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USB Ban at DoD to Be Lifted?

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory

USB ban at DoDLets face it, USB sticks are an everyday tool for doing business.  That’s why I was surprised to hear the ban on USB flash drives at the Pentagon back in November of 08.  However, I can see the security concerns they would have with the power a USB stick can behold. Today, we found out the ban will be lifted from the DoD in the coming months.
Robert Cary the CIO for the Navy states. “In the future, we expect that a government-owned and procured USB flash media that is uniquely and electronically identifiable for use in support of mission-essential functions on DoD networks will be permitted for use by authorized individuals,” Cary said in his blog. “The bottom line is, the days of using personally owned flash media or using flash media collected at conferences or trade shows are long gone. What we connect to our home PCs is very different from what is and will be allowed to occur on DON [Department of Navy] networks.”
This policy is more in line with what I’d expect from the military and devices like the Encryptakey I would think become a staple at locations like the Pentagon. Source:  DarkReading. Continue Reading

USB 3.0 Webcam With Streaming 1080p

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory

2010 will be a fun year of USB reporting and blogging with USB 3.0 just starting to break with new products.  Today we have the first USB  3.0 WebCam from Point Grey.  The webcam has the bandwidth and capability to push a full 1080p video stream without compression.

Since USB host controllers are not yet available, Point Grey has teamed with Fresco Logic to include a USB 3.0 PCI interface card.

USB 3.0 webcam

EverythingUSB brings up a good point with these new USB 3.0 devices, they will actually become cheaper than their slower, 2.0 predecessors.  The reason being:  less logic and hardware is required inside the device to do processing such as compression and decompression, USB 3.0 now simply push the data through the pipe.

The Point Grey Webcamera is slatted to display at the IDF 2009 conference in San Fransicso in a couple weeks.

Point Grey USB webcam product page [here].

Continue Reading

USB Silent Keystroke Recorder

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory, Tutorials & How-To Guides

USB key loggerHere at GetUSB.info we are a fan of the USB key logger technology.  After all, what better way to find out what employees, girlfriends and such are doing with their spare time.  Especially with all the social network, it’s important to know what is, or is not, being said about you. We have reported about USB key loggers before, but this one is especially nice with the old school PS/2 connector.  Great for the older machines. The device comes with 2MB of internal memory, but check it often as that amount of space will be filled quickly. Pricing is a bit different depending on the connection type you need.  $60-$75. Here is the USB key logger product page. Reminder from UberGizmo. Continue Reading

We Say Thank You to Thanko For Their USB Record Player

Matt LeBoff USB Hardware & Gadgets

GetUSB has seen the Record to USB players from Ion Audio before and we’ve seen these filter into Costco, Wal-Mart and even Urban Outfitters, and now Thanko has joined the ranks with their new USB Record Player.

USB record player

Granted, it’s not designed with the same conversion tools that Ion Audio has, but it does work with Windows Sound Record or Mac’s Garage Band, so conversion of vinyl to MP3 is totally possible.  In fact, many might prefer their standard apps to do the conversion rather than deal with a 3rd party software package. Either way, the Thanko USB Record Player is a nice addition to that old-school sound for just $100 bucks.

USB vinyl record player

Thanko hasn’t released a US version yet, but you can get one now from Japanese retailers here. Continue Reading

USB Superspeed Logo Ready For Hand Outs

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory

The USBIF [Implementers Forum] has announced the certification program to get your gear certified for a Highspeed logo.  Granted, it’s not a simple process, but at least they’re putting together the documentation needed to make it happen.

USB 3.0 Highspeed logo

As Gizmodo says, ” what shall I do with all that extra time I will have that will no longer be spent waiting for file transfers” [they write about as well as I do] The new 3.0 speed will be 10x times faster at 10Gpbs!  To learn a bit more about how our technology life will improve, here is the USBIFs sales pitch:

As technology innovation marches forward, new kinds of devices, media formats, and large inexpensive storage are converging. They require significantly more bus bandwidth to maintain the interactive experience users have come to expect. In addition, user applications demand a higher performance connection between the PC and these increasingly sophisticated peripherals. USB 3.0 addresses this need by adding an even higher transfer rate to match these new usage and devices.

