USB

Review: Philips Notebook SoundBar

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Review: Philips Notebook SoundBar

Like many of you, I rely heavily on my laptop. Even with an iPad, I use my MacBook Pro all day and every evening. As much as I love this computer, one thing that totally annoys me is the speakers. It is not that I expect theater sound and booming bass, but half of the time I just cannot hear. When I am watching Hulu or Netflix I want to know what is being said and not strain to be able to pay attention. I have tried many laptop speaker solutions, but the Philips Notebook SoundBar is a clever and…

Review: Hello Kitty Mimobot USB Flash Drives

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Review: Hello Kitty Mimobot USB Flash Drives

I don’t normally go for USB flash drives that are shaped as pretty much anything.  I am just as happy with a Sandisk as I am with a Lexar or even a no-name brand flash drive.  Unless you have specific needs, they all pretty much work the same and the looks have been secondary to the amount of storage.  That was until I came along the cuteness of a flash drive that looked like a Hello Kitty character .  Mimoco sent me a 2 GBflash drive that looked like Badtz Maru, the little black penguin with pointy hair. The one thing that…

Review: Arctic Hub 4 Port USB Hub

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Review: Arctic Hub 4 Port USB Hub

USB devices have become the standard for geeks and technophobes alike.  If you plan on using modern technology, you are almost guaranteed to be utilizing USB ports for many devices.  Of course, none of my computers come with enough hubs, so I must find other ways to plug all my gear in.  I have tried many expandable USB hubs with varying success.  One problem I have had is the size as well as space for plugs.  I have one hub that has three spots on both sides equaling six.  There are very few cords or drives that will plug in…

USB Fever Compact Keyboard Review

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USB Fever Compact Keyboard Review

If you spend time on the go, you’ve gotten used to laptop size keyboards and small trackpads. Personally, I’ve actually found that having the trackpad nearby as I’m typing to be more convenient than using a separate keyboard and mouse. So when I had the opportunity to review the USB Fever Compact Keyboard with Trackpad, I jumped at the chance. The keyboard is very light and solidly constructed. There are no creaking or awkward seams. I’ve used some wireless keyboards that are flimsy, which makes for poor typing on a lap or on the go, and so I’m extra picky…

Review: Beat The Heat With The Arctic Breeze Pro And Arctic Breeze Mobile

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Review: Beat The Heat With The Arctic Breeze Pro And Arctic Breeze Mobile

I am not sure where you live, but here in South Texas the heat has been brutal lately!  We began football season with 2-a-day workouts on August 2 so I have spent countless hours outside in the scorching sun and heat.  In fact, last Tuesday the temperature was 104 degrees with high humidity at 4:00 when we hit the field for practice.  At this rate, most of us Texans are looking for any way to cool off.  Being a geek means gadgets are always a possibility to alleviate the miserable feeling of being too dang hot.  I recently checked out…

StarTech Standalone IDE/SATA Hard Drive Duplicator Review

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StarTech Standalone IDE/SATA Hard Drive Duplicator Review

As a Systems Administrator I spend of a lot of time building and distributing workstation images. After the initial build is completed and tested the worst part of it all (for me at least) is the distribution to all the machines that need it. There has been cases where I had a few hundred machines, and then sometimes it’s as little as 12-15. Either way, my favorite methods of imaging machines are the ones that are the most hands off. I’ve been through my share of software solutions that work very well, but the worst part is all the setup…

USBCELL Batteries Make You Wonder Why You Didn't Think of This First

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USBCELL Batteries Make You Wonder Why You Didn’t Think of This First

Do you remember those old rechargeable AA batteries that first emerged in the 1980s?  You had to charge them overnight just so you could get about 2.4 hours of use in your Sony Walkman cassette player? Yeah, these aren’t those. USBCELL AA batteries are unique in that they have a built-in USB connector hidden under a cap at the + end of the battery.  Open the cap, insert the battery into an open USB port on your computer, and let the charging begin!  You’ll achieve a 90% charge in just 5 hours and – for use in a pinch –…

Phonesuit Introduces Their New PrimoCube Micro Battery

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Phonesuit Introduces Their New PrimoCube Micro Battery

PhoneSuit has introduced their latest creation… The Primo Battery Cube for SmartPhones. The Primo Cube is small… really, really small. It is so small that it will fit in the palm of your hand. So small that it is just about 1.5 inches (40mm) in length and width. Yes it is small but it is large enough to offer integrated Micro-USB and Mini-USB connectors that support new and legacy mobile phone charging standards. The result is that the cube compatible with virtually all USB charged SmartPhones and Bluetooth devices. That includes BlackBerry, Android based, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia SmartPhones and…

Review: World's Smallest USB 2.0 4-Port Hub

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Review: World’s Smallest USB 2.0 4-Port Hub

Have you ever actually looked at how many USB devices you own or use?  I recently had this realization while moving my desktop computer set up around.  My mid-2007 Mac Mini does not have near enough ports to connect all of my gear so I have a standard USB hub which is full and only leaves me with one hard to reach port for a drive or other item.  That also led me to realize that my MacBook Pro only has two ports.  Of course, this is not usually a problem except when you need to attach two items and…

Toshiba 640GB Portable Hard Drive Review

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Toshiba 640GB Portable Hard Drive Review

Update: This giveaway is now closed and timtim is the winner. Thank you for entering, and please keep an eye out for future Gear Diary giveaways! 🙂 I was sent a Toshiba 640GB Portable Hard Drive in “Rocket Red” to review, but since this one will also be given away, I was hesitant to use and abuse it like I might a memory device I would be keeping. Therefore, in return for this micro-review, you get a chance to win a pocket-size time capsule just waiting to be filled with your important documents and digital memories.

