In the world of physics, heat represents resistance. Think of touching your car tire before you’ve driven it – cool. Think of touching your car tire after driving to the store – warm. Resistance.
Copper found in USB connectors and USB cables is the heat element which represents the resistance of faster speeds. The warmer copper gets, the slower the data transfer rates will be because the heat represents inefficiencies of the material.
Research presented at February’s IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference by lead author Jack Holloway and co-authors Ruonan Han and Georgios Dogiamis developed a data transfer system that can transmit information 10 times faster than a USB. The new link pairs high-frequency silicon chips with a polymer cable as thin a strand of hair.
Mr Holloway explains, “Copper wires, like those found in USB or HDMI cables, are power-hungry — especially when dealing with heavy data loads. There’s a fundamental tradeoff between the amount of energy burned and the rate of information exchanged.”
The most common alternative suggested to a copper wire would be an optical wire. Optical wires deal with photons and are extremely efficient but the problem are how the photons interact will silicon of a chip. Since photons don’t work well when talking to silicon, it means a direct connection from a fiber optic cable to a computer chip isn’t ideal.
The technology (by Holloway and team) is a plastic polymer material which works very well at sub-terahertz signals (very high signals) which translates to a competitive alternative to fiber optics.
Next, the team engineered a low-cost chip which pairs with the polymer conduit. Typically, silicon chips struggle to operate at sub-terahertz frequencies. Yet the team’s new chips generate those high-frequency signals with enough power to transmit data directly into the conduit. That clean connection from the silicon chips to the conduit means the overall system can be manufactured with standard, cost-effective methods.
The physical size of this plastic polymer is the same size as a human hair.
If you are an avid user of USB security dongles, you might know how challenging it may be to get remote access to these devices. To simplify this task, Electronic Team, Inc. has developed a dedicated software solution capable of sharing USB protection dongles over the network.
Donglify is a lightweight desktop application that allows connecting USB hardware keys to remote computers over the Internet and LAN. The software uses the 2048-bit SSL encryption to secure your connections, so you don’t need to worry that your sensitive data will be intercepted or lost.
One of the nicest things about Donglify is that it can redirect one USB dongle to several remote PCs simultaneously. In order to make a USB hardware key available for use on multiple computers, you can just connect the device to your local PC and share it over the network with nothing more than a couple of clicks. This option, currently, works with HASP HL Pro, Sentinel HL Pro, SafeNet eToken 5110, and CodeMeter CmStick security keys.
USB hardware keys of other types can also be shared over the Internet but you’ll be able to access them from one remote machine at a time.
Donglify is available by subscription and comes with a 30-day free trial. When the trial period is over, you can continue using the service for $19.99 a month.
Using Windows 10, you can partition a USB flash drive into multiple partitions. The process is not difficult, you simply follow some easy steps. This tutorial will partition the drive so that your device is assigned multiple drive letters when connected to the computer.
This partition process is not done at the USB controller level; or said another way, done at the hardware level. This USB partition process, for a lack of better terms, is done at the software level. What does this mean for you? It means the partitions can be wiped off the drive and full capacity of the USB flash drive can be restored.
When a USB stick is partitioned at the controller level, or at the hardware level, there is no way to reverse the partition. The multi-partition drive is permanent. At the end of this tutorial is the solution for a hardware based partition solution.
So let’s get started.
How to partition a USB flash drive in Windows 10:
Connect the USB flash drive to your Windows 10 machine. Be sure there is nothing valuable on the USB as this process will remove all content from the drive.
Right Click the Windows icon and select Disk Management.
The Disk Management window will appear with all the connected devices. Select your USB flash drive by clicking one time. By selecting your flash drive, it will allow Windows to apply the partition to that device.
Question: Have you ever used a WiFi printer setup? It may sound like nothing special, but trust me, once you try it you’ll wonder why you waited so long. Some printers have WiFi built into them already [Brother for only $109 >] and some printers need a wireless print server. This is where the D-Link wireless print server comes into play.
The D-Link DP-301U allows you to connect those older laser and inkjet printers to the wireless print server. Meaning everyone in your office will have access to the printers without the cables. Consider I work off a laptop and so do most others, walking around and being to print on demand is insanely convenient. You may not think so now… but that means you don’t have a wireless printer connection [otherwise you’d agree].
