Nice Arm Rest For the Work-a-Holic

Matt Laboff July 10, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

Not every work station is ideal.Â In fact, most people probably have a desk area overloaded with paper, USB gadgets and family photos, so this portable arm-rest comes in very handy. Although it’s not a USB gadget, the arm-rest could be an invaluable tool to help fight Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or fatigue from your arm, elbow and shoulders.

arm rest

Even as I type this article, my elbow is hanging off the side of the desk so a little more desk space would definitely help me. Ask yourself, do you need a little extra elbow support? Continue Reading

USB Owl Will Shake, Rattle and Roll

Matt Laboff July 9, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

AudioCubes introduced their USB Owl a couple months ago and I heard about it, but didn’t re-discover the Firefox bookmark until tonight. Sad, but that’s OK as when the story broke the product wasn’t available, now it is [$39].

usb owl

The USB Owl will shimmy it’s head and blink her eyes while you type on the keyboard, all the while making you feel as though you are not alone. To me this seems all a little creepy – some nice tunes in the background would do me just fine. The USB Owl is available in four different colors [white, silver, brown and pink]. Continue Reading

2nd of 4 Star Wars Mimobots Revealed As “Wicket”

Matt Laboff July 9, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

Mimoco just released the second Mimobot of their Series Three in the Star Wars line, this one is Wicket.Â I guess this would be about as cute as one could get for a USB drive.Â It’s a complete opposite of the Darth Sidious release last week.

wicket usb star wars

The remaining two characters will be revealed in the next two weeks, and the entire series goes on sale July 23rd. Check out the closeups and a little diorama of Wicket standing on an Imperial Speeder in the woods with several other characters.

After all, what good is a USB drive if it doesn’t look like one of your favorite movie characters and can’t be set it up in little dioramas?

wicket star wars mimobot

Source: Mimoco. Continue Reading

LED USB Light Tube Speaker Thang

Matt Laboff July 3, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

LED lights are leaking there way into many things these days, and this over sized LED light tube speaker from Brando is another classic example.Â It doesn’t pulsate with the beat, but it does glow your speaker system into a cool looking desk fixture.

usb led light tube speaker

It’s USB powered and the USB powered gadget costs just $22 so an ideal gift for a kids night-light who needs some music to help fall asleep. Source:Â Brando. Continue Reading

Nexcopy Offers USB Duplicator With USB Copy Protection

Matt Laboff July 1, 2008 Flash Storage & Memory, USB Duplicators

Update: Nexcopy Develops In-House Copy Protection to Support Mac OS

As of 2025, Nexcopy no longer partners with TrusCont for USB copy protection solutions. This strategic shift was driven by Nexcopy’s commitment to supporting both Windows and macOS platforms. TrusCont’s DRM solution did not support Mac, which became a critical limitation for many users. To address this, Nexcopy developed its own proprietary technology—Copy Secure—a hardware-based USB copy protection solution compatible with both Windows 10+ and macOS. The Copy Secure flash drives offer true read-only, copy-protected media with cross-platform support and no software installation required by the end-user.

Original Article Starts Here

We’ve seen plenty of data encryption solutions for USB, but what about true Digital Rights Management for USB drives and their content? Nexcopy seems to be thinking the same thing. Nexcopy has teamed with TrusCont to offer genuine DRM technology for flash drives.

The USB Copy Protection solution includes the ability to protect both .exe and .pdf files. For each format, users can configure time limits, password protection, anti-copy safeguards, and anti-rip controls. For PDFs, additional restrictions such as disabling copy/paste and printing can also be applied—making this a true digital rights management solution for USB.

The enhanced USB drive offers more than just copy protection—which is already groundbreaking—it also allows end-users to configure:

USB CD-ROM partition
USB Read Only partition
Or a combination of those, plus an Open partition for general read/write access

For maximum flexibility, the flash drive can be reconfigured repeatedly with either a USB CD-ROM partition or a USB Read Only partition. If you’re looking to build your own U3-style USB drive, test auto-launch software, or deploy secure media for enterprise use—this is the platform to explore.

Nexcopy is offering the TSFD Publisher Kit, which bundles their USB duplicator with TrusCont’s copy protection software and configuration utility. Kits are available in quantities of 50, 100, 300, or 500+ enhanced TSFD USB drives.

I’ve requested a demo unit to explore the system firsthand and will report back with details.

Source: PRWeb via Nexcopy Inc. and

Targus Folding Speaker System for iPod

Matt Laboff June 30, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

Targus launched this ultra portable, yet powerful iPod speaker system, AEM0702AP, for music on the go.Â The speaker system can be powered by a handful of AAA batteries or via USB power.

targus ipod speaker

Why Targus hired a marketing firm who places their speakers in a pile of rocks with weeds sticking out is a complet mystery.Â If these folks are trying to send the message of a lovely afternoon at the park, then grass, picnic basket and a couple glasses of wine should have been the props here. Maybe they are trying to convey the portable iPod speaker system will get you to “rock out.”Â Doubt that. In either event, the Targus speakers will run you about $45 bucks plus a plane ticket to Korea. Source: AvingUSA. Continue Reading

Santa Cruz is Making USB SkateDrive

Matt Laboff July 9, 2008 Flash Storage & Memory

Cross marketing is pushing the limit each day and to prove my point, Santa Cruz has just released the SkateDrive.Â It’s a USB flash drive shaped like one of their popular board designs.Â We saw the USB surfdrive a while back, so I guess it’s not that big of a stretch.

usb skatedrive

According to Zedomax, my source…and ya the guy who blogs while drinking beer [see the list of articles below – yet again proving my point] the…

Action Sport Drives have teamed up with Santa Cruz to create the first and only authentic USB Flash Drive skateboards. Weâ€™ve combined this innovative design with the graphics from actual Santa Cruz skateboard.

So what other crazy things does Max write about while hitting the bottle? Continue Reading

USB Crunching Dog Full of Eternal Energy

Matt Laboff July 9, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

usb crunching dog

The USB Crunching Dog seems to be a clear cut knock-off of the USB humping dog, just a bit more PG13 for the corporate world.Â The USB Crunching Dog will begin it’s endless “set” of sit-ups while you data transfer those MP3’s from your DAP to your Laptop. Being a USB powered gadget, the little dog has an endless amount of energy and will make your sit-up routine look like a joke.Â All this gadget goodness for $16. Continue Reading

Super 16 Port’er USB Hub

Matt Laboff July 8, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

I don’t have USB connectivity issues, but I believe many do.Â The super 16 port USB hub will help in those situations.Â The plethora of ports will give any computer uber-geek the ability to connect just about everything in his office to a single computer.Â But even then, the uber-geek has the ability to split up those 16 ports to be shared with two computers…thus spreading the geekness all around.

usb super hub

The super 16 port USB hub has a switch for setting ports to computer A or B.Â Or you can simply keep all 16 ports designated to a single computer.Â Connect your printer, several cameras, web-cam, your handful of USB drives, USB fan, another USB fan if you overheat easily, maybe a USB mask, or USB wrist pad, and of course a USB aroma drive.Â I think you get the picture. The super hub comes in at $140.Â Fully supports the USB 2.0 specification and has a designated power line to insure optimal performance to all those USB powered gadgets.

large usb hub

Dimensions are: 116 x 67 x 63 (mm) Continue Reading

Darth Sidious is First of Four In New Star Wars USB Series

Matt Laboff July 2, 2008 USB Hardware & Gadgets

Darth Sidious is making the first appearance from the new line of Star Wars Mimobot USB drives.Â This is one cool looking drive too, check out the detail in the hands with blue electricity emanating from his finger tips.

darth sidious mimobot