Author Archive

Matt LeBoff

Kicking around in technology since 2002. I like to write about technology products and ideas, but at the consumer level understanding. Some tech, but not too techie.

Does Your iPhone 4 Need A Back Pack?

Matt LeBoff November 17, 2010 USB Hardware & Gadgets

The iPhone has become an invaluable gadget for everyone I’ve meet with an iPhone.Â It gives the user instance access to email, the internet and a variety of applications and games.Â Clearly the heavy users who depend on the iPhone will run into issues with battery life.Â Since the product is portable, not everyone sits with the iPhone at their desk tethered to their USB port for charging and synchronization, must just leave it out for the quick grab-n-go while on the move.

iPhone USB charger

Proporta has a product which will help those gassed phones, the iPhone TurboCharger Back Pack.Â The back pack is a iPhone case with a built in battery charger. The TruboCharger has 1700mAh of power which will quickly and easily charge your iPhone and double it’s battery life.Â The TurboCharger can piggy back the iPhone during charging and use.Â The TurboCharger can be connected to the iPhone while connected to the PC…or you can connect the back pack seperatly for charging. When together, the back pack will not effect performance or sync ability of the iPhone with iTunes.Â In addition, the TruboCharger will charge itself and the iPhone when connected to the computer. To connect the TurboCharger, simply Continue Reading

PQI Now in USB 3.0 USB Drive Market

Matt LeBoff November 15, 2010 Flash Storage & Memory, USB News & Press Releases

PQI introduced their first SuperSpeed USB 3.0 flash drive today, called the U339V.Â The PQI 3.0 stick is available in 8GB through 64GB sizes.Â As with any new technology, the performance is lagging behind the specification of performance.

PQI USB SuperSpeed 3.0

For example the smaller 8GB PQI drive shows a read speed of 55MB/s and a write speed of 10MB/s.Â Verse the larger 16GB and larger sizes are more like 86MB/s read speed and 20MB/s write speed.Â If you know anything about flash drives, it just means the bigger sizes are dual channel and the 8GB is single channel. Still far from the 5Gbps transfer rate USB 3.0 is suppose to offer, but once more advanced controllers come into the market, we’ll see the performance rise. The PQI drive will be available through Continue Reading

iPhone Keyboard Makes iPhone Desktop Computer

Matt LeBoff November 9, 2010 USB Hardware & Gadgets

The new iPhone keyboard from Iomnio is a great example on the convergence of technology.Â The keyboard, named WOWKey, has a dock station for your iPhone where-by giving you full keyboard connectivity and functionality to your iPhone.

iPhone keyboard

With the WOWKey you can respond to emails quickly and easily.Â You can draft letters, run excel spreadsheets and much more like a traditional laptop computer.Â The WOWKey gives you the functionality you need to more effectively use your iPhone.Â In my opinion, this is the direction which computers need to go.Â From some studies, the majority of computer use is for email response and web browsing. Iomnio has two additional features which any iPhone lover will appreciate; first, they have 15 hotkeys designed for the iPhone for quick navigation and utility access.Â Second, WOWKeys offers is the use of the multi-touch function on a PC display and the Air Mouse Pro, an app that can be used as a laptop touchpad or number pad.

iPhone keyboard

The WOWKey from Iomnio is priced at an equivalent $105 US dollars.Â The WOWKey is currently only available in Korea, but is clearly designed for the largest market, the United States, as you can see the English version settings in the screenshot from the original article at AVING.net. Continue Reading

Mysterious USB Ports Show Up In NYC

Matt LeBoff November 2, 2010 Flash Storage & Memory, Tutorials & How-To Guides, USB News & Press Releases

A New York artist named Aram Bartholl is trying a very daring, if not crazy, art exhibit by placing USB sticks throughout New York City. The idea is for others to share their digital life, secrets, and information with strangers to bridge the world of digital information with that of the physical world. So what exactly do you do?

