Hasta La Gadget!

The idea behind Infinitec’s Infinite USB Memory Drive is actually quite straightforward, but we’ve found that when we tell friends and acquaintances about the unit, it often boggles their minds. So, we’ll try to keep it real simple: This red plastic stick is a 802.11b/g/n WiFi radio disguised as a USB flash drive. And when we say “disguised”, we’re not just talking about the stick’s size, but its functionality as well — it lets you wirelessly transfer files direct from from your WiFi-equipped laptop’s hard drive to just about anything with a USB port. Stick it into an Xbox 360 or set-top-box, for instance, and it pretends to be your average thumbdrive, but with access to theoretically anything you choose. Sounds like a fantastic idea, but does it really work? Find out after the break in our full review.

Continue reading Infinitec Infinite USB Memory Drive review

Infinitec Infinite USB Memory Drive review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Nov 2010 17:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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USB 3.0 and SSDs, they were just made for each other, don’t you think? Kingston certainly seems to agree, as it’s now rolled out its first SuperSpeed portable solid state drive, giving it the catchy title of HyperX Max 3.0. It fits within the dimensions of a conventional 2.5-inch hard drive, but differs in being able to pump 195MB of data per second when reading or 160MBps when writing. Although pricing and availability details aren’t yet available, we can expect 64GB, 128GB and 256GB varieties to crop up some time soonish. Until then, can we interest you in some unboxing and teardown action, courtesy of our brethren over at Engadget Spanish? You’ll find it on video just past the break.

Continue reading Kingston unveils HyperX Max 3.0, a SuperSpeed SSD for your pocket, we tear it down (video)

Kingston unveils HyperX Max 3.0, a SuperSpeed SSD for your pocket, we tear it down (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For millennia, the greatest theological minds have vehemently debated one the great questions of existence: what kind of connector does Satan use to link his peripherals and his P.C.? Well, we now have a definitive answer: that dastardly trident-branded USB.

At least that’s what one Brazilian “evangelical cult” claims. Welder Saldanha, the founder and “apostle” of “Paz do Senhor Amado” (Peace Beloved of the Lord) has forbidden followers from using the connector which is branded with Satan’s soul-poking tool of choice, citing that “The symbol of that name [USB] is a trident, which is used to torture
the souls that go to hell. Use of that symbol proves that all users of
this technology are actually worshipers of Satan.”

Brazilian blogs have been bouncing this story around since at least early summer (link with Google translation). But only now are we snarky secularists of Europe and North America starting to take notice.

There are some elements of this story that seem too wacked to be true, such as when asked which peripheral-connector followers are permissible, Mr. Saldanha answers Bluetooth because “Blue was the color of the eyes of our savior Jesus Christ.” I haven’t been able to find any independent verification that this “cult” even exists. So, there is a chance I may be putting up a post in the near future explaining that this is all a prank or a joke that did not properly bridge the Portuguese-English divide.

But for now, it’s all pretty nutso.

pic via

So, there’s already an open source driver for the Kinect — who needs to learn how to reverse engineer USB all over again? Well, ladyada of Adafruit Industries, the folks responsible for the Kinect hack bounty and the USB logs used by the bounty winner to get a jump on his hack, has published a detailed guide on exactly how she sniffed the Kinect’s USB chatter. The guide isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s not completely unintelligible to someone with a bit of time and determination. If anything it serves as an excellent bit of how-the-Kinect-was-won history. We’re not expecting Microsoft to reconsider its “Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products” stance on this issue, or its petty threat of law enforcement “to keep Kinect tamper-resistant,” but we do hope they’ve learned one thing by now: they’re fighting a losing battle.

Kinect hack explained: follow-along-at-home guide lets you reverse engineer USB, impress your friends originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Talk about maintaining a pace. Nearly a year to the day after the introduction of the original Drobo S comes this: the Drobo S. Er, the second generation Drobo S. As you could probably surmise from the title above, the only notable difference in Data Robotics’ newest storage robot is the addition of USB 3.0, but the triple interface ensures that eSATA and FireWire 800 users are also taken care of. Of course, USB 2.0 backwards compatibility is inbuilt, and while no theoretical speed figures are given, we’re sure it’s far quicker than the (now) prior version. It’ll be sold starting today directly from the company, but beginning on November 18th, it’ll also be featured on HP Small Business Direct. The (empty) base model will go for $799, while $1,299 buys you a five pack of 1TB HDDs, $1,549 gets you five 1.5TB HDDs and $1,799 lands you with five 2TB HDDs. In related news, Drobo Sync is now shipping in order to provide offsite backup to DroboPro FS units, and Billy Corgan still enjoys playing with Bluetooth speaker balls while on vacation. Crazy, right?

Data Robotics’s Drobo S storage robot goes USB 3.0, starts at $800 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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