More and more articles keep popping up about USB making it’s way into automobiles. Off the top of my head we have Fiat, Audi, Hyundai, and Ford – I’m sure there are many more.
What I didn’t know is such a large percentage of car owners who already have USB. At nearly 15% I was surprised to say the least, I thought the number would be down near 3-5%. It’s also promising (and impressive) to see that over 75% of our visitors would love to have some USB sync ability.
Not that GetUSB poll results matter all that much, I’m still going to hunt down some car manufacturer consultants and let them know our findings. I guess you could say – one for the team.
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USB web cameras seem creepy but it’s one of those things you just don’t know about until you try it. Once you get past the idea of seeing yourself on screen, as you chat away the afternoon, you begin to realize how nice web cameras are.
Sometimes words can’t describe the idea or thought – this is especial true in business. Sometimes it’s just nice to see the person you are talking to.
Well, whatever it is the majority of us aren’t ready. Over 40% of our visitors doen’t have a webcam and over 30% thought it would be creepy – putting it all together the minority are USB webcam fans.
Frank, a Colorado visitor, ended up winning the set of USB cables for this poll. Congrats! He visits GetUSB a couple times a month (I’ll have to work on that) and has a variety of flash drives – largest being 8GB. Frank is anxiously awaiting the cut-the-cord with his USB devices and drop some coin on a wireless hub. They’re out for the taking.
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I love my laptop. My wife loves her laptop. It’s powerful, widescreen and portable. What more could one ask for? (I asked for a 19″ widescreen for the office)
First things first: Congratulations to S. Wastgate of Florida for winning the Proporta Laptop Sleeve. Mr. Westgate visits GetUSB at least once a week, pockets a huge 8GB flash drive, works from his HP laptop and claims his GPS unit as his favorite gadget (I would too if lost in the Everglades). Thank you Proporta for sponsorship.
Okay – back on track: It seems about half our visitors are on the same page, “love the laptop.” Not that a PC has it’s merits and provides an environment for complete customization of hardware. With laptops getting much more powerful and wide screen viewing it’s an easy decision to go that route when making the next computer purchase. I recently saw an article where $100 laptops should be out before 2008 (educational tool). Crazy.
Be sure to visit GetUSB web pages and vote. Please remember to CLICK AND ENTER TO WIN if you’d like a chance and this rounds gift.
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Well in my book it’s official. The iPhone is a cool product and concept but the majority of us don’t care. Sure the iPhone is leading edge for technology design and will most likely reshape how we interact with our communication device(s) but the masses will wait for the masses.
This poll was launched on June 29th, when the iPhone went on sale, and only yesterday did two voters admit to purchasing an iPhone. I thought there would be more.
During Independence Day I went to our local fireworks show and I saw six different buddies with the iPhone. Showing it off to their friends, neighbors, girl friends and wives. So, considering how many I saw that day, I thought more would have chimed in on the vote. Then again, I do live in the OC which is chalked full of “one uppers.”
GetUSB has a new poll up and those who enter have a chance to win a Laptop Sleeve (or case) from Proporta – our Poll Sponsor. Proporta is a leading design and manufacturing firm for PDA, cell phone and MP3 accessories.
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“Would You Consider Watching TV on Your Computer?” was the question for this week and I was surprised to see such a higher percentage (23%) who already do.
However, for the majority of voters wanting a boobless TV experience it would take an act of simplicity. So, for the simplistic 45% who would consider it, here is a product that fits the bill.
The Hauppauge WinTV HVR 950 USB TV Tuner is simple to setup and simple to use. If you can insert a USB stick and auto launch some software, than you’re set.
However, if you’re looking for some HD television then a couple items you’ll need to consider before jumping into the Hauppauge TV solution.
Since HD shows have a much higher resolution and thus need better reception/bandwidth you’ll need to make a couple of adjustments. First, update the standard antenna which comes with the Hauppauge WinTV USB TV Tuner to an amplified unit. This will boost the signal strength to insure there are no dropped frames. Second, configure your PC to have at least 2GBs of RAM for quick processing and avoid overload on the CPU.
You can also connect your coaxial cable directly to the USB TV receiver for that HD signal, but again keep the RAM up to 2GBs min.
