In today’s digital age, it’s very common, in fact – expected – that everyone own a USB flash drive. Flash drives are the easiest and most convenient way to store data, transfer files and keep that ever changing data near you. If you are like me, you have a favorite flash drive. It’s not necessarily because of the way it looks, but rather – over time – all of your important information has accumulated to one stick. You get to a point where saving data can only be done on that one, favorite USB drive.
This is where RecycleUSB.com comes in, if you have extra sticks lying around, which aren’t gett’in the love – donate them. Recycle USB is a USB recycler service that partnered with Sugar Labs to turn unwanted flash drives into portable learning computers for kids.
What do I mean by portable learning computers?
Well Sugar Labs created a Linux distro [based off Fedora] which boots directly from a flash drive. The distro is a customized learning platform for kids to learn, interactively, on a computer. The great part about Sugar Lab’s approach is that it doesn’t leave a footprint on the host PC.
The USB Recycler service will take your drive, load it with the latest version of Sugar on a Stick and send it to Sugar Labs for global deployment.
Sure you can do this yourself or just drop the USB stick in the mail and not worry about it. If you’re looking for the weekend project here is the link to Sugar Labs.
Recycle USB mentions that if you are really in the mood for donating, you can get a tax credit for larger donations [say your company had a couple hundred extra flash drives from a trade show which are no longer being used].
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It’s very common these days to see a media player with a USB port. Whether it be a Blu-ray player or a set-top box, chances are, a USB port is somewhere in the front or back.
At first glance you say to yourself, “sweet, a USB port so I can play content off my flash drive” but then you think a bit more and wonder if you can hang a wireless dongle off the media player and stream content to your media box from a source computer?
Well, Home Server Technologies Inc is one step ahead of you. Their new Wireless Media Stick will do exactly that; stream digital content to your media player.
Whether it’s a laptop, TV, DVD player, Stereo or game console the Wireless Media Stick can stream the content and your media player will play it. There is no limit to the type of format, music, audio or video.
Currently the USB Wireless Media Stick will only stream saved content from the source computer, but future updates will include the ability to stream internet content to your wireless setup, so now you’ll have the best of both worlds.
The Wireless USB Media Stick is $99 USD.
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The 2010 World Cup of Football starts this Friday. To support the once every four year event, grab yourself a USB football themed 4 port hub from USB Fever.
For me, we start off with our hardest game which is England verse USA on Saturday. Friday should also be packed with excitement with Russia verse Mexico.
To get the football USB hub, jump to USBFever’s website. It’ll only cost you $12 + a little bit in shipping.
James Bond could use a gadget like the USB cuff links. How else could you slurp GBs of data from a secure area then waltz out without anyone knowing. Ok granted that’s a poor example of how you could use the USB cuff links, but it makes you wonder, they would be kinda cool.
Designer Ravi Ratan is looking to up your geek look with the expensive $195 links and with storage to 4GBs no less. For those seriously considering this, also consider the possibility for engraving of up to eight letters.
Now this is a great USB gadget which you could have a ton of fun with, especially with summer coming up. USBFever released a new underwater video camera which is compact in size and good with resolution.
The underwater video recorder is small enough it can strap to your wrist or versatile enough to mount on your bike helmet, skateboard bottom, mountain bike, you name it!
The video recorder includes a powerful LED spot light to increase visibility under water or ideal for low light situations [cruising through the brush or forest on your mountain bike].
If you can blow the $190 then it would be a great gift for the kids to use while at the pool all summer.
Here are the bullet points worth considering:
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Brando announced a $17 USB port cleaner gadget. At first glance it’s a great idea and well needed in many situations. How many times has your flash drive been stuffed into your pocket, dropped on the ground or left in the glove box? In each of those situations it’s very likely junk or debris could have made it into the USB contacts.
The USB cleaner appears to be an alcohol based solution on the pad where by it cleans the metal contacts of the USB port. Honestly, if you feel the need you can grab a alcohol swab and a pop-sickle stick and accomplish the same thing. Although it wouldn’t be nearly as cool.
Nothing too fantastic about this flash drive except the convergence of different needs. Ideally suited for those who frequent pubs while cruising on the wi-fi, this USB bottle opener is a perfect key chain accessory.
Available in 1, 2, 4 and 8GB sizes. Laser etching is an option I would think given the sleek aluminum body. USB bottle opener by Brando [out].
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With a simple USB cable, it is now plug and play to access your hi-def video files stored on your PC and play them directly on your HDTV.
The USB to 1080p HDTV sharing cable is capable of streaming 1080p signal, without degridation, to your HDTV [with USB port] set.
Will this USB hub give you chub? With 13 ports all rolled up into one case, it’s a gadget lovers dream to power all those things USB. In addition iMONO went green with giving us the ability to turn off a port and save energy going to a device.
A quick glance through the specifications shows that an external power adapter is not available so you might run low on the bus powered juice if you’ve got too many power hungry gadgets [say several USB hard drives], but for powering your MP3 players, sticks, and humping dogs, should be ideal.
So here is a new twist on the graffiti art, the facade printer. Technically, it’s not used for graffiti in the traditional sense, but rather a new marketing method for a different print medium. Buildings.
The facade printer is an inkdot printer which looks like a paint gun mounted on a portable deck. The paint gun is controlled via software and connects via USB cable. From here the facade printer uses stepper motors to control the firing position of the barrel and point the end towards it’s next mapped position.
Through this technology it is now easy to make a pointillism type image on buildings, bridges, or any large scale surface. I think this is a particularly interesting method for retails to promote products to the masses much like a freeway billboard. Visit the facadeprinter.org website to learn more or what the video below.
I have been a fan of USB Steampunk products for a long time. I’ve even thought about running a Steampunk contest for the most creative, but never gotten around to it. Today, I’ve come across another great creation which is 100% hand made.
The construction is similar to other Steampunk products we’ve seen, made of brass, copper, glass, watch parts and clock parts. The metal connections from the brass wire outside are made with silver solder and an acetylene torch, which gives it the unique look and feel. In addition, the maker, put extra time into the fitting and position of the internal components for a solid product.
The Steampunk device is an 8GB flash drive with a microSD card reader at the tail end, which is a nice twist for someone looking for more storage. The technology is made of disassembled retail product where the microSD card reader is built into the flash drive. Clearly the device will show two drive letters when connected to the computer, one for the USB stick and the other for the card reader.
We all know that hang overs are caused from dehydration. We’ve all [our loyal fan base] seen USB humidifiers powered by our computers. Today I’ve come across the combination beer can and USB humidifier, which now begs the questions, could a humidifier help a hang over? After all, it’s spitting out water all night long which you are breathing in.
If it could only be that simple.
The beer can humidifier appears to be a cool mist product, powered by USB and holds about 8oz of water.
The Grunhaus can includes a timer to regulate the time in which you get your “treatment.”
The Grunhaus Beer Can humidifier isn’t cheap [but cool] and comes in at $62.
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Well, Home Server Technologies Inc is one step ahead of you. Their new Wireless Media Stick will do exactly that; stream digital content to your media player.
Whether it’s a laptop, TV, DVD player, Stereo or game console the Wireless Media Stick can stream the content and your media player will play it. There is no limit to the type of format, music, audio or video.
Currently the USB Wireless Media Stick will only stream saved content from the source computer, but future updates will include the ability to stream internet content to your wireless setup, so now you’ll have the best of both worlds.
The 
