Markus Bischof is a Germany craftsman who’s recently applied his skills to the creation of hand crafted USB drives.
Made from extremely old wood and veneers it’s hard to believe a single tree hasn’t been (recently) cut down for it’s creation. Rather, the materials used, come from old wood collections where the wood is as hard as stone and incredibly smooth to the touch. For example some USB drives where made from an old pipe organ built in 1839 and dismantled years ago.
It’s clear these materials aren’t collected from local trees but rather hand crafted and hold a historical past from the materials used.
The image above is a sample shot which the German Bundesumweltminister (Federal Environment Minister) ordered as a representative giveaway to the ministers of other countries.
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Not the best looking USB mouse, but it does hold one unique characteristic…it’s waterproof. Yep, you can now browse the web, underwater, safe and secure. Putting some traditional yellow to signify the waterproof feature would help the look, but not by much.
The redeeming quality for this USB gadget is the application in hospitals, weathered / outdoor applications or possibly chemical laboratories as the mouse is chemical resistant as well.
The USB waterproof mouse is sealed with high quality silicone making it possible to clean, disinfect and even wash under water without harm or damage.
So if you happen to be a pool bartender, restaurant owner of just a slob, you can pick up the waterproof mouse for $37.
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The last card reader gadget I reported on was the 52-in-1 card reader. At the time I figured this would support the most demanding needs of a flash memory junky. However, with the inclusion of SATA, Firewire and audio, USB Fever upped that number to 62.
For those trying not to spend your money twice on multiple card readers for all those devices the 62-in-1 will surely do the trick. As the most comprehensive card reader available, USB Fever didn’t stop there. Included is support for eSATA, 1934 Firewire and audio output for headphones along with audio input for microphones.
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SentrySafe is the first [I think] Safe manufacturer to include USB connectivity for external access. We’ll get to the USB portion soon enough, but lets take a look at the physical characteristics of the SentrySafe Fire-Safe.
In the picture above, I am talking about the larger two Safes in the back. The sizes are available in 1.2 or 2.0 cu feet sizes. Are fire resistant for up to 2 hours and can sit in water up to 8 inches. A perfect Safe for the home or office.
Now on to the USB Safe portion: Sizing allows for 120CDs or DVDs with door pockets to hold hard drives. In the door pocket sits USB connectivity to an external USB port. From here, outside of safe, you have digital access to the hard drives inside. This is a nice twist for those who need high security for their hard drives.
However, and I can see it now, you need to encrypt your hard drive. Saving your digital data physically is only half the battle. Here is some free open source USB encryption software that’ll work great with any hard drive.
As a closing note, if you have a window office spot, and the safe happens to fall out during an blaze, she’s good for a drop up to 30 feet. Cost is $420 for the 1.2 cu ft and $520 for the 2.0 cu ft version.
SentrySafe USB Fire Safe
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According to reports, Apple is close to announcing plans to make Fox and Disney movies available as online rentals via iTunes (US). Apple CEO Steve Jobs is likely saving the official announcement for his Macworld Expo keynote on Jan. 14.
Customers would pay a fee to download titles viewable on computers, iPods and presumably Apple TV devices that would expire after a short window of time. Netflix, Amazon.com and Blockbuster’s Movielink are competitors in this space.
Wal-Mart, however, has thrown in the towel. Wal-Mart.com quietly pulled the plug on its video download service late last month as Hewlett Packard decided to discontinue the back-office technology that powered it. The service, popular with studios because it offered variable pricing, struggled with compatibility issues. Wal-Mart downloads could not be burned to DVDs or watched on video iPods.
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Here it is… video evidence of the new unreleased iPhone 1.1.3 software improvements. The embedded video below is a nice and thorough walk-through of the unreleased iPhone 1.1.3 feature updates hosted by Andru from GearLive.com. Watch it fast before Apple’s lawyers take it down.
Anyone still think it’s fake?
If the embedded video above doesn’t load, then click here.
