Posts Tagged ‘tokidoki’

Apple TV Hack: RSS Reader Plugin

Matt Laboff April 8, 2007 Apple / iPod, USB Hacks, USB Tutorials, Video

The buzz about Apple TV remains strong, especially with new hacks and plugins. The most recent is an RSS reader plugin which is fully functioning with RSS1.x and 2.x. You can grab this plugin from the folks who cranked it out, twenty08. Only downer is the lack of support from ATOM feeds, but that group is a minority these days. Continue Reading

USB KVM Extender Goes the Distance via CAT5

Matt Laboff April 7, 2007 USB Input Device

This is definitely a product which is more commercial, but there are a few home users who could get excited about this. Network Tech Inc introduced a KVM box that connects via USB and through CAT5 can expand the Keyboard, Video and Mouse another 300 feet.

For the gamer, this means you can put your water-cooled, dual processor kick a$$ PC off in the remote bedroom closet while game without a hint of PC noise. Although at $385 it might be a tough sale. Don’t kid yourself, the ST-C5USBV-300 Xtendex gives a crisp clear 1920×1440 resolution at 300 feet. Continue Reading

The $6,000 USB Victorinox Swiss Army Knife

Matt Laboff April 6, 2007 Flash Storage, USB News

Swiss Army has an complete army of high-end USB flash drives. The Swiss Army Bonfort line has three designs of their 1GB “Prestige SwissMemory” product. Here is the top-shelf model, the Yellow Gold & Diamond Line. Priced at just $6,000 . The 18 ct. shell is lined with hand placed diamonds by the world’s best craftsmen. No word on diamond size and quality – I for one, would need to know that info before dropping Six Gs.

The other two designs are “Cross” and “Croco” which you can see below. The Swiss Cross design is available in yellow gold or white gold at $3,200 for either model, while the Croco is available for $800 (sl) or $3,200 (gold).

All versions of the USB Swiss knife include 1GB of memory, blade, nail file with screwdriver, scissors and key ring. But, no on-line ordering which is unfortunate as I had my wallet out and everything. Continue Reading

USB Storage Access on Nintendo Wii

Matt Laboff April 5, 2007 Gaming, USB News

We’ve been waiting to report on the USB storage abilities of the Nintendo Wii, today it finally came. The USB port you’ve so longed to use as extra storage will eventually see the light of day. Today Nintendo partnered with a USB embedded software vendor eSOL to use their USB stack code for file management on the Wii.

True, the Wii has an SD memory slot but that taps out at 2GBs, this new partnership means a potential storage size of 32GBs, or for the common folk, 2-8GBs of storage. Although no official Nintendo announcement came about the news of this development, the writing is on the wall. Continue Reading

USB Beverage Cooler Gets Down to 20 Degrees

Matt Laboff April 5, 2007 Useless Novelty, YouTube Video

With summer time coming up, a small investment into a USB beverage cooler isn’t a bad idea. Especially after hearing the USB cooler actually works. I have a feeling some of my PayPal dollars will be going towards this real soon.

If you can’t see the video, click here. Continue Reading

USB Gives Back

Matt Laboff April 5, 2007 USB News

WalkingSpree.com will serve as a multi-city sponsor for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. WalkingSpree is donating $20,000 worth of USB Pocket Pedometers to be distributed among the eight cities as a training tool for walkers and raffle prizes to encourage walker registration.

Angela Perera, VP for WalkingSpree states:

Breast cancer is a major challenge for all of us with more than 200,000 new cases each year in North America. The USB pedometers will also contribute to the camaraderie of the event. WalkingSpree.comâ€™s USB pedometer and their online program is a great tool for our walkers to help them prepare for their Avon Walk.

Here are the product details for the USB Pedometer. Here is the schedule of events for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer: Schedule for the 2007 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer series

Washington, D.C. May 5-6
Boston May 19-20
Chicago June 2-3
Denver June 23-24
San Francisco July 7-8
Los Angeles September 15-16
New York October 6-7
Charlotte October 20-21

Interested in participating? Check out Avon Walk for Breast CancerÂ You can read the full press release here. Continue Reading

Hacking Bluetooth With USB

Matt Laboff April 5, 2007 Security, USB Hacks, USB News

I read an interesting report from Dark Reading today regarding hacking Bluetooth and how USB can play a roll. (Not that hacking for the dark force is anything cool) You don’t hear much about Bluetooth hacks because the tools needed (sniffers) start at about 10Grand.

