More often then not design ideas never get past the prototype stage. Case in point, Greg Schramek created this concept of a disposable digital video camera where the simple shell is intuitive enough anyone could use.
Once the footage is recorded you connect the disposable video camera to a processing station via USB for conversion to DVD. Nice idea, but Greg calls for the conversion process to take place at grocery stores, and pharmacies. From personal experience, getting that distribution channel squared away is a much bigger task then creating the product.
Besides, the video quality and features of a cell phone are probably just as good. BUT, Greg, if you’re read this, don’t get me wrong – we all love dreamers. And nice graphic design skills.
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The Pinnacle PCTV DVB-T Flash Stick is one of the many TV receiver solutions out in the market these days. Dave Carter from Gadget Centre did a detailed review I’ll share with you. First off, the Pinnacle USB tuner is a step above the rest in that it’s true plug-n-play. There is no loading of software, simply plug in via USB and you’re set-up. This is a big bonus as taking the TV tuner from PC to PC is a snap.
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I’m on the fence about this one. Solid Alliance came out with a UFD which also incorporates a stamp. It’s called the USB Stamp. Use one end to store data and the other to graffiti up whatever is with-in arms reach. The problem I see with this is the time it takes to eject the USB drive from your OS you could easily have grabbed 3 stamps to do your business.
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I’m sure this concept was the request of a customer, but kudos to SolidAlliance for thinking outside the sponge box.
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The latest addition to U3 is the Junior edition of MathOwns software. Yep, now it’s possible to drill your kids via USB in their math abilities.
For the competitive parent this is an ideal tool to sharpen skills based off pre-reselected criteria and math levels. Forget flash cards as the MathOwns software auto-generates exercises and provides email or PDF notification options upon completion of drills.
Sarcasm set aside, anything to make kids learn more and make it more interactive and fun is definitely a plus. I have first hand seen the interest kids have when working on computers and to have math lessons and exercises loaded on their Spongebob flash drive is a nice benefit.
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The buzz about Apple TV remains strong, especially with new hacks and plugins. The most recent is an RSS reader plugin which is fully functioning with RSS1.x and 2.x. You can grab this plugin from the folks who cranked it out, twenty08. Only downer is the lack of support from ATOM feeds, but that group is a minority these days.
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This is definitely a product which is more commercial, but there are a few home users who could get excited about this. Network Tech Inc introduced a KVM box that connects via USB and through CAT5 can expand the Keyboard, Video and Mouse another 300 feet.
For the gamer, this means you can put your water-cooled, dual processor kick a$$ PC off in the remote bedroom closet while game without a hint of PC noise. Although at $385 it might be a tough sale. Don’t kid yourself, the ST-C5USBV-300Xtendex gives a crisp clear 1920×1440 resolution at 300 feet.
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Swiss Army has an complete army of high-end USB flash drives. The Swiss Army Bonfort line has three designs of their 1GB “Prestige SwissMemory” product. Here is the top-shelf model, the Yellow Gold & Diamond Line. Priced at just $6,000 . The 18 ct. shell is lined with hand placed diamonds by the world’s best craftsmen. No word on diamond size and quality – I for one, would need to know that info before dropping Six Gs.
The other two designs are “Cross” and “Croco” which you can see below. The Swiss Cross design is available in yellow gold or white gold at $3,200 for either model, while the Croco is available for $800 (sl) or $3,200 (gold).
All versions of the USB Swiss knife include 1GB of memory, blade, nail file with screwdriver, scissors and key ring. But, no on-line ordering which is unfortunate as I had my wallet out and everything.
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We’ve been waiting to report on the USB storage abilities of the Nintendo Wii, today it finally came. The USB port you’ve so longed to use as extra storage will eventually see the light of day. Today Nintendo partnered with a USB embedded software vendor eSOL to use their USB stack code for file management on the Wii.
True, the Wii has an SD memory slot but that taps out at 2GBs, this new partnership means a potential storage size of 32GBs, or for the common folk, 2-8GBs of storage.
Although no official Nintendo announcement came about the news of this development, the writing is on the wall.
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With summer time coming up, a small investment into a USB beverage cooler isn’t a bad idea. Especially after hearing the USB cooler actually works. I have a feeling some of my PayPal dollars will be going towards this real soon.
If you can’t see the video, click here.
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WalkingSpree.com will serve as a multi-city sponsor for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. WalkingSpree is donating $20,000 worth of USB Pocket Pedometers to be distributed among the eight cities as a training tool for walkers and raffle prizes to encourage walker registration.
Angela Perera, VP for WalkingSpree states:
Breast cancer is a major challenge for all of us with more than 200,000 new cases each year in North America. The USB pedometers will also contribute to the camaraderie of the event. WalkingSpree.com’s USB pedometer and their online program is a great tool for our walkers to help them prepare for their Avon Walk.
Here are the product details for the USB Pedometer.
Here is the schedule of events for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer:
Schedule for the 2007 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer series
I read an interesting report from Dark Reading today regarding hacking Bluetooth and how USB can play a roll. (Not that hacking for the dark force is anything cool) You don’t hear much about Bluetooth hacks because the tools needed (sniffers) start at about 10Grand.
A couple of security engineers where able to use a Cambridge Silicon Radio chip-based USB dongle, some flash memory and Bluetooth 2.x technology and some code hacked from a commercial Bluetooth sniffer to hack into a device’s communication via the Bluetooth signal.
There was no specific USB hack How-To information but the point is that if a simple USB dongle can be construed to do Bluetooth hacking then security risks for not only communication but device control could become a huge big problem.
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Brando is distributing the A-Data turbo speed USB flash drive, the PD7. This is a Windows Vista Readyboost dream with 133x (20MB) per second write speeds.
Not sure what’s up with brushed aluminum case, as this is the second release in one day, but it appears to be the trend – what can you say, good looking and durable.
Caution about the Vista Readyboost claim as today Microsoft got slapped with a lawsuit for false Vista compliance ads with regards to compatibility of “signature” features working in peripheral products.
