Author Archive

Matt Laboff

Administator for GetUSB.info GetUSB.info started in 2004 with the concept of providing USB information for everything USB related. At the time, USB was gaining momentum and every day new products, articles and news became published. Today, the site is focused on bringing technical information, tricks and hacks to USB related products. The site does publish off topic information as well, to keep the variety up. Please visit the footer area of any page if you or your company is interested in article or product placement via purchased advertising.

Cellink Swivel USB Stick Is Charger, Reader & UFD

Matt Laboff March 21, 2008 Flash Storage & Memory

Lets just raddle off the use of the Cellink USB swivel gadget.Â Of course you have the shape, look and feel of a typical UFD.Â With flash memory for…well you know.Â Next, swivel the Cellink and you’ve got a microSD card reader.Â Swivel the other direction and you’ve got a direct connected to your USB port and cell phone for some wireless charging.Â Of course you’ll block all the other ports in the process, but that’s the cost of cool gadgetry.

cellink swivel usb

If these become readily available it would be a great item to have.Â It seems like down-sizing your basket full of gadgets is a continual process.Â So here we streamline to a single UFD, forget another reader and the power cord to your cell phone. That’s progress.

cellink

Source:Â Aving. Continue Reading

SiteHoppin – Such a Social Viral Web Thaang

Matt Laboff March 20, 2008 USB News & Press Releases

It’s like bar-hoppin, but on the web. I was doing some Social Marketing today and was tipped off on the great affect SiteHoppin can give a webmaster.Â I checked it out, and sure enough the site is a brilliant twist on social bookmarking and networking. In a nut:Â SiteHoppin is a way to view other website without clicking your mouse – EVER, kinda like watching a movie of websites flash across your monitor. How SiteHoppin works:Â Think of a browser within a browser.Â As shown below, you have a sidebar and top nav area.Â Everything else is the real-live-web.Â In the sidebar, just click the play button and start watching website slide-show across your desktop – you don’t do a thing!Â Use the top navigation area to zero in on your specific topic of interest.

sitehoppin page layout

Hit the pause button to dig in deep into something of interest…use the Tag or Talk button to make things social.Â (arrows) Check it out and try it.Â SiteHoppin – GO. So this is where it gets interesting for webmasters.Â SiteHoppin offers Beer Credits.Â These are credits you can earn to send traffic to your site.Â Beer Credits are given by you simply using/viewing your own topics of interest via SiteHoppin.Â The more you use, the more you get.Â Sounds fair. I’ve started using SiteHoppin and have already seen my web hits increase.Â I’ve even requested Max (owner/developer) to include a USB category for all the lovely USB thaangs. SiteHoppin has a host more of features and benefits and the only way to truly see and benefit from this tweak of a social media idea is to view their testimonial page. Continue Reading

Off Topic: Mr. Pitiful Official Music Video

Matt Laboff March 20, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

Taking things off topic for a moment, GetUSB’s blogging buddy, Zedomax, has a friend of a friend who just released their first official music video. I’m working hard to convince them of using USB music albums rather than vinyl or CD. Below is the official video. The song is called Mr. Pitiful. I must say…it’s good and the guy has a great voice. If this single doesn’t help him break into the music industry, than he sure as hell should try American Idol next season. Take a listen:

As for my buddy at Zedomax (Max) he’s also the founder/developer for the viral and ever popular website SiteHoppin. If you like Stumble or Digg or any other social network than SiteHoppin is the next big thing and an absolute must. If you can’t view the video go to the YouTube channel. Continue Reading

Dixau USB Scanner Does More Than OCR

Matt Laboff March 20, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

Dixau put a new spin on an old product. Take our traditional OCR scanner (optical character recognition) and digitally translate any written page into electronic form. Well, what if you’re scanning in a topic you know nothing about? The folks at Dixau developed a method to automatically searches Google or Wikis on text scanned, but not familiar with.

hand held, USB scanner

The hand held Dixau USB scanner has the ability to OCR a physical page, then click a button to take a picture of the text and the scanner will display explanations and background information from an auto search function built into the software, right on your screen. No need to type in complicated words into Google, the intellegent software will do the work for you. The hardware, software combination increases productivity and although initially used for Koreans to learn translation, this would also be useful for young children to learn about words and subject matter. The Dixau OCR USB scanner is available for $90. Source: EverythingUSB via OhGizmo. Continue Reading

USB Duplicator by Nexcopy Makes Content Loading a Breeze

Matt Laboff March 19, 2008 Flash Storage & Memory, USB Duplicators, USB Hardware & Gadgets, USB News & Press Releases

Update: Nexcopy reports the USB duplicator will duplicate 30MBs of data to all 20 flash drives in about 40 seconds. The USB duplicator will copy 250MBs of data in about 3.5 minutes. So the USB duplicator has good performance on data copy speeds.

Nexcopy announced earlier this week their USB200PC USB Duplicator is available for purchase. This unit appears to be the easiest and most economical way to load content to USB flash memory. The USB duplicator is a PC-based system which copies from a master location to 20 slave ports. I would think this an excellent product for those looking to produce interactive product information, sales presentations or even USB music albums on flash memory.

usb duplicator, nexcopy, usb data loading

Granted this could all be done on CD or DVD, but the idea I like about USB flash is its extreme portability, greater durability than optical media (no scratching or damage from direct sun), and the ability to be reused again and again like a big, fat floppy drive.

The USB duplicator concept seems to be a great method to manage an arsenal of flash memory, whether it be content loading to a new set of flash drives for a trade show, or updating a rotation of information to a group of USB drives (say for sales force or medical applications).

