Laptops rejoice! Sewell is spinning out a very inexpensive USB to DVI adapter to offer high quality video displays for those tiny notebooks displays. The process is simple. The external DVI video unit has a USB port which you connect to your laptop (or PC) and a DVI port you connect to you external monitor, turn everything on and you’re done.
The $120 price tag might seem a couple dollars high, but considering there is 128MB of flash memory used for buffering and processing the video signal you wont be disappointed. Sewell claims the USB to DVI adapter drove a 20 inch DVI screen with no visible differences what-so-ever.
The USB bandwidth is more than enough to transfer the necessary video data to the USB to DVI adapter, and the 128 megs of onboard RAM does the rest to bring you perfect performance every time.
With this unit you can turn any laptop into a three monitor system: 1) Laptop screen, 2) use DVI output of laptop 3) use Sewell DVI adapter for monitor #3.
Source: Sewell via Slash GearContinue Reading
This SATA/IDE to USB converter kit would be the easiest way to clone your hard drive and finally upgrade your laptop storage space. However, the combo kit isn’t limited to just 2.5 inch hard drives but includes connection support for 1.8, 3.5 and 5.25 inch hard drives along with CD-ROM drives, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD blah blah blah – anything in 5.25 inch size.
The USB to SATA/IDE combo kit is fully compliant with USB 2.0 so you can expect maximum transfer speeds of 480Mbps (yet that never happens) and plug-n-play connectivity with hot-swap support. For the techie, the chipset used in this guy is JMicron-JM20337.
With $3 shipping for any order this converter kit to go from USB to SATA/IDE (product page) puts you back exactly $32USD. Takes about 7 days to receive anywhere in the world.
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The new IOCELL UFD, the mDrive, is a slick design from the leading Korean design firm, InnoDesign. Young Kim is creating a Korean focus for this drive based off the national flag or Taeguk-ki, which emphasizes beauty and balance.
Wearing the mDrive means one has come into the deep philosophy of Taeguk and breaths the cosmos it creates.
Hmm…I know the American culture isn’t much into karma (isn’t that obvious!) but philosophy aside, this is still one slick looking flash drive. InnoDesign put specific detail into the color and lines of the drive to reflect the balance of the Korean flag. I especially like the small metal lanyard clip as it appears as durable as one would need not to lose those valuable personal files. The gold plated USB connector style also makes the drive very resilient against water damage.
This USB webcam is for the egotistical with glowing white LEDs to nail those perfect internet first impressions. Although anonymity is what most internet users strive for, if you need clear shots with bright environments the USB Big Eye does just that.
Resolution is 1280 x 960 and focal points from 5cm to infinity, built-in image compression, dynamic image e-mail and 24-bit RGB color it’s a decent USB web cam.
If the USB A$$ Blower didn’t satisfy your need for fresh air then maybe a more subtle approach is needed…a more politically correct way of freshening up your office space. How about fresh fruit straight from a flash drive?
The crazy UFDs coming out these days are a stretch to grab marketing share; however I for one believe putting a little fresh-n-fruity smell into the air is a great idea. As not to leave any one preference out of mind, select from orange, strawberry, grape and apple. But you probably figured that out from the picture.
This is a pre-launch announcement from Microdia as the drives are not yet available. But they are expected to generate fruitful results.
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IOCELL introduced their version of the U3 launch pad – I like the name better – very direct with “USB Computer.” U3 might have gotten more traction with that name.
IOCELL created a launch pad to provide the user with an easy-to-use interface for launching portable applications. Really, the same thing as U3, the difference being IOCELL gives you the ability to make any application portable for storing and running off your UFD.
It appears IOCELL (like U3) uses a micro-controller (chip logic) to confirm the drive is a “USB Computer” version and thus launches the IOCELL interface without seeing the default Windows screen “What do you want Windows to do?” question. IOCELL is calling this COB Technology (Chip-On-Board).
To get the IOCELL with COB Technology look for the Castella brand name. Available from 1GB to 4GB sizes.
Looking to install U3 on a regular flash drive? It won’t happen and this is why…
Source: IOCELLContinue Reading
AMD and ATi teamed up some time ago and now they are starting to crank out some products not even closely related to processors. The latest is the TV Wonder 600 USB HDTV tuner. Not at all Mac friendly the ATi TV Wonder features AMD’s Catalyst Media Center software which works seamlessly (so I read) with Vista Media Center and XP Media Center from Microsoft.