USB continues to be the answer to conncectivity for PC, Consumer Electronics, and Mobile architectures, It is a fast, bidirectional, low-cost, dynamically attachable interface that is consistent with the requirements of the PC platforms of today and tomorrow.

SuperSpeed USB brings significant performance enhancements to the ubiquitous USB standard, while remaining compatible with the billions of USB enabled devices currently deployed in the market. SuperSpeed USB will deliver 10x the data transfer rate of Hi-Speed USB, as well as improved power efficiency.

  • SuperSpeed USB has a 5 Gbps signaling rate offering 10x performance increase over Hi-Speed USB.
  • SuperSpeed USB is a Sync-N-Go technology that minimizes user wait-time.
  • SuperSpeed USB will provide Optimized Power Efficiency.No device polling and lower active and idle power requirements.
  • SuperSpeed USB is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. Devices interoperate with USB 2.0 platforms. Hosts support USB 2.0 legacy devices.
Video after the jump: Continue Reading

You Can Do What With This USB Car Cassette Case?

Matt LeBoff USB Hardware & Gadgets

Converging technologies collide.  At first, I thought this to be just another MP3 player, but it does more than just play music.

USB car cassette

The USB MP3 cassette player also works as a car stereo adapter to connect your iPod or iPhone, CD player or a different MP3 player.  Or simply insert a loaded SD card with MP3 files and your car will play that too. If that isn’t enough, connect the USB cassette player to your PC via USB cable and turn it into a SD, micro or miniSD card reader. It may seem over simplistic or gimmicky to you, but to me it’s a nice mix of converging technologies.  Believe it or not, I’m buying one right now. Brando product page. Continue Reading

USB Ferris Wheel

Matt LeBoff USB Hardware & Gadgets

I had doubts putting this post up today.  Honestly it’s just for the pure novelty of it all.  Brando has a USB Ferris Wheel for your office.  Yes, that’s right, a ferris wheel to make your work day just that much more fun. The problem is how annoying the USB toy really is.  You’ll either throw it out the window or you’re co-workers will.  I’m not even sure if kids would enjoy this after 3 or 4 seconds.

USB Ferris Wheel

I can’t post the video of the USB Ferris Wheel working, but click over to the Brando site and check it out yourself. I really shouldn’t have posted this useless USB novelty.  [$30 + shipping] Continue Reading

Standalone 35mm Slide Scanner

Matt LeBoff USB Hardware & Gadgets, USB News & Press Releases, USB Reviews

I have mentioned other 35mm Slide Scanners, but today I found one which is 100% standalone, no PC required! This standalone 35mm Slide Scanner allows even the most technologically challenged person easily scan old 35mm slides into digital archives.

35mm slide scanner

In just seconds the scanner will turn your 35mm image into a .jpeg photo file.  You have some options to see the resolution of the digital image, with a maximum resolution of 3,600DPI [dots per inch]. The new jpeg image is instantly saved to the SD memory card sitting inside the 35mm slide scanner. To insure the image is what you expect, the unit includes an Continue Reading

USB IceBox by Windows

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory, USB Hardware & Gadgets

The Windows IceBox is an interesting little tool.  It’s a software program which runs from a USB stick that locks down partitions on your hard drive.  The concept is that you lock down partitions on your hard drive so that other users, like your kids, don’t get in there and start accidentally deleting important files, registry entries, uninstalling software,etc.

USB Windows IceBox

The USB Windows IceBox includes recovery software for your hard drive and has the ability to block virus software or malware programs from getting into your computer. From my perspective, it’s a nice little tool, but if you have the smarts to partition up your hard drive, you probably have the smarts to create multiple users as well.  See the USB Windows IceBox will lock down your partitions when you walk away [certain amount of idle time] but you can do the same thing with User Login priveleges.  Just don’t give your kids Continue Reading

How To Create USB Stick with nt60 Boot Sector

Matt LeBoff Tutorials & How-To Guides

USB Tutorial: How to Create a Bootable USB Stick with the Specific NT60 Boot Sector Required for Microsoft Vista

Before we begin the USB tutorial on NT60 boot sector, review the checklist of items needed before you start. Chances are, if you find yourself searching for this tutorial, you already have everything needed to make a USB bootable with NT60 boot sector.

  • 4GB flash drive will do the trick
  • Your Vista installation disk
  • Set BIOS to boot from a USB device

When selecting your flash drive, be sure there is nothing you need on the device as this process to create an NT60 boot sector will clean the drive of all data.

