Mar 29

Crapgadget: ‘blurring the line between comical and offensive’ edition

Posted in: Retro, Today's Chili, usb

Just because the flow of Crapgadgets has apparently slowed from an outpouring to a mere flood doesn’t mean we haven’t been dutifully collecting the worst of the bad over the past few months. Without further ado, we present to you the latest edition, complete with a handful of this quarter’s most atrocious / splendiferous gadgets. Frankly, it’s a chore just deciding where to start — should we extol the portable speaker kit with an utterly unnecessary Core i5 label on the outside, or give priority to Thanko’s heated mousepad / hand-engulfing cat face? On second thought, maybe it’s the real wood stick-on that enables every smartphone owner to literally knock on wood whenever the mood strikes. Unfortunately for us, there’s also an iPhone 4 steering wheel to consider, not to mention a stick figure speaker with a questionable audio jack and a retrofied telephone with an integrated reading light. Have a peek at each below, and let us know in the poll below which is most abhorrent. And remember, honesty really is the best policy.

Read – Portable speaker kit, Core i5-powered!
Read – Audiobot, who could use a zippered fly
Read – Thanko’s cat face / mousepad / warmer
Read – Knock On Wood iPhone stick-on
Read – iPhone 4 steering wheel (with speakers!)
Read – USB retro telephone (with alarm clock!)

View Poll

Crapgadget: ‘blurring the line between comical and offensive’ edition originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 28

Finally, a Compact Flash Reader for iPad

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, ipad, Tablets and E-Readers, Today's Chili, usb

MIC Gadget’s CF card reader does away with pesky cables

If you own an iPad and a DSLR, it’s likely that you have already sprung for Apple’s camera connection kit. And if your camera uses compact flash cards, then it is equally likely you own a card reader.

But if you don’t have any way to get pictures into you iPad, or you’re sick of stringing cables between otherwise convenient and portable accessories, then you might pick up the iPad CF Card Reader from MIC Gadget.

It’s a 2-in-1 reader which plugs straight into your iPad’s dock port and has CF and USB slots on the other side. Just plug it in and the images on the card will show up in the iPad’s Photos app, ready to be imported. The USB slot will read video and image files from a thumb drive as long as they are in a folder with a camera-y sounding directory name, such as “DCIM”.

The CF card reader will cost you $30, the same as Apple’s SD and USB camera connection kit. For space-conscious pro SLR users, it’s probably an easy decision.

CF Card Reader for iPad & iPad 2 [MIC Gadget]

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Mar 27

Hanwha unleashes HDMI / USB adapter for iPad, iPhone 4, and fourth-gen iPod touch

Posted in: 1080p, 720p, Apple, ipad, ipod, ipod touch, IpodTouch, Mini, peripheral, Television, Today's Chili, touch, usb
Feel the desire to watch your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch (fourth gen) videos on the big screen, but looking for something with a little more girth than Apple’s HDMI solution? Hanwha’s latest dongle might do the job. As you can see above, in place of the original adapter’s dock connector port is a USB 2.0 socket — compatible with cameras supporting mass storage connection — alongside the 720p-friendly HDMI port, but you’ll have to use the switch to toggle between the two modes. And that little mini-USB port on the far right? Well, it’s there to provide some juice to “reduce battery drain,” but probably not enough to charge up your iDevice. If you’re still interested and have a friend in Japan, Hanwha’s charging ¥5,980 (around $73), which is almost double that of Apple’s $39 connector. Is USB support worth such a price jump? Your call.

Hanwha unleashes HDMI / USB adapter for iPad, iPhone 4, and fourth-gen iPod touch originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 22:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 25

PureSync: Great for USB Drive or Memory Card Backups

Posted in: Features, Freeware, Software, Today's Chili, usb, Windows

This article was written on July 03, 2009 by CyberNet.

puresync.jpgarrow Windows Windows only arrow
I’m always looking for awesome backup solutions that you won’t have to pull your wallet out for, and there’s no arguing that there are plenty of free apps out there. One that really caught my attention recently was PureSync. it does all of the common things you’d expect from a backup program such as two-way syncing or a one-way backup. The interface is extremely simple, which is something I did find refreshing… often times these programs get cluttered because of all the features they try to include. This has a good balance.

The real power of the program I would have to say lies in options it offers for automatic synchronization:

  • When folders are found – this is what really made me take a serious look at this program. I can have PureSync look for a specific folder/drive, and when it gets connected a backup will automatically be kicked off. You know how valuable this can be if you’ve ever had a USB drive die on you, or maybe you’ve lost a memory card. Heck, maybe you just want the same files on your computer and portable drive so that changes you make in one location will automatically get carried over once the device is plugged in.
  • When a file has been modified – When you’re working on a really important project there is always that fear in the back of your mind that something unexpected might happen to your machine. Maybe your computer is going to explode right before you hit the print button? With this option you can have it make a copy of a file as changes are made to it, and move it over to another location… hopefully to an external drive a few feet away from your computer, and sitting next to a fire extinguisher. ;)
  • On a schedule – this is obviously a no-brainer, and any usable backup program will have this option.

If it weren’t for those options I’m not sure if this app would have struck me as being something special. Overall I’d say it’s pretty good, but then again I haven’t put it through any huge file transfers.

