Hasta La Gadget!

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It’s hard not to love Quirky, the community of online inventors where ideas becomes concepts, and concepts become products. Last month, I covered the DigiDudes, tripods with attitude, and I’m happy to say that the ‘dudes are now a selling product–Quirky doesn’t manufacture products until it gets enough pre-sale commitments, and DigiDudes met that goal. On the downside, they cost $24.99 now, instead of the original $19.99.

Quirky next gave us the Scratch-n-Scroll–they’ve built a better mouse pad. It lets you write notes with your finger or an included stylus, for those times when you’re on the phone and need to jot something down quickly. Scratch-n-Scroll is already for sale for a low $14.99.

The Quirky machine keeps on rolling: Its community just created two 24-hour Apple products, a kickstand case for the new iPod Nano and a clip-on cord wrap for Apple power adapters. Both are currently up for pre-sale.

USB support organization, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF)–a group made up of such notables as Apple, Intel, Microsoft, and HP–announced today that it was making available the Compliance and Certification Program for USB 3.0 or SuperSpeed USB.

Interested companies can register for testing by filling out the Platform Interoperability Lab certification request form on USB-IF’s site. Those products that pass the testing will be included on the organization’s Integrators List of certified SuperSpeed USB products, itself available trhough the USB.org site. Licensing rights will then be made available to the official SuperSpeed USB logo.

According to the organization, USB 3.0 is expected to grab 30 percent of the USB market share by 2013. Says USB-IF president Jeff Ravencraft:

The availability of the Compliance and Certification program is a significant milestone, and means consumers are one step closer to seeing certified SuperSpeed USB products on store shelves. When consumers see the SuperSpeed USB logo, they will have the assurance that the product interoperates with existing USB 2.0 products and provides all the speed and power efficiency enhancements that SuperSpeed USB offers, while continuing the ease-of-use consumers have come to expect from USB.

The Adesso keyboard, at first glance, looks like it has a lot going on for it, from its 2.4 Ghz RF wireless connectivity to the built-in optical mouse. But after further inspection of this compact keyboard, the basic functions are lacking.

From the start it seemed like this keyboard and I were going to get along swimmingly. I plugged in the wireless USB adapter, flipped the switch on the Adesso keyboard, and we were off to a great start. There was no disk to install and no problems connecting. I was even surprised to find I could go half way across the room and the darned thing still worked, living up to its 30 feet range promise.

Liquids and electronics don’t mix. Some of us have learned that the hard way. If you’ve got an Apple MacBook, look to iSkin’s new lines of ProTouch keyboard protectors to keep liquid, crumbs, and germs out of your circuitry.

All three lines fit MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and MacBook Airs. They’re made of silicone and include bacteria-killing Microban protection. The lowest cost model, the ProTouch Classic, has a clear frosted look and sells for $24.99.

The next level up is the ProTouch FX, which lets your keyboard’s backlighting show through. Also, the keys are outlined with a glow-in-the-dark pigment so they’ll glow blue in the dark. The ProTouch FX sells for $29.99 and comes in three colors.

The top model is the ProTouch Vibes. This cover has keyboard shortcuts printed on the keys and has a larger font for easy viewing. Vibes comes in four colorful designs, each featuring big polka dots, and sells for $34.99.

All ProTouch models are sold only through the iSkin online store.

Notebook users, Logitech has just announced a handy way for you to cut the cords and use full size keyboards and mice. The Logitech Unifying Receiver improves on an existing design and lets you connect up to six compatible wireless peripherals to your notebook. The USB receiver sticks out only 8mm, so you can leave it in while you travel. Pair it with a keyboard and mouse at home and with another set at work.

The Unifying Receiver works with a 2.4GHz wireless connection. So far the company has announced three compatible mice and two compatible keyboards, and I’m sure that will grow. You can see the lineup here. To know if a Logitech peripheral is compatible, look for the orange Unifying logo on the box.

Free software from Logitech lets you connect new Unifying products as you get them. Once they’re connected, they’ll automatically work with your laptop when it’s in range. Unifying products are currently available for preorder from Logitech, and will ship this month and next.