USB in wall

Aram has placed a small collection of USB ports in public places, thinking that others will connect their laptop or computer to the USB port and upload or download data to share. A bit crazy if you ask me… you know how many viruses and key logging programs one could get? Even with virus checking software, there are sophisticated attacks you could expose yourself to. But if you dare, connect!

Currently the installation is only a five-stick preview, but Bartholl is planning to expand the operation to more sticks and more cities. Check Bartholl’s blog for coming information including “full documentation, movie, map, and ‘How to make your own dead drop’ manual coming soon!”

USB in New York

Aram — you should use USB write-protected flash drives and share controlled data so that your exhibit doesn’t kill computers! Maybe provide an upload link where you can control the data, then put the data on flash drives and write protect the stick. Don’t know how? Contact us, we’ll show you.

Full story at Discover Magazine.

Dirty Little Secret of 32GB Flash Drives

Matt LeBoff October 25, 2010 Flash Storage & Memory, USB News & Press Releases

Verbatim announced their 32GB flash drive today in the form of a USB dongle no larger than a nickel.Â There is no lanyard loop and it’s damn small, so will most likely get lost if you place it in your pocket – but that is all okay.Â It seems Verbatim is gunning for this product to be a permanent extension of memory for your Netbook or laptop anyway.

Verbatim USB, 32GB

However, in the event you plan to swap the 32GB stick from PC to PC there is one dirty little secret you should be aware of…it needs a DC powered USB port. In most situations and applications this isn’t a problem as the device will be connected directly to a motherboard USB port, but you’ll need to pay specific attention to dock stations or non-powered USB hubs.Â To understand a little better, the device controller needs Continue Reading

MacBook Air Ships With Reinstall USB Drive

Matt LeBoff October 20, 2010 Flash Storage & Memory, USB Hardware & Gadgets

With Apple’s recent news about the MacBook Air being ultra thing, ultra long lasting and ultra cool, what many overlooked was the reinstall software shipping on a USB drive. With companies trying to save energy, reduce cost and reduce product sizes, it’s no surprise [at least to me] that Apple dumped the optical drive in favor of solid state memory…for both the computer and the restore media.

“Even the flash drive looks awesome from Apple,” says my colleague who does a ton of iPhone and iPad applications…with a new one coming out.

Beside the fact of flash being faster than optical, we also save space on the internal SSD drive by not having the reinstallation software loaded, but rather off-line and secure.Â Just be sure to wrap a key-chain around it, the Apple restore USB drive looks pretty small.

Apple restore USB

End. Continue Reading

Ford Making An App Store for Cars?

Matt LeBoff October 14, 2010 Tutorials & How-To Guides

Wouldn’t that be nice – an app store for cars?Â Ford isn’t there yet, but they could be.Â I read earlier this week that Ford is pushing out a new SDK for software developers to create applications for For Motor cars.

USB Ford Sync

A simple example of an app would be syncing your smartphone with the car [via USB] and run Pandora music or Stitcher internet radio.The new SDK from Ford includes access to the voice recognition utilities to help developers integrate voice command applications.Â An example here would be syncing the voice command functions of your phone through the speaker system of your car stereo.Â Developers could also design apps where you ask the car Continue Reading

64GB Will Become Common Place for USB 2.0

Matt LeBoff October 14, 2010 USB News & Press Releases

We have already seen USB sticks getting to the 64GB capacity, but it doesn’t go without some serious trouble or expense in making them.Â Currently all 64GB sticks are made up of four 16GB NAND chips.Â The drives are huge and far more expensive than a 1TB USB hard drive.Â But this will all change… Samsung announced that it has begun mass production the industry’s first 3-bit-per-cell, 64 Gb (8 GB) MLC NAND flash chip using 20-nm-class processing.Â In addition to the larger capacity, Samsung’s new NAND flashÂ will use Toggle DDR (Double Data Rate) 1.0 specifications, offering a 60-percent higher productivity level than the previous 30-nm-class, 32 Gb 3-bit NAND using SDR (Single Data Rate). Samsung’s chips are expected to arrive in USB flash drives, Secur Digital cards, smartphones and SSDs while replacing the current 4 GB (32 Gb) devices on the market. Samsung did not comment on time-frame; however the new devices may begin to appear in the market and offer 8 GB minimum and 64 GB maximum. Continue Reading