You can buy it from Amazon.com and includes free shipping [limited time] if you use a free shipping Amazon coupon. The unit is not refurbished.
This is indeed a great deal for everyone and you should buy it while this price is still so low.
The USB 3.0 / 4K display and dock station is ideal for the Bring Your Own Device work environment (BYOD).
Assuming you have a limited port laptop computer the StarTech dock station can expand your laptop screen and extend out to a 4K video feed needed. It doesn’t stop there with USB 3.0 port connectivity, and Ethernet connection.
The front side of the dock station also includes a USB charging port. You can avoid the inconvenience of a dead battery and make sure your mobile device is always ready to go, using the dock’s USB fast-charge and sync port. Plus, the always-on port supports device charging even when your laptop isn’t connected to the dock.
The dock station can act as a charging station unplugged as well, making it a very portable solution. A good fit for this product would be home-office where the work space is not that large, or class room where the budget isn’t there for a complete work station and a BYOD situation best applies.
With the single USB-C port of the new MacBook laptop we knew a power station and/or dock station was right behind. Here is a Kickstarter compaign to address the single port computer and connecting all your peripheral gadgets to your new computer.
The ultimate dock station will power and charge your system using USB’s new Power Delivery specification, while providing an additional alternate mode video output up to 4K resolution, gigabit Ethernet, audio input/output, and 4 USB ports. The tall slender design of the dock station packs a number of sockets to support any type of peripheral you need to connect.
In addition, the USB 3.1 Type-C specification supports a feature called “VESA Alternate Mode” which works with the built-in graphics processor on supported systems to provide video output at resolutions up to 4K. This is particularly important given the up-tick in TVs and monitors which are being released with a 4K specification. The other two display outputs in the Ultimate Dock are enabled by the DisplayLink DL-3900 graphics processor, which can support two additional 1080P displays at 60Hz. The DisplayLink driver is still in development, but the Kickstarter campaign claims the driver will have a final release by the time the dock station hits full production.
The Plugable Ultimate USB-C Universal Docking Station supports:
The DN-84254 is a microUSB cable which mirrors your smartphone screen on your PC. The sync software allows you to click around on the PC screen and control your phone.
So what’s it good for, imagine this:Â Â If an app would require you to input letters or characters, you can simply do so by using the PC’s keyboard. Several key shortcut buttons on top of the program also allow you to conveniently make the device do specific commands, or access certain areas instantly. So, aside from being able to record screen activity directly on your PC (for gaming and reviews and the likes), you can also intuitively control the smartphone within the PC’s environment as if it was just a simple Android emulating program or similar.
For me, this cable is worth
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The love for Linux is that with a bit of tweaking you can do just about anything. Case in point: Sven Killig took the Nexus One, loaded up some code to control the USB host controller and is now running a full work station.
Now this sounds awesome. Sven can run a digital camera off his phone, stream video from a USB stick to his screen or even run a printer off the USB port. Check out the screen-shot of his work station…
So if you’re like me, this project would be in the advanced level of Instructables for DIY mods, but thanks to Sven’s recording skills, we have a video to tell us how.
The best part of all this? He’s got the whole thing demonstrated for you on video, but not only that, you can hit up the down-loadable binaries from his website. And while he tried all of this on Android 2.2, which means its the only version of Android it’s been successfully tested on (at the moment), Sven believes that it will work on Android 2.1, too.
Source: SlashGear.com.
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Gizmodo just did a review about the Pogoplug device which allows anyone to share their USB stick over the internet with just a couple clicks.
The box has it’s own internal client and makes installation and connection a snap. The device will support a number of formats such as FAT, FAT32, NTFS, HFS+ or EXT2/EXT3 Linux.
Using Pogoplug is just as simple as setting it up. You, as the account owner, can hit up your Pogoplug.com share from any web browser and upload/download/view files from there. If you’re on the same local network as your Pogoplug, it’s smart enough to use your Wi-Fi/Ethernet to transfer files faster. There’s also Mac and Windows software that loads the share as a network-mounted drive.
Other cool things you can do: Grab the iPhone app and stream MP3 files, view JPG files, open PDF/Doc files over Wi-Fi or 3G.
The great thing about the Pogoplug is that it only costs $100 and no monthly access fee. Given this, along with it’s universal accpetance to OS support, it’s one slick answer to easy file sharing.
