If I where to design this product the ratio would be reversed. I’d create a 3 USB port adaptor with one cigarette plug. After all, I only need one car frig to keep my beer cold at the baseball games. But I do have an MP3 player, phone and camera I’d like to charge up while on the drive over.

The Brando 3-in-1 car adapter with USB port is definitely a good idea. There have been several occasions where I’ve wanted one.

UberGizmo brings up a good point - it might not be the best idea to daisy chain some USB hubs off the single port to power everything you’ve got. Might strain the car battery too much over a long period of time, none-the-less, an excellent item to have for those long hauls.

Brando has them for $20 and ships to the US (and globally) very quickly and inexpensive. (more…)

Can I apply oxymoron to a product? If I could this would be it. The USB panic button. The idea is a single tap on the panic button clears your computer screen of those erm suspect websites and opens a generic document so your boss or wife doesn’t catch your mouse where it shouldn’t be.

Another tap of the USB panic button and “game-on.” My problem with this useless USB gadget is the large, obtrusive, colorful button grabs plenty of attention and your boss will want to push it as badly as you. BAMB, now you’ve got your boss in your face and p-rn on the screen. Too bad those Corona Time-Out’s don’t really work.

The USB novelty gadget is kinda cool, but it’s definitely not the USB self-destructing button. (more…)

The long awaited wireless USB hubs are starting to show their face. Belkin did a push for nearly a year before their wireless hub came out; Gefen just made their announcement about a 4 port wireless USB hub.

This is an excellent choice for those having peripherals further then a common USB cable connection. The Gefen WUSB hub uses a USB dongle at the host PC and will communicate up to 60 feet to the wireless hub.

Since these types of products have not hit the shelves yet, the real-world transfer rate is yet to be determined. The specification calls for data transfer rates between 55Mb/s to the max of 480Mb/s (wouldn’t that be nice) but I believe that will depend more on distance. (more…)

The pathetic man’s disco laptop light from Brando is now available. Not much to this $10 USB laptop light other than a blinking light every second which toggles between green, red, blue, purple and yellow colors.

I guess you could home-brew a disco light show with a handful of these and a USB hub. Might be a good mood-setter for the traveling sales man and his recent “friend” from the hotel lounge. Thus; pathetic. (more…)

The WiRanger from Icron is a wireless USB hub making it easier than ever to unclutter your desk and redistribute that crap to the credenza, filing cabinet or your buddies cubical.

“Icron’s flexible ExtremeUSB technology is the engine that enables USB 1.1 or 2.0 connections over any media: wireless, cable, power line or fiber optics.”

so given Icron are experts with USB, jumping into WUSB is a logical move.

What I like about this solution is no software is needed for configuration so Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac users can benefit from this product. The hub uses a USB dongle from the host computer which communicates with the remote hub.

Using the 802.11g radio frequency the WiRanger can transfer data up to …well, Icron just says high speed. Speed will be determined by the peripheral product and radio frequency output of about 58Mbps - not the performance of the hub. The range is about 30 meters from base unit to hub unit.  The WiRanger is a 4 port hub and has a set MSRP of $395. Icron said the WUSB hub to be available this spring, which should be any day now. Icron also eludes to other high-end WUSB solutions coming to market for the military, pro-sumer and medical markets in the coming months. (more…)

Let me help Belkin help you with their latest product announcement the In-Desk Grommet USB Hub and In-Desk Grommet iPod Dock Station. Every now and again, a real great idea comes along and I believe this is one of them. What I like about this solution are the side spaced so you can still fit your other cables, like monitor and keyboard connections down through the desk grommet.

At $39 the Belkin In-Desk USB iPod dock station and hub are a fair price. Belkin also has two other “flat” models available. Grommet size solutions are standard 2 inch and 3 inch holes. I was going to click the Buy Now button, but Belkin is just prepping the market, nothing is available just yet. (more…)

RiDATA introduces their Yego flash drive, the name is a twist on Lego as the Yego lets you connect multiple flash drives, creating a mini-hub environment. And if you haven’t done the math already the “Y” in Yego is derived from the fact that…well, just look at the picture.

What GetUSB.info is most interested about is what kind of transfer rates can you expect from the additional drives plugged into the “Y” connectors. We’ve put one on order and will report back. Available from 128MBs to 4GBs.

(more…)