Lets face it, USB sticks are an everyday tool for doing business.  That’s why I was surprised to hear the ban on USB flash drives at the Pentagon back in November of 08.  However, I can see the security concerns they would have with the power a USB stick can behold.

Today, we found out the ban will be lifted from the DoD in the coming months.

Robert Cary the CIO for the Navy states. “In the future, we expect that a government-owned and procured USB flash media that is uniquely and electronically identifiable for use in support of mission-essential functions on DoD networks will be permitted for use by authorized individuals,” Cary said in his blog. “The bottom line is, the days of using personally owned flash media or using flash media collected at conferences or trade shows are long gone. What we connect to our home PCs is very different from what is and will be allowed to occur on DON [Department of Navy] networks.”

This policy is more in line with what I’d expect from the military and devices like the Encryptakey I would think become a staple at locations like the Pentagon.

Source:  DarkReading.

I had doubts putting this post up today.  Honestly it’s just for the pure novelty of it all.  Brando has a USB Ferris Wheel for your office.  Yes, that’s right, a ferris wheel to make your work day just that much more fun.

The problem is how annoying the USB toy really is.  You’ll either throw it out the window or you’re co-workers will.  I’m not even sure if kids would enjoy this after 3 or 4 seconds.

I can’t post the video of the USB Ferris Wheel working, but click over to the Brando site and check it out yourself.

I really shouldn’t have posted this useless USB novelty.  [$30 + shipping]

2010 will be a fun year of USB reporting and blogging with USB 3.0 just starting to break with new products.  Today we have the first USB  3.0 WebCam from Point Grey.  The webcam has the bandwidth and capability to push a full 1080p video stream without compression.

Since USB host controllers are not yet available, Point Grey has teamed with Fresco Logic to include a USB 3.0 PCI interface card.

EverythingUSB brings up a good point with these new USB 3.0 devices, they will actually become cheaper than their slower, 2.0 predecessors.  The reason being:  less logic and hardware is required inside the device to do processing such as compression and decompression, USB 3.0 now simply push the data through the pipe.

The Point Grey Webcamera is slatted to display at the IDF 2009 conference in San Fransicso in a couple weeks.

Point Grey USB webcam product page [here].

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…)

Here at GetUSB.info we are a fan of the USB key logger technology.  After all, what better way to find out what employees, girlfriends and such are doing with their spare time.  Especially with all the social network, it’s important to know what is, or is not, being said about you.

We have reported about USB key loggers before, but this one is especially nice with the old school PS/2 connector.  Great for the older machines.

The device comes with 2MB of internal memory, but check it often as that amount of space will be filled quickly.

Pricing is a bit different depending on the connection type you need.  $60-$75.

Here is the USB key logger product page.

Reminder from UberGizmo.

The Windows IceBox is an interesting little tool.  It’s a software program which runs from a USB stick that locks down partitions on your hard drive.  The concept is that you lock down partitions on your hard drive so that other users, like your kids, don’t get in there and start accidentally deleting important files, registry entries, uninstalling software,etc.

The USB Windows IceBox includes recovery software for your hard drive and has the ability to block virus software or malware programs from getting into your computer.

From my perspective, it’s a nice little tool, but if you have the smarts to partition up your hard drive, you probably have the smarts to create multiple users as well.  See the USB Windows IceBox will lock down your partitions when you walk away [certain amount of idle time] but you can do the same thing with User Login priveleges.  Just don’t give your kids (more…)

GetUSB has seen the Record to USB players from Ion Audio before and we’ve seen these filter into Costco, Wal-Mart and even Urban Outfitters, and now Thanko has joined the ranks with their new USB Record Player.

Granted, it’s not designed with the same conversion tools that Ion Audio has, but it does work with Windows Sound Record or Mac’s Garage Band, so conversion of vinyl to MP3 is totally possible.  In fact, many might prefer their standard apps to do the conversion rather than deal with a 3rd party software package.

Either way, the Thanko USB Record Player is a nice addition to that old-school sound for just $100 bucks.

Thanko hasn’t released a US version yet, but you can get one now from Japanese retailers here.