Corsair Introduces High Speed, Monster Capacity Flash Drives

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Corsair Introduces High Speed, Monster Capacity Flash Drives

How would you like a USB flash memory thumb drive that could back up your netbook’s entire 120GB hard drive? If you’ve got $460 to spare, then the Corsair Voyager GTR 128 can take care of that task for you … and get it done quickly. The quad-channel architecture employed by the Flash Voyager GTR series delivers read speeds up to 34MB/s and write speeds up to 28MB/s, approaching the maximum transfer rates supported by the USB 2.0 interface.  The outstanding performance numbers translate into genuine, real-world results.  In the Corsair Labs, using a typical Windows 7-based PC, the Flash…

Aperion Home Audio Link Review

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Aperion Home Audio Link Review

Sometimes you just want to place your speakers in a different spot than your audio source.  The Aperion Home Audio Link just might be a option.  Let’s see how it works.

Blue Microphones Yeti Review

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Blue Microphones Yeti Review

While at CES this year I had the opportunity to spend some time at the Blue Microphones booth.  One of the products which really “wowed” me during demo time was their “Yeti” microphone. The Yeti is being touted as the world’s first THX certified Microphone.  The USB powered microphone is the perfect tool for for a wide range of projects including podcasts, vocals, live or event recording, interviews, broadcasts, instruments, bands and more. Blue Microphones was kind enough to send both myself and Joel a Yeti for review and the following dual review contains both of our observations.

Seagate Dockstar - Review

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Seagate Dockstar – Review

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to review the Seagate FreeAgent Go. It is a small, pocket-sized external hard drive that looks sleek and has a tremendous capacity. One of the nice features of the hard drive is that it has only one port- a Mini USB. You can, however, purchase an optional dock for the hard drive that lets you simply slip the hard drive into the cradle when you’re ready to use it. The company offers a similar looking cradle that does much more, however. By incorporating a PogoPlug into the cradle Seagate has created a…

Universal iPhone/iPod Cradle from USBFever Review

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Universal iPhone/iPod Cradle from USBFever Review

iPhone and iPod docks are great.  They keep your device upright while charging and syncing which allows you to easily access them.  They look cleaner on your desk and there’s no fussing with cables or connector plugs that might become damaged from overuse. But docks are not without flaws.  Many docks are device specific.  One that you purchase for your iPhone may not fit your iPod Classic and so forth.  Another problem is cases.  Most of us carry our devices protected in some sort of case.  Often these cases prevent the device from fitting properly on the dock which means…

Kensington K33926US Universal Notebook Docking Station with VGA/DVI and Ethernet Review

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Kensington K33926US Universal Notebook Docking Station with VGA/DVI and Ethernet Review

A lot of people are going to a laptop only computing experience.  There are even some that are going to a netbook only experience as a netbook is all they need.  Sometimes, however, it is nice to have a screen that is bigger than what a netbook can provide.  The same can be said about the touchpad and the keyboard.  Wouldn’t it be nice to plop your laptop or netbook down and have it attached to a 24 inch LCD?  That’s where this dock comes in.

Making a bootable USB stick to upgrade to Windows 7

How to Do It Yourself!

Making a bootable USB stick to upgrade to Windows 7

So you have Windows 7 and you are all fired up about installing it on your netbook. The problem is that your netbook doesn’t have a CD or DVD player built in which means that DVD media that Windows 7 comes on is pretty much a coaster. You can solve the problem by popping $80-90 bucks on an external drive, but what if you could make that 4GB USB flash drive do the magic for you? Well you can, and it is pretty straight forward to do. All you need is a 4GB or bigger USB flash drive, a little…

USB 2GB Flash drive comb proves there's almost nothing that won't be turned into a USB gizmo

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USB 2GB Flash drive comb proves there’s almost nothing that won’t be turned into a USB gizmo

For $36 you get not only a comb but a 2GB USB storage drive. Who’d want one of these – and more important why? Which brings me to my main question about this item. Is there any good reason for turning a comb into a combination USB drive and hair care tool? Now if you could plug the comb into the USB port, have it heat, and then use it as a pseudo curling iron. Then you’d have something. 2GB USB Comb via Raw Feed

Altec Lansing Orbit USB iML237 Speaker Review

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Altec Lansing Orbit USB iML237 Speaker Review

Last year Judie reviewed the Altec Lansing Orbit speaker.  It was an interesting speaker that can be used with any device sporting a normal 3.5 mm headphone jack.  The downside to using such a speaker with a laptop is that the internal sound card in most laptops can be a bit noisy. Altec Lansing recently sent me a sample of their  Orbit USB iML237 speaker. It solves the sound card issue perfectly.  

USB Fever Borescope Review

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USB Fever Borescope Review

Have you ever dropped something in your PC case, and then could not find it amongst the chips, resistors, capacitors and other various nooks and crannies?  Next time, you can use this nifty USB Fever Borescope to find it.