Best computer news

For some users keeping up with their flash drives is a task. If you aren’t using a flash drive that can stand up to daily wear and tear inside your pocket like the Corsair Flash Survivor GT, you might want to consider a flash drive that you wear. That is assuming you can stand the medieval looks of these things.

There are several styles you can choose from and some of them are not so medieval looking, more closely resembling a cigarette lighter. The bottom of all the designs opens up and inside is a 2GB Sony Micro Vault USB Drive. These devices are available from Olinari and prices start at $349. That is certainly not cheap, but if your style leans towards the Goth motive this may be a must have for your wardrobe.
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It’s hard to keep one of every possible type of USB cable handy for use at the office or on the go. USB Fever has a 5-in-1 universal daisy wheel of USB connectors available that allows you to cover every possible USB cable need with one gadget.

The connectors included are a USB mini 5-pin, USB mini plug, USB mini B, USB mini 4-pin, and a USB B plug. Basically you can use this wheel-o-USB connectors for charging various gadgets. The guys at Gear Diary got their hands on one for review and said that it did a great job charging gadgets, but didn’t allow synchronization. What’s really odd to me is that it is billed as a 5-in-1 connector, but one of the connectors is the female USB plug required to plug the USB extension cable connecting the wheel to your PC, technically making this a 4-in-1 adapter.
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We have seen and talked about USB turntables in the past, now Firebox.com has a new USB tape deck from ION Audio. This thing allows you to take your collection of 80’s hair band tapes and transfer it over to your PC via USB.

The design of the tape deck is described at suitably 80’s, which it lives up to quite well. You even get those little LED lights that pulse with the music. Audacity software for Mac and PC is included to help with the digital conversion. This is a dual deck cassette player so you can dub the cassettes if you still feel like cranking it up in your 1985 Z28’s cassette deck. This thing makes me wonder why no one complained when we dubbed cassettes back in the day.
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Earlier in the week a photo was posted on the 9to5mac website that was supposedly a leaked shot of an upcoming iPod Nano. As is par for the course with leaked shots of unreleased products, the image was grainy and met by more than a bit of skepticism.

It seems some credence was given to the leaked shot when Apple lawyers called up the guys at Engadget and 9to5mac and ordered the image to be removed. Now I can’t see Apple going through all that trouble if the image wasn’t real, but you never know. Perhaps it was just a slow day for the Apple legal team and they needed someone to mess with. At any rate, if the image is the new Nano the thing is ugly and looks more than a little like a Zune to me. The shot you see here is a mock up that Engadget made, not the actual photo in question.
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It looks like Princeton was paying attention when Logitech released the VX Nano with the tiny little USB dongle. Princeton has just announced the world’s smallest Bluetooth dongle and have promised to have it in stores by September.

The tiny Princeton adapter measures in at only 1.9 x 1.4 x 0.5 cm and weighs 5.5 grams. Despite the small size the adapter is able to provide Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and will work with Windows Vista and Mac OS X. With the adapter being that small it would be able to be left in your notebook during travel. This tiny adapter should be able to replace larger Bluetooth adapters for keyboards and allow connectivity to Bluetooth headphones in a cleaner package. There is no word on pricing at this time.
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Buffalo Japan has a new drive that those still laboring over the decision between Blu-ray and HD DVD will love. The Buffalo drive is a USB drive and can playback either HD format and it can burn BD-RE and BD-R discs as well.

There is no HD DVD burning capability built-in, but the drive can burn both normal CDs and DVDs. Those not wanting an external USB drive can opt for an internal unit. No firm pricing is known for the external drive, but word has it the internal version will sell for 47,000 Yen, which would be about $406, which is way less than the $1000 I-O Data wants for their Blu-ray only USB drive. The USB version would cost a bit more, but the pricing would likely be close. The big rub here is that there is no word on if the drive will be shipped to America.
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Summer is in full swing here in the south and its way hot with temps up around 100 degrees outside and 110 with the heat index. That means it’s not exactly cool in doors this time of year even with the AC unit running full blast. What’s a geek to do when it’s too hot to play on our computers? Make our own AC unit, naturally USB powered.

We found this video on YouTube that shows a guy taking a can with a lid, a small fan, an old CD, ice and his power drill and whipping up a cooling sensation. Basically you drill holes in the can, run three screws through the sides to hold the CD that you also drill holes in. Then you cut the lid, mount the fan in to pull air through the ice and you have your own USB powered AC unit. Just don’t drill the holes to low on the can or you will have a wet mess on your desk. Watch the video after the jump.
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Genius makes several different USB headsets aimed at gamers and Gearlog got their hands on the latest HS-03U USB headset with vibration. I have used vibration headsets form other manufacturers before and they offer the ability to feel explosions, which I really enjoy in games.

Gearlog says the ear cups are fairly comfortable and the volume control buttons are tactile and work well. The vibration function in the end was just that, vibration. To hear the bass to go along with the shaking the headset does you have to crank the volume up considerably more than what’s probably good for your hearing. The good news is the headphones are fairly cheap at $40. If you just want to feel the bass without hearing it so much, these headphones might be just what you need. If your tastes lean more towards good sound that feeling the bass, shop Tritton.
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Razer unveiled its new gaming mouse today called the Razer Lachesis. The Lachesis uses a new Razer 3G Laser that has an astounding 4000 dpi non-interpolated sensitivity level, compared to the Copperhead at 2000 dpi this is a significant upgrade. The new laser sensor has a tracking speed of 60-100 IPS and can withstand acceleration of 25g.

Razer used an ambidextrous design for the Lachesis and designed it for gamers who prefer a claw grip for fast movements. Like the other Razer mice, the Synapse software allows for programming and the mouse features on-the-fly sensitivity adjustment. Razer’s always on mode caries over and the polling rate is 1000Hz providing a 1ms response time. There are nine independently programmable hyperesponse buttons on the mouse. Lachesis measures in at 129mm L x 71mm W x 40mm H and weighs 128g. The Lachesis will be available in October for $79.99.
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As we know it, USB is everywhere, but on most electronics, its sole purpose is to sync with the PC or in some cases acts as a host to a few peripherals. NXP announced recently that they intend to extend the application of the USB interface to audio streaming, meaning devices such as a MP3 player could ship with just one port that handles everything from audio output to PC sync and charging. The debut of NXP’s low-power IC PNX0161 reportedly makes it easy to build digital-headset accessories for stereo playback and recording with optional FM radio across a USB link.

However, let’s say someone is charging his cellphone when a call just comes in and he needs to talk on the mobile USB headset. We wonder how NXP’s solution can do both with a single link.
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