In addition to the ATi TV Wonder 600 USB tuner itself, you also get a slim credit card-sized IR remote and an A/V input adapter to grab video from a camcorder or VCR. Naturally, while it is being marketed more toward the notebook side of things, the TV Wonder 600 USB is perfectly suited for operation with a desktop computer as well.
Don’t reach for your car keys just yet, the TV Wonder 600 USB TV Tuner isn’t expected to ship for another couple months. No price points as of yet.
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The iris USB drive requires a user to look into the on-board camera for a quick looksie. The registration or scanning process will ID the user in around 2 seconds. There are no passwords or pin numbers to unlock the drive, only the correct iris will unlock the valuable content. With 256-bit encryption I don’t think you’ll get past this, even with some James BondContinue Reading
When the Chaps from across the pond talk about tea and biscuits I don’t think this is what they had in mind. Chris Ollis introduced me to his concept USB chassis design, the USB-iscuit Biscuit.
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For those not familiar with European biscuits, we’re talking about cookies. Chris developed several flash drives from ripping apart standard flash drives and applying some creativity to a handful of joke biscuits cookies.
He’s looking to take the next step and move into manufacturering, so if SolidAlliance is listening here is some contact information to get these USB-iscuits to mass market. Chris (dot) Ollis (at) InterTwined (dot) co (dot) uk
Memorex went to the streets with the M-Flyer Pilot TravelDrive UFD. Using the retractable USB connector design we’ve seen before, Memorex changed it up a spring loaded USB connector. So with the click of a button the USB connector pops-in and pops-out.
With the capless design flash drive, Memorex also bundles in some 256-bit encryption security software also called their Portable Vault Software.
Several colors are available (blue and red) which color arrangement is dependent upon storage capacity.
Blue = 4GB. Red = 2GB. $79 and $49 respectively.
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It’s a little slow today on the USB front so we’ll take a closer look at a new flash technology from Toshiba. Yesterday Toshiba announced a hybrid flash memory technology which should be a great boost for the mobile phone industry.
Going along the concept of Readyboost, where by you have two memory sources working together to enhance performance, the break through Toshiba made is a hybrid of two current memory technologies, SLC and MLC memory.
So here are the nuts.
Single Level Cell (SLC) memory is best suited for storing information like programs and applications. SLC memory is designed to be a fast performer for such ‘stored’ data.
Multi Level Cell (MLC) memory is best suited for data being used by programs and applications. The MLC memory has a better physical space ratio compared to SLC and is thus better for storing video, images and music.
Up until now, phone designers have had to factor the cost and the space to have two separate chips of both kinds in their designs, which has led to bigger phones.
With Toshiba’s new chip, mobile phone designers now have a choice about how much of each kind of memory they need incorporate into their phones.
Toshiba claims its latest memory-chip architecture will offer higher memory capacity, while allowing more compact mobile phone designs. Great – I don’t know about you but there definitely is a size limitation to how small a phone should be…although on the flip side the mobileLBA-NAND technology will give at least 8GB of storage. Available later this summer to mobile phone manufacturers, which means another six months it’ll hit the streets.
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FMWeb School released a USB security dongle which ties in with FileMaker database solutions – USB Sentry. It’s like the database is hard coded to the UFD device. The inviting point about this solution is when a database developer sells the customs solution the USB Sentry insures unauthorized copies of the database are not distributed. You need the physical security stick to launch and install the database.
Here is a typical scenario:
You sell your solution to your client. They pass it around the office and email it to their friends. Suddenly you hard work is being passed around for free. You are losing money since they are only buying single copies of your software.
USB Sentry is a USB security technology that allows you to distribute your database on UFD and ties your custom application to that UFD device. Your software is bound to that specific drive. Now they can no longer use multiple copies of your software since it will not open without the correct USB stick.
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Hmm…I know the American culture isn’t much into karma (isn’t that obvious!) but philosophy aside, this is still one slick looking flash drive. InnoDesign put specific detail into the color and lines of the drive to reflect the balance of the Korean flag. I especially like the small metal lanyard clip as it appears as durable as one would need not to lose those valuable personal files. The gold plated USB connector style also makes the drive very resilient against water damage.
