Home & Small Office Computer Guide

Now I have to admit that I’m a bit of geek when it comes to quirky USB gizmos … I guess that’s why I run Geeky Gifts … so this pair of USB batteries certainly caught my eye and I’m just going to have to get some.

The specs are:

• Built in SmartCharger
• Charge by powered USB
• NiMH - Nickel Metal Hyrdride
• 90%+ Charged after 5 Hours by powered USB
• Also rechargeable by approved NiMH charger at 250ma for 7 Hours
• Small blue light active when charging batteries

I’d love to be able to tell you that they’re available on Geeky Gifts but they’re not. However you can head over to Zazz.com.au and you’ll find them there … but hurry, their business model is “one day, one thingy, one chance” and they really mean it.

Anything that will rid the back of my office desk of the rat’s nest of cables and wires that come with having two computers set up there is always going to grab my attention. So more talk of wireless USB connections certainly got me interested.

Talk of wireless USB has been around for some time - it was first written about in 2004 and in January this year I suggested that it was closer than many people thought and as far back as January 2006 Belkin had released a cable free USB hub but despite that nothing much has happened with wireless USB until now.

Last week things began to change as Belkin announced the release of another wireless USB hub and Lenovo announced a notebook with wireless USB as an option.

More manufacturers are expected to announce wireless USB products in the coming weeks so perhaps we’re about to see wireless USB really begin to take off.

You can read more about it here 

If you look back in the archived posts here for USB products you will soon see that there are some very strange little USB devices out there in the world but those are only the strange tip of a very big iceberg.

In-Stat, a marekt research firm suggests that there are more than 700 million USB devices in the market today and that number could increase to more than 2.1 billion in 2009.

Thank goodness that most of those have a more serious application than just sharpening your pencil.

Belkin has announced the release of its new cable free hub. This is said to be the industry’s first USB hub that does not require a cable to be connected to the computer.

The four port hub will not require any additional software but will need a dongle plugged into the user’s laptop. This new devide will allo lap top users to move around their environment and still remain connected to printers, scanners, hard drives etc. while they remain within wireless range.

This handy device should be released during the northern hemisphere spring.

Does this herald the end of the music CD?

Are we at the dawn of the music USB?

Probably not but a Canadian group, the Barenaked Ladies are releasing their latests set of music on a reusable 128 meg Flash Drive that will plug into a USB port.

For just $30 you will get 29 songs in MP3 format along with some album art, photos, videos and more.

Once you’ve downloaded the music to your computer you can use the flash drive for other things.

Over the years there has been much hype about computers producing the paperless office. Of course, if that were ever going to be the case why were printers every developed?

But if you still believe that we will see a paperless office here is what could be the final nail in the coffin for the paperless office concept.

It’s a USB pencil sharpener and it even comes with a flashing light just to enhance your pencil sharpening experience.

But that’s not all because just to keep this amazingly useful little gizmo company there is also a USB shaver for men and a USB nail care system for the ladies.

Hmmmm - where will the silliness end?

After my wander into the world of the weird and whacky as it relates to USB I thought I should hurry up and make sure that you understood that this really was a serious technical blog.

And so to prove my bona fides I offer you this - it’s known as the Monster Drive and it really does offer some serious data storage and transfer capabilities.

The Monster Drive is made by US Modular and the base model - a 2GB version costs about the same as a 512MB flash drive.

It fits in the pal of your hand and has enough storage capacity to hold around 600 MP3s or over 350 photos.

It also comes in 4GB and 6GB versions and can be used with Windows or Macintosh without the need for any drivers.

And for the ultra techno geeks here are the technical specs:

2GB, 4GB and 6GB high-capacity, high-performance USB Portable Pen Drive
Industry standard USB 2.0 interface

Reliable storage performance for any device with a USB port, including PCs, digital media players, handheld computers & other portable devices

Low power consumption

1500G shock resistance rating

Ultra lightweight & compact (weight 16 grams)

Media type: Glass

Rotational speed: 4,200 RPM

Media transfer rate: 52.4-99.6 Mbits/sec

Transfer rate: 3.3-6.5 Mbytes/sec

Seek time (avg.): 10 msec

Error rate (unrecoverable): 1 per bit

Head load/unload cycles: 300,000

Voltage: 3.3/5.0 VDC +/- 5% Auto Detect

Current (write): 275 mA

Current (idle): 18 mA

Dimensions: 42.8 X 36.4 X 5.0 mm

Temperature: 0° to 65° C operating

Relative humidity: 8 to 90% operating

Shock (half sine): 175G (2ms) operating

Vibration (swept sine): 1G 0-pk (5-500 Hz) operating

You can find out more about the company behind the product and some of their other state-of-the-art storage devices here

And you thought that USB was all about data transfer from peripherals to the PC?

Well maybe these three little numbers will change your mind.

Here’s a USB cup warmer - ideal for keeping your coffee hot while you’re lost somewhere out on the Web

You can find out more about it here

How about a massage ball to help relieve the stress and tension when that script isn’t working or your ISP has suddenly gone down in the middle of a upload?

You can find out more about them here

And then for just $US69.00 you can have a USB Aroma Generator. It comes with three different cartridges and each will last for around four hours. Hmmmm.

You can find out more about this one right here

We’ve featured USB thumb drives here before but here is one that will store your data and lock down your computer as soon as you remove it from the drive.

The thumb drive and PC lock comes with a capacity of 256mb or 1Gig and you can find further details here

How’s this for a rather wild computer mouse. It’s thhe latest offering from Logitech and it features include:

Cordless

USB

Scroll Wheel

Application Switch

Tilt Wheel Plus Zoom

Rechargeable

Laster Techonology

Not only does it talk to the computer but the computer also talks to the mouse via a 2.4GHZz wireless connection. It comes with two rechargeable battery packs and the packs can be swapped on the fly. There’s even a battery level indicator that you can see on the top left hand side of the mouse.

This mouse will work with IBM or any compatible computer runing Windows98, 200, Me or XP that has a USB port.

The Logitech G7 mouse is rated at 4 times faster than conventional mice and is aimed at the gaming market. It’s also aimed at people who are prepared to pay for a quality mouse and retails for around $US100.00