transparent Dust Cover
Audacity Audio Editor and Recording Software
Turntable supports all version of Win 95, 98, 2000, XP and Vista as wells as MAC

Get the USBDealz now.  Get the USB turntable for only $49 bucks!

So why Green on Saint Patrick’s Day?

According to some accounts, blue was the first color associated with St. Patrick’s Day, but that started to change in the 17th century. Green is one of the colors in Ireland’s tri-color flag, and it has been used in the flags of several Irish revolutionary groups throughout history. Ireland is the “Emerald Isle,” so named for its lush green landscape. Green is also the color of spring, the shamrock, and the Chicago River, which the Midwestern city has dyed green on St. Patrick’s Day for the past 40-odd years.

Today I stumbled upon a nice little website which talks about hacking up your MagicJack voice over IP phone.

The site has tips which include how to stop the software from popping up on your screen [so you can see their ads], spoofing the caller ID, changing the proxy server and using the MagicJack hardware with Skype software [nice!].

Anyone with a MagicJack phone should visit the MagicJack hack site.  You can also find a review of the MagicJack here.