The Netbook Mate by Fantom solves many problems with the popular netbooks, it gives you expansion!  Simply use a USB cable and connect from the Netbook to a Fantom USB port and you’ve suddenly got:  A DVD burner, USB ports, 160GB hard drive and ergonomic dock station!

Now on sale from Buy.com

Expand the storage capacity of your Netbook with Netbook Mate. Its combination of easy slide in/out 2.5″ removable drive, DVDRW,two built in USB port hub and cooling fan enhances your Netbook in every way and gives you the ultimate portability.

Easily carry your photos, music, video and files where ever you go. Because your Netbook lacks an optical drive, doesn’t mean you have to live without one. The Netbook Mate will let you burn discs or watch movies at any time. Simply connect your Netbook Mate to a USB port on your Netbook and you are done; Installation is that easy! The Netbook Mate fits most brand Netbooks from 8 to 11 inches, it is extremely compact and light weight.

Hovercam X500 is great name for the function it performs, hovering over documents to project via camera.  The Hovercam is meant to replace the age old overhead projector we are most familiar with from grade school.

The X500 USB imaging device has a 5 megapixel sensor mounted on a swing arm that can either scan and recognize or monitor and project anything on the surface underneath. As a scanner, the HoverCam performs as a 600dpi equivalent scanner. Scans are snapped as photos would be, in an instant. No more waiting for the slow trudging of the scan sensor to run up and down the page.

The free software that is included with the X500 is called HoverCam Flex. The Flex is not surprisingly built on the Adobe Air platform, and is a desktop based application that connects directly to their web services. Images can be uploaded, saved, published, shared and OCR’d with a quick drag and drop. The HoverCam Flex service also provides quick integration with other cloud services like Google OCR, Picassa, DropBox and e-Fax. The benefits of the software alone might be worth the $199 asking price of the HoverCam X500.

To get the Hovercam X500 just visit Amazon and you’ll get a better price than the MSRP. (more…)

The all new Kensington Ci70 USB keyboard is ultra slim for those seeking minimal usage of work space real estate.  In addition, the Ci70 includes a small USB hub for connecting those USB powered gadgets.

The USB keyboard comes with two full size USB type A connectors to connect MP3 players, cameras and promotional USB drives and one mini-USB connector for syncing mobile phones and digital cameras.

Kensington indicates the USB keyboard is 35% smaller then a typical keyboard, but don’t mention the height of this “slim design.”  It appears to be about 1.5cm at the keyboard and 3cm at the back where the hot buttons are located.

The Ci70 retails for $50, but we found it at Amazon for just a little less. (more…)

Have you ever thrown your hands up in frustration because you simply want to use the Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse of a laptop to access a server or other standalone device?  I have, but never know what product could help…now I do.

The Portable Laptop KVM Adapter from StarTech is specifically designed to turn your notebook into a portable KVM station.  Simply connect the adapter between your standalone [or GUIless device] and notebook and you’re off and running.

I would think the biggest market for such a product are large data centers where they need to access any number of servers without a full KVM installation.

“Aside from a rack mount LCD console, which can be expensive, server administrators and technicians would typically have to use a server room ‘crash cart’, which is a cart comprised of a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Although a typical ‘crash cart’ is somewhat mobile, it lacks the portability of our Laptop KVM Adapter, which provides identical but more convenient control”.

The NOTECONS01 USB 2.0 Laptop KVM Adapter offers immediate BIOS-level access to the connected computer from the laptop control point, as well as the ability to handle full configuration of the attached PC, server, or other headless machines such as ATMs, kiosks and VLTs.

But the portable USB KVM station doesn’t come cheap, the MSRP starts at $470.

Thanks Andrea!

I have mentioned other 35mm Slide Scanners, but today I found one which is 100% standalone, no PC required!

This standalone 35mm Slide Scanner allows even the most technologically challenged person easily scan old 35mm slides into digital archives.

In just seconds the scanner will turn your 35mm image into a .jpeg photo file.  You have some options to see the resolution of the digital image, with a maximum resolution of 3,600DPI [dots per inch].

The new jpeg image is instantly saved to the SD memory card sitting inside the 35mm slide scanner.

To insure the image is what you expect, the unit includes an (more…)

Typically we see a USB monitor in the form of a screen with some sort of VGA converter with a USB port, like the one from USB Fever, but today we see a different version.  Samsung has introduced a monitor which runs by simply plugging in the USB cable to any laptop.  There is no adapter or converter required.

The conversion from an analog signal to digital signal is made within the monitor itself, thus eliminating the need for external VGA converter.

The Samsung model reports an impressive 30,000:1 contrast with speedy 5ms response time.

Samsung did not comment on availability within the states or the pricing, but it’s nice to see the trend of external monitors go the route of USB.  After all, what other connectivity is as simple and convenient? (more…)

Ion Audio, the guys known for their vinyl record ripper, expands their analog conversion product line, with the Ion 35mm Photo Negative and Slide Converter.

Quickly and easily transfer slide film or 35mm film into beautiful, high resolution, digital images with the Ion unit.  USB 2.0 connection and USB 2.0 port. There is fixed focus range and auto exposure/color balance with high-quality 4 glass optical element to bring you the best quailty of digital copies.

Although you wont get the very best image quality the Ion 35mm converter is definitely an economical solution for small jobs or home transfer projects.

The product is available at Amazon for well under (more…)