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How good are bus powered USB devices? That’s a good question and the answer depends upon the device and the application. To start, let me summarize situations / products you could find problematic. From here we can determine what & when “bus power” is best.
Most problem situations are with USB devices which require a heavy load of power. Products such as USB disc [hard] drives, external USB CD or DVD burners etc. With these products you need a lot of power, if you don’t get it, you have problems. If the power running through the USB cable (the USB bus) to your device is not enough good chance the product will fail. Problems such as drive failures, burning CD coasters or repetitive USB disconnects during operation.
With the larger USB hard drives coming out this is where you need to pay attention. I would recommend against purchasing a “USB hard drive” where the drive itself runs from USB bus power.
But lets say you’ve covered your bases and purchased a USB hard drive with an external power adapter – now we must consider the connection to your computer? Many times I’ve heard users making the connection via their
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Not to anyone’s surprise…the USB 3.0 jacks and sockets look exactly the same. Go figure, as part of the specification is to be backward compatible. But taking a closer look, you do see some differences.
The folks from Register Hardware had a peak at the USB 3.0 connectors while at CES 2008 this year. As you can see from the image below, the USB 3.0 sockets have an additional row of connectors. The connectors located in front are to keep the backward compatibility to USB 1.1 and USB 2.0. The connectors placed behind this first row are for USB 3.0.
The new USB 3.0 specification is promising transfer speeds 10 times greater than current 2.0 standards – to that of 4.7Gb/s. There is also a fiber optics connector which hasn’t been made available yet.
As the USB 3.0 specification is expected to be finalized sometime in June of 2008 – we can expect to see product following by the end of this year. Although I am looking forward to the new, faster USB 3.0 spec, not everyone shares the same love. Here is what some are saying:
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Here’s one for the select few, yet equally as interesting for those digital SLR fans. The 35mm slide and film negative scanner is your one-stop workstation for turning those old negatives into digital masterpieces.
The slide and negative converter will scan your old photo’s up to 1,829 DPI and easily convert them to jpeg. With USB connection the digital slide converter will quickly and easily build your family photo album into a digital copy. The slide scanner also comes with drives to work directly with Photoshop to remove pesty
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Technology convergence can be fun, useful and sometimes awkward and with the underwater scuba mask sporting USB connectivity combines all three.
Using a 5 mega pixel camera, Liquid Image has created an underwater camera built right into your scuba mask. Not a bad idea at all. Especially at a $99 price tag. Never before has it been this in expensive for vacationers to get a snorkel mask and camera for that Bahamas’ trip.
Running off AAA batteries, your pictures are saved to a built in 16MB of memory (not enough) or microSD card. After your afternoon swimming with the fish, download everything via USB.
The USB snorkel mask includes a shutter release button and cross hairs on the tempered glass for sharp shooting. A little storage compartment for, I would think, fish food and a LCD status display screen. Other features include video mode and hi or low res mega pixel settings.
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Well 2008 is here. Happy New Year! If you happen to be at home checking out the 2008 Rose Bowl parade then download this free audio tour. It’s a detailed description of all the floats, how they where built and by whom. Just click on the picture below and you will be redirected to Amazon for a free MP3 download of the 2008 Tournament of Roses Parade.
It’s not even New Year’s Day and we are moving things along with prep for Easter. Today I received info on a USB egg cluster from GiftWhole Electronics.
Using either USB power or wall power, it’s easy to get your cubical or front office up and running for Easter. The color LEDs, not the case, make the unique color set seen above. The bunch of 8 measure about 3 meters in length and from the looks of the picture make quite a rats nest with cabling.
For pricing and product details jump over to GiftWhole Elec.
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According to reports, Apple is close to announcing plans to make Fox and 
Here it is… video evidence of the new unreleased iPhone 1.1.3 software improvements. The embedded video below is a nice and thorough walk-through of the unreleased iPhone 1.1.3 feature updates hosted by Andru from GearLive.com. Watch it fast before Apple’s lawyers take it down.
Anyone still think it’s fake?
If the embedded video above doesn’t load, then click 