  1. Put your Vista disk into the optical drive. If the autorun starts, close it all down and exit without performing any tasks.
  2. Plug in your USB stick that you want to make bootable with NT60.
  3. Open Command Prompt with Administrator rights.
  4. Type ‘diskpart‘ and press Enter.

    5. How To Create USB Stick with NT60 Boot Sector - diskpart command

  5. Now type ‘list disk‘ and press Enter. All the storage devices connected to your computer will be displayed. Make sure the size of the disk you plan to select is the USB flash drive you intend to use!

    6. USB Stick NT60 Boot Sector Tutorial - list disk command

  6. Now type ‘select disk [number here]‘ (example: ‘select disk 2‘).

    7. Create NT60 Bootable USB - select disk command

  7. Next, type ‘clean‘ and press Enter.

    8. NT60 USB Boot Sector - clean command

  8. Once this is done, type ‘create partition primary‘ and press Enter.

    9. Make USB Stick Bootable NT60 - create partition primary

  9. Type ‘select partition 1‘ and press Enter.

    10. NT60 Bootable USB Drive - select partition 1

  10. Type ‘active‘ and press Enter. This step is key to making the stick bootable.

    11. Activate NT60 USB Boot Sector - active command

  11. Format the device by typing ‘format fs=fat32‘ and press Enter. This will take 6–9 minutes for a 4GB drive.

    12. Format USB Stick NT60 Boot Sector FAT32

    Once you get 100% complete, type ‘assign‘ and press Enter. This will assign a drive letter (e.g., Drive L).

    Assign drive letter to NT60 USB stick

  12. Now type ‘exit‘ to close diskpart.
  13. To finish the process, load up the boot sector from your Vista DVD to the USB stick. Type: ‘D:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 L:‘

    14. Note: ‘D’ is the drive letter of the optical drive with the Vista disk. Adjust if yours differs.

    Load NT60 boot sector from Vista DVD to USB stick

  14. Exit out of the Command Prompt.
  15. As the last step, go to your Vista DVD and copy ALL the content to your NT60 bootable flash drive.

Congratulations, you have just created a bootable USB flash drive with the NT60 boot sector.

Note: If you are a Microsoft publisher, OEM or OED, please contact Nexcopy for more information about NT60 boot straps and related Microsoft specifications.

2025 Relevance Note

As of 2025, creating an NT60 bootable USB stick is rarely required. NT60 was designed for Windows Vista and early Windows 7 installations. Modern systems primarily use UEFI boot loaders and GPT partition tables, making this manual NT60 process mostly obsolete. The only common scenarios for creating an NT60 bootable USB today are for legacy system maintenance, forensic recovery, or historical testing environments.

Modern Alternative

For modern bootable USB creation on Windows 10, Windows 11, or newer operating systems, you can use dedicated tools that automatically handle boot sectors, partitions, and formatting. One of the most popular options is Rufus, which simplifies the process and supports both BIOS and UEFI systems without manual diskpart commands.

Continue Reading

One Explosive USB Drive

Matt LeBoff USB Hardware & Gadgets

Could this be a military technology booby-trap?  Doubt it, but it would be cool that’s for sure.

USB hand grenade

The Hand Grenade USB drive is your classic gadget gift for that x-military relative or friend who can’t get enough of the History channel. Available in four colors [white, blue, orange, black] and different GB capacities. The starting price is $20 of 4GB storage from Gadget For All. Continue Reading

NEC Sweeeetness – 43 Curved Wide Screen

Matt LeBoff Flash Storage & Memory

NEC uses the term of “unmatched viewing experience” for their new 43 inch curved wide screen monitor.  Lets forget about the $7,000 price tage for a moment.

curved monitor USb

It’s a seamless curved design which is the most impressive feature, and includes connectivity as a single DVI-D input, HDMI 1.3, or USB 2.0.  NEC doesn’t clearly spec if the USB connection is for the monitor or an internal hub that just gives you access points for promotional flash drives, cameras and camcorders. Some notable features which I didn’t think about, but NEC did the convenience of reminding me are the lack of bezels of multiple monitors side-by-side, and auto extended taskbar that spreads natively across the screen.

NEC curved monitor

NEC Curved Wide Screen product page. Continue Reading

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