PureSync Homepage (Windows only; free)
[via MakeUseOf]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Mar 23

Toshiba’s Portable USB Monitor Cheap Enough to Be Useful

Posted in: Displays, Today's Chili, Toshiba, usb

Toshiba’s mobile monitor is cheap, portable and works via USB

If you own some kind of tablet, you can make it do double-duty as a wireless, external add-on screen for your computer, if you don’t mind laggy, pixelated graphics and are happy with just ten inches of extra space. It’s handy for maxing out a laptop in emergencies, but hardly ideal.

Toshiba’s USB Mobile LCD monitor, though, looks a whole lot better. First, it has a nice big 14 inch display. Second, it sends both power and pictures over a USB cable. Third, it costs just $200, clearly showing the downward pressure tablets like the iPad have put onto screen-only products (remember when a digital photo-frame would cost hundreds of dollars?).

The LCD screen has a 1366 x 768 resolution for HD movie watching, and weighs in at 2.8 pounds including the supplied case (which also acts as a neat stand).

This is a specialist product, to be sure, but it’s both portable and cheap enough to be worth a look. Would you want to lug an extra couple of pounds around a trade show like CES? Probably not, but if you’re editing photos or some kind of mobile spreadsheet jockey, $200 is a bargain.

Mobile Mobile product page [Toshiba]

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Mar 22

Toshiba outs 14-inch, DisplayLink-powered USB mobile monitor for $200

Posted in: LCD, monitor, Today's Chili, Toshiba, usb

It’s been a hot minute since we’ve seen a new DisplayLink-equipped secondary monitor, but it looks as if the drought is ending today. Toshiba has quietly pushed out a new 14-inch mobile USB display, weighing just 2.8 pounds and retailing for a freakishly affordable $199.99. That sum gets you 1366 x 768 pixels, 220 nits of brightness — if you plug in an optional AC adapter — a 400:1 contrast ratio, 16 millisecond response time and native support for Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. As these things go, a simple USB connection is all that’s required to provide basic power to the unit and send the signal, and it seems to be shipping now for those who’ve outgrown their 7-inch Mimo.

Toshiba outs 14-inch, DisplayLink-powered USB mobile monitor for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 22

Tascam outs new DR-07 Mark II audio recorder, touts adjustable mics

Posted in: audio, MP3, Today's Chili, usb

If you’re in the market for a quality audio recording device to capture demos somebody other than your mother would listen to, here’s your chance to get those songs past her and out into the real world. Tascam, maker of professional music studio equipment, has just announced their newest addition to the recording family, the DR-07. Depending on what you’ll be recording, the device allows the user to capture sound in XY or AB configuration using the adjustable dual microphones — the XY adjustment for a tight stereo recording and AB for ambient, larger noise. The Mark II comes bundled with a 2GB microSD slot, features 17.5 hours of battery life and grabs MP3 audio at up to 320 kbps or WAV audio at up to 96 kHz. If you’re interested in picking one of these up, hit up the more coverage link and drop the $150.

Tascam outs new DR-07 Mark II audio recorder, touts adjustable mics originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 19

Samsung’s Central Station wireless monitor appears in Europe as SyncMaster C27A750

Posted in: LCD, monitor, samsung, sync, Today's Chili, usb, Wireless

Back when we first laid eyes on Samsung’s Central Station, we were excited by its wireless docking capabilities, and now it looks like the company’s ready to let the monitor loose on European soil, albeit with a decidedly less American moniker. The SyncMaster C27A750, a 27-inch affair, uses Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology via a USB dongle to connect to your laptop. It touts a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution and sports HDMI, VGA, and USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports. The new SyncMaster will hit Europe by the end of April for about €600, but we’ve yet to hear anything about Central Station’s ETA — very sneaky, Samsung… very sneaky.

Samsung’s Central Station wireless monitor appears in Europe as SyncMaster C27A750 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 10:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 18

Steampunk USB cufflinks are as awesome as they are pricey

Posted in: awesome, expensive, Fashion, flash, flash drive, FlashDrive, luxury, memory, storage, Today's Chili, usb, usb drive, UsbDrive

You wouldn’t think something classifiable as “wearable storage” would look so darn dapper, but here we are, staring at just about the finest cufflinks we ever did see. Not only are these handmade shirt cuffs beautiful in the most steampunk of ways, they’re also pretty useful as each features an 8GB flash storage chip with the utterly ubiquitous USB connector attached. Basically, they’re what James Bond would wear if James Bond wore really awesome cufflinks. The general idea behind them might not exactly be original anymore, but we can’t really fault the execution here. What we could probably find fault with is our lack of $225 of disposable coin, the price one will have to pay to sport this unique pair of hand-carved, walnut-enclosed memory sticks.

[Thanks, Amelia]

Continue reading Steampunk USB cufflinks are as awesome as they are pricey

Steampunk USB cufflinks are as awesome as they are pricey originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 17

FastMac U-Socket review

Posted in: review, Today's Chili, usb
FastMac’s U-Socket may have veered perilously closer to vaporware territory after what seemed like an endless series of delays, but it finally started shipping out back in January to those patient enough to hang onto their pre-order, and we recently got our hands on one to see if it was really worth the wait. The short of it is that it does indeed work as promised once you get it installed, although that process may not be quite as painless as you’re expecting. Read on for our full review.

Gallery: FastMac U-Socket

Continue reading FastMac U-Socket review

FastMac U-Socket review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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