Off Topic – Huge Sky Balloon To Lift 150 Ton Gear

Matt LeBoff October 13, 2010 Off Topic

So cruising the news today for USB updates, I stumbled upon this article about an Australian company dreaming up a giant sky balloon to carry stuff. When you need to get heavy gear into remote places a road can’t always get you there.Â Sometimes the gear is so large, air lifting it in wont get you there either.Â So what to do?Â How about a ginormous sky balloon?

Sky balloon

To give you an idea of the type of problem this Australian company [Skylifter] is trying to solve; a helicopter is the only aircraft which can float in a product of great size or weight to a remote location – but it’s got limitations.Â A helicopter can only carry about 50 tons of gear.Â What if the stuff weighs more than 50 tons? The balloon is 150-meters wide and could carry up to 150 tons.Â The balloon would have a flight range of 1240 miles and would act like a parachute on decent to make a gentle touchdown. A mini RC version of the balloon is now being tested and is 9 feet across. It can carry about 1 pound with a full-size prototype set to start building in the coming three years. Continue Reading

iPhone 4 Battery Bumper

Matt LeBoff October 11, 2010 USB Hardware & Gadgets

It’s a bit amazing we haven’t seen more iterations of the iPhone bumpers with power packs built in.Â I guess the primary reason would be the bulkiness added, but once company doesn’t care and that’s Energizer. Energizer introduced their AP1201 battery pack earlier this month for the iPhone 4.Â It’s a iPhone 4 specific bumper which includes a built in batter pack.Â The battery inside the silicon bumper is made of their patented lithium polymer battery technology.Â The power pack adds another 200 extra hours of standby time, 27 extra hours of music time, 7 extra hours of video time, or 5 extra hours of talk time on 3G networks.

iPhone Energizer bumper

It’s hard to tell from the picture how much bigger it makes your device, but the video after the jump gives you a real world comparison.Â Continue Reading

Don’t Limit Your iPad From USB

Matt LeBoff October 8, 2010 USB Hardware & Gadgets

You might have heard the next gen iPad will include a miniUSB port, but for those looking for an easier interface today, or want a standard USB interface for even the upcoming iPad, you should get the USB connector kit from USB Fever.

USB kit iPad

The kit has a SD and USB connector which talks with the iPad through the female Apple connector you use for synchronizing or connecting to your computer.The kit gives you an easier way to upload images, video and PDF documents.Â It also gives you an easier way to connect your iPhone or other digital camera or video recorder to your iPad.Â Hell, you could almost toss out the PC…oh way, you’ve still got to sync and update. The USB port could also be used to connect your keyboard to the iPad for typing emails, etc.Â Sure you all love the keypad on the iPad, but it’s still not as easy to use as a traditional keyboard. USBFever webpage [$35]. Continue Reading

How To: Run LED Solo From PCless USB Connector

Matt LeBoff October 7, 2010 Tutorials & How-To Guides, USB Security & Compliance

Do you see something odd about this picture?Â Maybe the fact an LED is illuminating from a USB connector with no PC in site?Â Ya that’s it.Â Good job Sherlock.

USB LED

So what we have here is a How To or USB Hack on running an LED from a Super-capacitor.Â If you are non-technical, then we basically mean a very short lived battery to run the LED.Â A super-capacitor has the ability to store energy for longer periods of time over traditional capacitors – yet still not long enough as with batteries.The concept of this tutorial is to wire a super-capacitor to a USB socket whereby your computer can charge up the capacitor and when disconnected you’ll get about 10 minutes of LED illumination.