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Myka: BitTorrent Set Top Box Is King Of The Hill

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory, USB Hardware & Gadgets

Set Top boxes have a big limitation in that you get Pigeon Holed into one device such as AppleTV or the forthcoming NetFlix unit, but the Myka could change the landscape forever.  The Myka is a BitTorrent device which will work with anything the web has to offer and can download/play MPEG2, H.264, WMV and DivX media.

myka bittorrent

As Wired reports, the Myka is userfriendly because it takes the nerd out of the BitTorrent process.  The Myka is intelligent enough to provide content (legal or otherwise) from a Peer2Peer network without all the advanced skills often required to pull off a BitTorrent download.  The Linux based box is a simple connection to the TV via HDMI, composite (ouch), S-Video or SPDIF and connects to the internet via eithernet or WiFi.  The Myka comes with a variety of internal hard drive configurations (80, 160 or 500GB) and includes an external USB port for additional storage or future connectivity / peripheral options.
“There’s no way the content providers will allow this pirate box on the market, right? Wrong. Myka already has the official BitTorrent service on board, which means it will carry legitimate content from 20th Century Fox, MTV, Warner and Playboy, amongst others.”
Wired posted a full interview with Myka’s president Dan Lovy, so if you’d like to learn more about the Myka set top box which will rule them all, jump. Continue Reading

LOL – Accordion USB Drive

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory, USB Hardware & Gadgets

Accordian USB drive, are you kidding me?  This is nothing more than silicone wrapped around a USB adapter port.  Sure you could slap some marketing gargon on there, like accordion USB drive, but we’ll all see past it.

accordion usb drive

None the less, I didn’t think of it so kudos to Jacek Ryn for such an idea.  You can see his little gadget trap at Poland’s Fine Arts in Gdansk. The concept is fairly simple and straight forward.  Put a USB port and memory device into an accordion shaped silicone casing and call it something new. Sorry, but this stuff kills me.Source:  Core77. Continue Reading

Fuzzy USB Animals Might Bug You If You Let’em

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory, USB Hardware & Gadgets

The typical UFD sticking out of your laptop is probably nothing more than fancy shaped plastic, or possibly wood or even gold ($6,000). Today we look at the softer, fuzzier side of UFDs. Paul from Technabob uncovered these fuzzy little USB critters, created by a design artist Nifer Fahrion.

fuzzy usb gadget

Nifer Fahrion has two version of her fuzzy USBs. The one above is called Maggie the Maggot and the one below is named Gizzy the Data Worm. I’d opt for Gizzy if I had to choose.

usb animal

Honestly, I think these fuzzy guys are an example of what some kids could do on a rain day to kill some time. Grab some material, glue and let the imagination run wild. I’m tempted to try this myself and turn it into a USB tutorial, but I don’t think anyone would care or try. SO, with that being said – if I’m off base and you digg this kinda stuff, hop on over to Technabob’s post or Nifer’s site and get ready to drop your $66 on a 4GB original. Source: Technabob. As an after-thought, if you are looking for another home-project, how about turning a Pez dispensor into something interesting. Continue Reading

GetUSB Dealz: 8GB Kingston $32 Plus Free Shipping

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory, USB News & Press Releases

Not that fee shipping on a USB drive should put anyone over the edge, but consider an 8GB Kingston drive for only $32 – now that’s a deal worth jumping on board [for].

8gb usb

This GetUSB Dealz has no rebates or coupons, just raw savings.  The Kingston DataTraveler was originaly $54 but is reduced to $32 and change. This particular model has the flip-out USB connector which I’ve always been a fan.  The mechanism reduces the device size and helps protect the product for a longer lasting unit. So here is the company line: DataTraveler 110 contains room for high-definition photos, graphics-intensive documents, videos, spreadsheets, presentations, term papers, and music that can be stored and retrieved in a flash. Sleek, practical, and attractively designed, the affordable DataTraveler 110 serves the needs of the budget-conscious user as well as those looking for significant storage capacity in a lightweight, compact design. DataTraveler 110 features a retractable USB connector for ease of use and safe housing.
Grab the GetUSB Dealz Now.  8GB for only $32 and change.  Plus free shipping.
Continue Reading

SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition USB Flash Drive

Cyrus Flash Storage & Memory

SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition USB Flash Drive What does a high class manufacturer of motorcycles have to do with a manufacturer of USB sticks? Ducati and Sandisk have decided to create a partnership together creating fast memory products like CompactFlash and USB Flash Drives. Well, Ducati and SanDisk believe by slapping “Sandisk Extreme Ducati Edition” and creating a 4GB flash drive with a fast 20MB/second transfer rate will be able to command $125 from consumers. Why so expensive? The flash drive was designed in an industrial look echoing “the performance, colors and lines of a Ducati MotoGP motorcycle.” I’m sure someone will buy it, but I can get a 500GB drive that would be faster (and much bigger) for about the same price! Source: Gizmos for Geeks Continue Reading

Review: BFG 9800 GTX Video Card

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory, USB Hardware & Gadgets, USB Reviews

