Hasta La Gadget!

Everyone loves statistics, especially the superlatives, and hence it is no wonder that each year’s edition of the Guinness Book of World Records have done exceptionally well for itself. After all, we as humans seem somehow obsessed about stuff like the largest and the fastest, and new records which are set are always celebrated as another notch in the realm of human achievement. It is no different then, for Mushkin, an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance and mission-critical computer products, have just announced yet another feather in their cap – the official availability of the fastest USB flash drive in the world, which happens to be known as the Ventura Ultra.

Originally shown off at CES 2013 earlier this year, the Ventura Ultra happens to be a USB 3.0 flash drive that carries a whopping 240GB of storage space, making it the fastest in the world of its kind. This particular flash drive would obviously boast of extremely fast data transfer rates of up to 380 MB/s read and 325 MB/s write (theoretically speaking, considering these are well within the limits of the USB 3.0 standard, but in real life one might experience something different). Not only that, it comes with a rugged aluminum casing to deliver additional durability and resistance. Just a reminder for the masses, the USB 3.0 standard is up to 10 times faster compared to USB 2.0, and best of all is, it happens to be backwards compatible with legacy USB ports and devices.

Best of all is, the Mushkin Ventura Ultra is a dying breed, being one of the few USB flash drives in the world that does offer USB Attached SCSI Protocol support, so that it paves the way for command queuing so that it can maximize the transfer rate potential. Each purchase will arrive with a 2-year warranty when it becomes available worldwide this coming October 7th.

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[ Mushkin at the forefront with Ventura Ultra USB, the world’s fastest flash drive copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

The scene: a woman goes to buy a cake for, oh, let’s say her cat Whiskers’s birthday. She decides to put a photo of Whiskers’s face on top of the cake because oh isn’t that fun and also she’s a very lonely woman. She hands the baker a USB drive and asks that she use the photo. The baker smiles and nods because English is her second language and because this customer asking for a flash drive on a cake is clearly insane and should be dealt with accordingly. The result, as you can see, is glorious. More »

Love all things to do with the old and new, merged together under the guise of “steampunk”? If you have answered in the affirmative, then you would be pleased to hear that Thinkgeek has made available the $29.99 8GB Steampunk Thumb Drive to the masses. This is definitely a device that looks old school, and yet it delivers modern day storage. Made out of heavy copper-plated metal for that added touch of durability, this is not water resistant, so don’t go soaking it in a tub of water along with the rest of your laundry. At least it comes in a copper-plated metal tin that is wrapped in an old-looking box for that added touch of authenticity and realism.

Each of the Steampunk Thumb Drives will offer up to 8GB of storage space – not an iota more or less. Even better is, since it is covered in copper-plated metal, it ought to be able to jive nicely into just about any other Steampunk costume in your closet. There is even a metal tin which it comes in for storage purposes, and the key ring itself is removable for that added touch of portability. Come to think of it, this does seem to shape up to be a pretty decent Christmas tree ornament, no?

[ 8GB Steampunk Thumb Drive copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Some of us might say that a particular file is toast once we accidentally pressed Shift and Delete keys on the keyboard, but you might want to think of making a backup of all your important files onto a USB flash drive beforehand. Now, since many of us already tote a fair number of USB flash drives as part of our collection, why not make matters more interesting by using a USB hub at home or in the office? You might as well make a stylish statement in the process with the USB Toaster Hub and Thumbdrives from ThinkGeek. The USB Toaster Hub is one thing, and you can choose other thumb-drives that come in the shape of a toast. The toaster and toasts are sold separately, retailing anywhere from $24.99 to $27.99 depending on what you are looking for.

I guess it would be travesty not to collect all four “slices” of “toast”, especially when you consider how cute the whole setup would be if you were to piece them together. Not only that, ThinkGeek knows that the modern day road warrior is also one who carries a slew of other gizmos as well, which is where the SD memory card slot on this puppy comes in handy.

[ USB Toaster Hub and Thumbdrives copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]