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It’s a goocher. From the latest GetUSB poll, “How Many USB Ports Do You Need?” a whopping 40% said the standard 4 USB ports is good enough.
What is more interesting is that over 50% of the voters indicated even with 8 USB ports they could still use more. This means most users have at least two USB Hubs hanging from their system. What a mess. You may ask yourself, why don’t they make bigger USB hubs? One answer might be this:
Chip manufacturers make either a 4 port or 7 port USB hub chip. You run into power problems after 7 ports. Companies who build USB Hubs are limited by this chip design. Placing two hub chips inside a hub box doesn’t make much sense because your host computer already has several USB ports – they just figure you’ll buy two units if you need more (4 or 7) USB ports.
With these poll results I think it’s safe to say USB is the majority leader in peripheral connectivity.
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Well, to no surprise our recent poll results reflect the same results we found with our USB backing-up a flash drive question. Few do it and few use it.
It appears over 50% of our visitors do not use encryption software on their flash drive. I’d like to think non-sensitive data is the reason, but one can never be too sure. With flash drives having more capacity and their usability getting easier and more engaging (U3, Migo) the likelihood of finding personal information on a UFD is very likely.
Maybe people are timid about using encryption software, thinking it’s too complicated. Maybe the software usability factor isn’t just right. Maybe the performance of the drive drops too low. Maybe people just don’t care.
In any event, there are many encryption solution out there and many flash drives come with some sort of security factor built in. So of course the call is yours, but better safe then sorry than getting identity theft or getting the axe for losing company secrets.
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Rugged flash drives have been a trend these last couple months. Manufacturers see how popular flash drives continue to be and conclude a more durable version is needed for every day use. So along with the never-ending quest of more data storage, manufacturers are developing ways to make UFDs last longer and handle more abuse.
We put the question out there, “What’s the worst your flash drive went through?” and this is what we found:
It’s predictable that our most popular abuse was dropping them. Although it doesn’t sound like a much, it can be. Flash drives – well the memory in them – are sensitive and cannot take large amounts of shock. Many times dropping a drive from your table top is good enough to damage the drive.
I did find it interesting the next most frequent UFD abuse came from submersing them in water. I’ll assume in this case, the most common mistake is forgetting about the drive and accidentally washing it.
Whatever your daily routine, it’s worth taking an extra few minutes to search out the right flash drive for your habits. Rugged flash drives will become more popular as 1) materials drop in price to build a better box and 2) users continue to put more and more valuable information on their flash drives.
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GetUSB.info closed our latest poll asking the all important question about speed: “Is Your Flash Drive Speed Important?”
After 178 votes, it came down to most care but not by much. 40% didn’t care how fast the flash drive was, just as long as the speed wasn’t dog slow.
With file sizes getting bigger and now the average amount of data stored on a flash drive being over 1GB – one can’t help to look at transfer speed. One of the worst things to wait for are file transfers – like watching paint dry.
Thanks everyone for voting. If you’d like to see our latest question, visit GetUSB.infoContinue Reading
GetUSB.info just closed our latest poll with the best participation ever, over 150 votes, thank you. This round we asked “How Devastating Would it be to Lose Your Flash Drive?”
By a slim margin the majority of people would be OK as they have original content on another computer. Which makes sense as most flash drives are used for file transfer, rather then file storage. However, for the 20% that said your life is over, you may want to consider some of the following solutions:
So what is the average amount of data someone stores on a flash drive? Well, I asked that question of GetUSB.info visitors and 60% said over 1GB of data and 40% said less then 1GB. The interesting thing about this poll is the spread always stayed about the same. So although just under 100 people voted, it’s probably a good indicator about usage.
I’ll get another poll going in the coming weeks to find out how close or how far away the usage number is from the 1GB mark.
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We wrapped up another poll this week and it appears 64% of the GetUSB.info readers have U3 software loaded on their flash drives. Interestingly enough, today Kingston made the announcement they will drop the U3 platform do to high royalty costs and low demand for the product. I for one, think the platform and idea are a nice addition and if you haven’t tried U3 flash drives, you should – you may never go back.
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