Review: BFG 9800 GTX Video Card

Luigi had some of his clan review the BFG 9800 GTX Video Card over at i4u gadgets and I wanted to pass along their findings:

BFG 9800 GTX video card

The BFG 9800 GTX runs on the NVIDIA 9800 GTX GPU. The core clock of the card runs at 675 MHz, the shader clock is 1688 MHz and the memory clock is 2200 MHz. the card has a 256-bit memory interface and a memory bandwidth of 70.4GB/sec. the BFG 9800 GTX has 128 stream processors. The card features 512MB of GDDR3 RAM and the card is PCI Express 2.0 compliant. Other features include HDMI capable with adapter and HDCP capable for protected HD content. Read the entire review: Continue Reading

AVerMedia Launches Volar USB TV Tuner Stick

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory, USB Hardware & Gadgets

AVerTV Hybrid Volar MAX is a long name to describe the multitude of functions the USB TV tuner does. The USB based TV tuner stick has the ability to receive HDTV, Analog TV and FM radio on any Windows XP or Vista computer or laptop.

avermedia usb tv

Unless you need specific subscription channels, you no longer have to put up with cable or satellite costs to get the High Definition TV everyone is craving for. The AverTV Hybrid Volar MAX does it all. For video quality, playback and speed consider this:
“The AVer MeidaCenter provides users more joy from Clear QAM digital cable TV. Advanced real-time H.264 recording compression significantly reduces CPU loading and the amount of hard disk space needed for recording. The optional 320×240 resolution enables users to save and playback video on an iPod.”
Don’t hold doubt either, the AVerTV Hybrid Volar MAX can truly present the details of HDTV in 720p/1080i resolution. With an exclusive Vista MCE Video Gaming Plug-in, the AverTV Hybrid Volar MAX resolves the Continue Reading

Philips Launches New USB Smart Key For Dictation Product Line

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory, USB Hardware & Gadgets, USB News & Press Releases

Press Release: Philips Launches New USB Smart Key for Dictation Product Line. Philips is the first company to offer such a tool, which replaces current dongles and older security codes that had to be manually typed in. The USB Smart Key is now packaged with Philips SpeechExec Pro Dictate and Philips SpeechExec Pro Transcribe, as well as Transcribe software packages.

philips dictation

The USB Smart Key can simply be inserted into a USB port and the software will automatically access the license stored on the key. The license can then be easily transferred to a computer with the touch of a download button and, after download is complete, the key is no longer needed for licensing and users can work on that computer without having to keep and carry a dongle. If a user wishes to work with the dictation software on an office computer as well as a computer at home, the USB Smart Key allows him or her to switch from one computer to another without having to purchase a second license. Continue Reading

Personal Pocket Safe Is Pin Pad USB Stick

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory

Here is the Personal Pocket Safe UFD which is the first of it’s kind that is an “encrypted, epoxy coated, pin-protected smart drive.”  Not the first pin-pad USB stick we’ve seen.  But with military grade encryption and a mysterious “track-covering” feature to insure no one can trace it’s where-a-bouts after removing from the host.

pin pad usb drive

Lets say you did find the Personal Pocket Safe, well you still need the pin number.  This guy features a 10 digit touch-pad pin code using between 4 and 10 digits to lock down your passwords, documents etc.  Get the pin number wrong and the Personal Pocket Safe goes in complete lock-down.
“The Personal Pocket Safeâ„¢ is powered by proprietary software embedded within a pin protected pocket safe that features a host of security-rich options that lock in all of the confidential and critical information that powers the lives of today’s consumers.”
Here are some key bullet points from the press release: Continue Reading

Cellink Swivel USB Stick Is Charger, Reader & UFD

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory

Lets just raddle off the use of the Cellink USB swivel gadget.  Of course you have the shape, look and feel of a typical UFD.  With flash memory for…well you know.  Next, swivel the Cellink and you’ve got a microSD card reader.  Swivel the other direction and you’ve got a direct connected to your USB port and cell phone for some wireless charging.  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.  It seems like down-sizing your basket full of gadgets is a continual process.  So here we streamline to a single UFD, forget another reader and the power cord to your cell phone. That’s progress.

cellink

Source:  Aving. Continue Reading

Credit Card Size Digital Video Player

Cyrus Flash Storage & Memory, USB Hardware & Gadgets

 Is that a PMP in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Sorry, that’s all I could think of for this super mini video player that sports a 2.4″ or 2.8″ full-size bright high-res LCD display. The device can be expanded with a memory card (T-Flash or MicroSD) but comes with 2GB built-in. The battery life will let you play video for 3-4 hours and audio for 6-8 hours.

Credit Card Size Digital Video Player

The device is so simple but really combines many features people look for in a PMP including simplicity of transferring video to the device (supports USB mass-storage mode for easy transfer of video on any OS), expandability memory, charging via USB (when traveling I hate bring extra chargers) and can play FM Radio, Text, Pictures, Games and Videos. Continue Reading

USB Duplicator by Nexcopy Makes Content Loading a Breeze

Matt LeBoff 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.

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