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SEH launched a mini USB server designed to secure USB peripherals over fiber optic and Ethernet networks. What the myUTN USB Server does is allow connection of a USB device into your fiber optics network or Ethernet network without needing additional USB cables or drivers. Imagine plugging in your printer or scanner into a fiber optic port on the wall rather than a traditional USB port of your computer. In addition, the myUTN USB Server provides top-level security so data being transmitted over the network wont be compromised. A good example is connecting a USB bar code scanner for products or medical devices to the network with ease and security.
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WiHood is a relatively new service which is the world’s first “virtual laptop” that protects children online [ anywhere & at all times] with the WiHood’s USB bracelet.
The concept is ideal and it appears the user interface, setup and configuration is just as simple. This is what WiHood is: A USB bracelet which auto-launches a virtual desktop when connected to any computer. The virtual desktop runs off the WiHood servers which monitor and update website, programs, virus etc 24/7 for a completely kid friendly computer system.
From personal experience, my kids have trashed my computer – by mistake of course – but it still took time and skill to restore my PC. The WiHood USB bracelet eliminates this risk because a virtual desktop is all your child can use. The other issue I have with my kids using “the parent’s PC” is constant maintenance to monitor website, filters and content. With WiHood, that daunting task is automatically taken care of.
“WiHood protects children, saves parents from purchasing a new PC, and kids love that they have their own “virtual laptop” which stores their pictures, music, homework, etc. and can be worn on their wrist!”
The USB bracelet uses the internal storage to save files, folders, pictures, music etc…but those files are only accessed through the virtual desktop which runs off the WiHood servers. This means your kids will enjoy all the performance of a PC with the security of a remote server running the underlining PC desktop.
The WiHood is free to try and costs $49 for 6 months service or $100 per year. Stack that cost up against purchase of a dedicated PC for the kids and the WiHood is the clear choice.
Still interested. Maybe some more information? Check out the WiHood FAQ page. Or their WiHood Virtual Laptop home page.
WiHood was founded in August 2007 and has been honored to be awarded funding from Innovation Norway, a division of the Norwegian government providing capital to the most innovative companies in Norway.
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Getting odd results off your Wi-Fi network? Maybe getting no results at all? The boss is pissed, co-workers can’t work, what do you do?
Get the Wi-Spy spectrum analyzer, that’s what you do. The Wi-Spy is the world’s smallest 2.4GHz spectrum analyzer and is specifically designed for troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks. The Wi-Spy records data traces over the wireless network and also plays them back for analysis.
This isn’t the first version of the Wi-Spy, BUT the hardware has been redesigned to increase the frequency and amplitude resolution with an added reverse-polarity SMA adapter. Wi-Spy 2.4x is packaged with a powerful little antenna, so it’s good from the start but it’s also
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So what’s it good for, imagine this:Â Â If an app would require you to input letters or characters, you can simply do so by using the PC’s keyboard. Several key shortcut buttons on top of the program also allow you to conveniently make the device do specific commands, or access certain areas instantly. So, aside from being able to record screen activity directly on your PC (for gaming and reviews and the likes), you can also intuitively control the smartphone within the PC’s environment as if it was just a simple Android emulating program or similar.
For me, this cable is worth
WiHood is a relatively new service which is the world’s first “virtual laptop” that protects children online [ anywhere & at all times] with the WiHood’s USB bracelet.
The concept is ideal and it appears the user interface, setup and configuration is just as simple. This is what WiHood is: A USB bracelet which auto-launches a virtual desktop when connected to any computer. The virtual desktop runs off the WiHood servers which monitor and update website, programs, virus etc 24/7 for a completely kid friendly computer system.
Getting odd results off your Wi-Fi network? Maybe getting no results at all? The boss is pissed, co-workers can’t work, what do you do?
Get the Wi-Spy spectrum analyzer, that’s what you do. The Wi-Spy is the world’s smallest 2.4GHz spectrum analyzer and is specifically designed for troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks. The Wi-Spy records data traces over the wireless network and also plays them back for analysis.
This isn’t the first version of the Wi-Spy, BUT the hardware has been redesigned to increase the frequency and amplitude resolution with an added reverse-polarity SMA adapter. Wi-Spy 2.4x is packaged with a powerful little antenna, so it’s good from the start but it’s also