The Nexcopy USB200PC USB duplicator has some interesting features. The software will not only duplicate data, but has an option to duplicate only new and newer data. Meaning, if you don’t want to overwrite current data on the device, selecting the Copy New and Newer means it will only add data to the existing drive. This function also updates an old file with the newer version. This feature in itself makes USB drive flash management extremely easy and convenient.

The Nexcopy USB duplicator is priced at $1,299 for a 20-target USB copier, so the solution won’t kill your budget (like some $10,000+ systems I’ve seen).

Nexcopy USB Duplicator product page.

The Virtual Sphere is Ultimate Gaming Peripheral

Matt Laboff March 17, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

The VirtuSphere could be the ultimate gaming peripheral.Â The oversized ball allows a person to immerse themselves into a 3D world without obstacles or obstructions. A person would use a motion-tracking headset to project the visuals while the ball serves as your virtual terrain.Â The ball allows the user to jump, roll, run, crawl for an unlimited distance without encountering real world obstacles.

virtual gaming sphere

At over $23,000 for the VirtuSphere I doubt you’ll see this in your local Dave & Busters or arcade, but I could see a less expensive version coming out to satisfy the masses. I could also see the VirtuSphere being used in other applications besides games, such as unique exercise or simulation experience for the military, government or law enforcement. Although this news might be new to you, Continue Reading

LP 2 CD Is A Direct To CD USB Turntable

Matt Laboff March 17, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

Ion Audio has continued development of their ever popular USB Turntable to now include a direct-to-CD model version. Forget about connecting the USB turntable to your PC and forget about burning CDs through your computer too.

LP 2 CD, Ion Audio

The LP 2 CD is your one-stop shop. This is the fastest and easiest way to convert your vinyl records to CD. Simply place your record on the turntable, insert a blank CD and record your album. ION Audio includes EZ Vinyl Convert 2 for the PC user and EZ Audio Converter for the Mac in case you are still interested in compressing the audio to MP3 so you can dump it into iTunes. I would think ION Audio created the LP 2 CD unit for Continue Reading

Network Your External USB Hard Drive

Matt Laboff March 15, 2008 Tutorials & How-To Guides

Someone once asked the question if they could network their external USB hard drive so other computers could share and store information on it. Surprisingly it isn’t that hard. There is no need to build a NAS (Network Attached Storage) server or configure NAS software on a host computer. All you need is changing some privileges to the USB external hard drive.

share network usb drive

Granted, this solution isn’t for the hard-core network user(s) environment, nor is it ideal for business applications where large or frequent data storage transfers are required or networks where users are accessing storage via a remote server. Rather, this is a simple solution for a home network or small business office. Simply use the file and printer sharing setting in Windows to network a USB external hard drive. Or you can use the Windows mapping tool to map and share a drive to other computers on the network. Continue Reading

A Living Room of Devilish USB Furniture

Matt Laboff March 14, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

I’m not talking about a room full of gadgetry, but how about a couple USB stools with devilish horns and a color matching book shelf to hold all your USB Gear? I found the contempo-slash-corny furniture while digging up some info about a USB bomb. Apparently the designer, Joel Escalona, who made the USB bomb also did a design prototype for a USB drive. He thought to top it all off with a room full of USB furniture.

usb furniture

It’s fair to say this wouldn’t make it into anyone’s living room, except maybe mine, or as the lobby furniture for the USB Implementors Forum. So what does “guarda todos tus demonios” mean? How about Continue Reading

USB Smart Bomb – Sure To Be A Blast

Matt Laboff March 14, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

Are you ready to get blown away, USB style? Well Joel Escalona is…and this prototype design yields some interesting insight and reflection. The USB bomb is designed to store your digital content with a visual of deterring anyone from attempting to steel your digital gold. Looks like Joel has some serious content worth protecting.

usb bomb

Although the USB gadget isn’t in production, there are plenty who want to see it made and with such a unique shape and design, an interesting add-on to your work space. If Joel could team up with some security software or maybe use some open source code and incorporate a total self-destruction mechanism for unauthorized users – well, that would just top it off and blow us all away. Wouldn’t it? Continue Reading

Send A Special Message with Laser Etch, USB & Crafty Wording

Matt Laboff March 11, 2008 Flash Storage & Memory

Scratching your head for a unique, personalized gift?Â How about writing down some lofty jargon and laser etching it to USB?Â ZaNa Design now offers laser engraving to fully customize your USB. What ZaNa Design has done, is place a metal plate on the outer wooden chassis of their USB drives whereby you can laser etch any message you see fit.

laser etch usb

These folks also encourage a simple design, logo or piece of artwork if you find yourself tongue-tied. ZaNa Design has customized drives available from 1GB through 8GB and with many of them Vista Readyboost certified.Â Did you hear how to get Readyboost with your XP machine? Continue Reading

Take Medical Records On The Road Via USB & Vital Key

Matt Laboff March 10, 2008 Flash Storage & Memory

Vital Key is offering a new service whereby medical records are distributed via USB for personal archive.

vital key, usb

The trend is beginning where medical records are put to USB for immediate and on-site data sharing for life threatening situations. In a critical moment, time-is-life, and having data is a powerful tool for keeping someone out of harms way.

“It really gives you peace of mind to know that you have all your medical records with you,” said Jackie Dudding, a patient. “God forbid something happens, everything a caretaker needs to know is on this thing.”

Vital Key offers an on-line service to download all your medical records in the event the key is lost or misplaced. One of the most powerful sentences on the Vital Key website is: “More Americans die each year from medical errors than from breast cancer, colon cancer, and car accidents â€“ COMBINED.” That’s amazing and for anyone with a medical history or condition which requires special needs, I think the Vital Key is a vital device for your longevity and health. Source: 9 News Denver. Vital Key website and service information. Continue Reading