Hasta La Gadget!

This concept design eases one of the most annoying inconveniences that humans suffer in the modern age: trying to stick USB plugs into sockets, and getting them the wrong way around. We have all done it: you jab the cable into the side of your computer and it just won’t go in. You get mad, your skin grows greener, and your clothes start to tear.

The Double USB-plug will save you, along with your wardrobe. It can be plugged in any way you like, thanks to an intricate and easy-to-break system of internal componentry. If you look into the end of a regular USB plug, you’ll see that it is half-filled with the plastic part containing the contacts. The Double USB has two of these, filling the entirety of the metal tube. Both are spring-loaded, so whichever one is redundant in a given orientation will simply be pushed back as you plug it in.

It’s a solution that would certainly work, but it would also require much more complicated plugs that would bring their own frustrations. Imagine you are away on a trip and you want to charge your [insert gadget here]. You brought one USB cable, the fancy Double USB we see here. Only unlike the million indestructible USB cables you left back at home, this one has taken a whack and is now rendered useless, springs poking out like a Swiss watch that has been hit with a hammer.

This USB plugs in both ways [Yanko]

See Also:

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Das Keyboard, the company behind – you guessed it – the Das Keyboard, will now sell you some mint-green keycaps to replace your WASD keys. Aimed at gamers, the keys can be had with or without letters to fit (or contrast with) either the lettered or blank Das Keyboard. For $15 you also get a red escape key, a key-puller and free shipping.

The Das Keyboard, you might remember, is the rackety-clackety keyboard with the Cherry MX-style key switches, which make a noise fit to wake the neighbors and also give a very positive click to let you know you have pressed the key properly. I reviewed one back in October 2008 and was told by the company not to pop the keycaps off. I did anyway, to make the command and alt keys match the standard Mac layout, and it seems the Das Keyboard has finally agreed.

I’m not sure I’d want these ugly green keys, even if I was a gamer, but for just $15, it’s almost worth it just to have that bright red escape key up inn the corner.

Das Keyboard WASD keys [Das Keyboard via Slashgear]

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Guitarists: How much did you pay for your instrument? If it was less than $825, then look away now, because this gorgeous leather case costs more than your guitar.

The case is called the Arizona Arena and comes from the Whipping Post Leather company, a name which neatly evokes the brutal flaying required to skin a dead cow. And unlike its bovine donor (or even your guitar), the case looks like it would last forever, sewn with “marine grade threading” and equipped with stainless steel buckles and loops. It does in fact come with a lifetime warranty.

Inside there is one-inch thick foam padding and outside you get pockets for stowing a pint of bourbon and anything else the modern guitarist might need. There is also a strap which does double-duty as a shoulder-strap or backpack-strap.

The picture above shows the Arizona Arena, and you can also go for the darker Georgia Brown or the pale tan Mojave Sand for the same high, high price.

Arizona Arena product page [Whipping Post Leather via Uncrate]

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Welcome to the inevitable yearly cash-in of Saint Valentine’s Day, a day dedicated to making single people miserable and couples guilty. This year, the romantically-themed object of “desire” is the Galet, a silver pebble which splits open to reveal a 4GB USB stick.

The Galet, which translates variously to pebble, stone, rock and – most curiously – roller in Google translate, is a collaboration between Lacie and French silversmiths Christofle. Christofle takes a metal puck and coats it with silver in a “150 year-old silvering process” and hands it off to Lacie where it is stuffed with electronics, slipped into a plush bag and dropped into a cardboard box.

As USB sticks go, this is certainly a handsome one, but is it really a gift for the love in your life? After all, as fancy as it looks, buying your spousal unit a USB stick is a little like her buying you some expensive face-cream. It’s nice, but you just don’t care. Instead, give her (or him) the $140 you’re just about to waste, and hand her one of your old 4GB thumb-drives a week later.

An that’s it for my traditional Valentine’s Day rant, with just one thing left to say. I will be spending this Valentine’s Day in a high-tech version the same way I have spent almost every Valentine’s Day since I was old enough to buy liquor: at home, alone, with a bottle of Scotch and a copy of the new Playboy iOS app. Who said technology couldn’t be romantic?

Galet product page [Lacie. Thanks, Audra!]

See Also:

• Pink MSI Wind in Cynical Valentine Cash-In
• Gadget Lab Video Blog: Valentine's Day Gadget Guide
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Kensington’s PowerLift is a combo dock, stand and battery charger for the iPhone, with a 1200 mAh battery on board to add a good chunk of a day to the battery life of your phone.

How much extra time? Kensington says 3.5-hours of talk-time, 1.5-hours of FaceTime, 5-hours of video and 20 hours of music.

To fit in this big battery, Kensington ignored skinny-case or tiny pocket-dongle designs and went for a heftier dock. The PowerLift can hang off the bottom of your phone while you use it but if you flip up the stand and drop the thing onto a desk it looks a lot more natural. And if you are using it alongside a computer – or if you should chance across a power outlet on your rare travels through the corporate world – you can flip out a USB cable to charge or sync. What it doesn’t do – despite its name – is toss Alien Queens into airlocks. Available for pre-order, $50.

PowerLift product page [Kensington via Oh Gizmo]

See Also:

• Octopus Battery Charger Sucks Up to iPhone
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