A couple of security engineers where able to use a Cambridge Silicon Radio chip-based USB dongle, some flash memory and Bluetooth 2.x technology and some code hacked from a commercial Bluetooth sniffer to hack into a device’s communication via the Bluetooth signal. There was no specific USB hack How-To information but the point is that if a simple USB dongle can be construed to do Bluetooth hacking then security risks for not only communication but device control could become a huge big problem. Continue Reading

Vista Readyboost Dream Machine

Matt Laboff April 3, 2007 Brando USB, Flash Storage, Readyboost, USB News

Brando is distributing the A-Data turbo speed USB flash drive, the PD7. This is a Windows Vista Readyboost dream with 133x (20MB) per second write speeds.

Not sure what’s up with brushed aluminum case, as this is the second release in one day, but it appears to be the trend – what can you say, good looking and durable.

Caution about the Vista Readyboost claim as today Microsoft got slapped with a lawsuit for false Vista compliance ads with regards to compatibility of “signature” features working in peripheral products.

USB Fashion Continues with PQI i810

Matt Laboff April 3, 2007 Flash Storage, USB News

Technology fashion continues to hit the USB flash scene. PQI introduces this very girly pink UFD with brushed metal enclosure. Of course dull grey for the guys – not that we’d want something else.

PQI coins the phrase “Intelligent Drive i810” and after reviewing their press release – nothing intelligent about it. It’s a flash drive. I can surmise “intelligent” is referenced to the chick term for smart-n-sexy. I don’t think so. Available from 512MB to 2GBs go grab yourself some chick-tech-bling from PQI. Continue Reading

Automatic and Simple USB Backup Utility

Matt Laboff April 3, 2007 Software, USB News

I came across this handy USB disk drive backup software utility the other day. Tom Bell did a nice job putting this package together. The program automatically starts when the UFD is connected to the PC. Backing up your thumb drive could never be easier.

USB Backup looks for a specific configuration file – when found – it begins the auto backup. The USB backup will archive the information to a directory of your choice. If the config file isn’t found on your UFD then a simple guide will walk you through setup. Get USB Backup. The utility is in Beta now, so download and give him feedback. The back story for why Tom created this: Continue Reading

Tough Guy Industrial Grade UFD from STEC

Matt Laboff April 3, 2007 Flash Storage, Security, USB News

So here we go again. Another industrial grade USB flash drive, this time from STEC. Yes it’s tough, yes the STEC will withstand shock, both physical and electric, and includes STEC proprietary flash memory controller. This built-I ECC engine can detect up to 5-byte errors and correct up to 4-byte errors and with advanced write algorithms to guarantee 2 million write/erase cycles. Not sure how they are doing that as I’ve reported before on the life cycle of a flash drive which is based more off the flash memory type not the algorithms used during the write process. None-the-less, we’ll drink their juice for now.

The STEC industrial grade UFD withstands the NEBS Level 3 compliance and passed ESD testing for 8kV and 15kV air. If you don’t know what all that means, well neither do I. With some quick Google searches we have:

NEBS Level 3 – Network Equipment Building System and level 3 means the product meets toughest requirements for fire, vibration and airflow. After reading the spec if you simply threw the UFD across the room onto your stove for 5 seconds and it survives, chances are you’ll pass the Level 3 NEBS test. Wiki NEBS

ESD 8kV & 15kV – Electrostatic Discharge of solid state electronics. A spark is triggered at 30KV so obviously the STEC wont withstand that, but surviving either 8kV or 15kV is above average. Wiki ESD

So it’s clear if you are in the need of an industrial grade UFD for specific applications the STEC key drives are worth a closer look. Continue Reading

Poll Results: How Much is Stored On Your Flash Drive?

Matt Laboff April 2, 2007 Poll Results, U3 Related

So what is the average amount of data someone stores on a flash drive? Well, I asked that question of GetUSB.info visitors and 60% said over 1GB of data and 40% said less then 1GB. The interesting thing about this poll is the spread always stayed about the same. So although just under 100 people voted, it’s probably a good indicator about usage. I’ll get another poll going in the coming weeks to find out how close or how far away the usage number is from the 1GB mark. Continue Reading