Archive for December, 2007

USB Roll-up Piano & Drum Kit Review

Friday, December 28th, 2007

If you’re a musician, Dream Cheeky is probably not a name that comes to mind when you’re thinking of instrument manufacturers; in fact, unless you’re a connoisseur of USB gag gadgets, you’ve probably never heard of Dream Cheeky at all. However, I guess everyone has to start somewhere, and Dream Cheeky’s starting with two USB instruments: a USB Roll-Up Drum Kit, and a USB Roll-Up Piano. Will these two devices prove themselves to be good starter instruments for the aspiring musician, or even a good substitution of the real thing? Or will they be musical versions of the USB Missile Launcher, providing fun with an emphasis on diversion? Today, we’re going to find out.
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Standard USB Cables or “Get out of the game!”

Friday, December 28th, 2007

This one goes out to all those companies that like to take a standard and screw it up. We’ve all see it with a ton of different devices, for some reason manufacturer’s like to take that wonderful little standardized USB connection and turn it into something else on their side of the device thus completely negating the whole purpose of standardization. Standards exist for a reason and choosing to ignore them should simply be a sign that a product probably isn’t worthy of your money.

Hell, my brand new $400 camera has one and frankly I feel the same way that Chris Pirillo does too. Do I really need a cable that lets me connect my camera to my TV and or computer in one when I still have to purchase a different cable to do it via hi-def anyways? No. The last thing I need is another cable to stuff in my “drawer of random cables” so that it can add at least another minute to the time required for me to find what I need. Crazy Chris video after the jump.
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Apricorn DriveWire - Cloning Made Easy Via USB

Friday, December 28th, 2007

No, we aren’t talking about sheep or cats, but your hard drive. Most of us have replaced a hard drive and hated that a reinstall of the OS and everything else was forced upon us. Usually only businesses have the software to clone your old drive to the new, such as Symantec Ghost. Apricorn seeks to change that, by bundling their DriveWire universal hard drive adapter with their EZ Gig II cloning software.

The DriveWire HDD adapter works just many of the adapters available on the market today allowing you to connect any drive, SATA or PATA to your computer via USB and access the data on the drive. What makes this setup so special is their EZ Gig II software that is a bootable CD and lets you clone the drive connected via the HDD adapter. To top it all off, it doesn’t matter what OS you are running since it you boot from a CD and aren’t interfacing at all with your currently installed OS.

This is great and all if you need the ability to clone a drive but very few of us do and we often have other ways of doing what is needed. If you are simply looking for a SATA HDD adapter for your desk, GeekStuff4U and Logitec probably have better offerings for you and they’ll look a lot better sitting there too.
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Santa and his Reindeers are upon us!

Monday, December 24th, 2007

All of us here at Everything USB would like to wish each and every one of our readers a very merry Christmas this holiday season. May your stockings be filled with largest and fastest flash drives available, and the presents under the tree be the USB gadgets and peripherals you have been wishing for. For those of you that are traveling, we wish you a safe and pleasant trip. Make sure to take some time to dwell on the true meanings of the holidays, appreciate your friends and family, and the time away from work!

We thank you for your continued support without which we would not be so successful. Merry Christmas everyone!
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Moxia USBCell AA USB Batteries Review

Monday, December 24th, 2007

With the trend of computer peripherals and console controllers moving towards the wireless end of the spectrum and away from the wires, they still have to be powered by the means of a battery. While some manufacturers choose a custom battery pack/module like the Logitech G7, a vast majority of these wireless devices are powered by the common AA battery. For those devices that do not come with a way to recharge themselves, USBCell from Moixa Energy seeks to provide a rechargeable solution that doesn’t require a separate battery charger but instead uses USB ports to recharge. Read on for the full review.
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Google $149.99 Gift - Flip Ultra USB Camcorder

Monday, December 24th, 2007

Google has been sending out to big-time AdWords advertisers to search engine marketers a Flip Video Ultra camcorder with 1GB internal memory for up to 30 minutes of video recording. The camcorder is complete with a flip-out USB arm so you don’t have to worry about losing proprietary data cable. Even though the Flip Google is handing out is only 1GB, it is still like about 100 times more expensive and useful than the 2GB Google data wallet other AdSense publishers have received over the past two weeks. Oh well… video showing the gift being unwrapped after jump.
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USB Cows Send your Love via Moo-ing (Probably Best for Valentine’s Day)

Monday, December 24th, 2007

Sometimes you just can’t avoid a late night at the office and are forced to stay away from your loved one(s). I can’t speak for everyone else but I usually take a few minutes out to call her and let her know what is going on and that I miss her. It would appear that the USB Moo Moo seeks to send that same message, albeit in a slightly different form.

We can only assume that there is some software behind this that makes the connection between the two lovers. It seems that simply pressing a button on your Moo Moo sends your special someone a random moo on the other end, in which they can reply back with the same gesture. I’ll stick to the phone call personally, and I really hope that this isn’t what those guys were spending their time on while they were they were staying late at the office themselves. Video after jump.
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Buffalo 100GB USB Flash Drive. (Now, We Definitely Need USB 3)

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

64GB used to be the largest capacity for a flash drive. While its cost per gigabyte is still outrageously high, that doesn’t stop Buffalo from rolling out a 100GB USB SSD drive in Japan. The company employs both SLC and MLC to form a hybrid configuration in order to make this drive economically feasible. Additionally, Turbo USB implemented in almost every Buffalo’s external hard drive and thumbdrive is also called in to speed up the mega drive’s transfers (24% faster than without the mode enabled).

The odd capacity number aside, the Buffalo is about the same size as a business card and weighs at merely 2 oz. Now comes the prices: 100GB for $952, 64GB for $665 and 32GB for $312. Japanese economy must be doing well I suppose if geeks there can afford one grand on a flash card.
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Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard Review

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

Recently Razer has been busy building up a portfolio of Powered by Razer products with the Microsoft Reclusa and Habu gaming mouse. Razer is back with a new gaming keyboard, the new Razer gaming keyboard since the Tarantula. Is the latest Razer branded gaming peripheral as good as the Powered by Razer gear we are seeing more of recently? Read on for the full review to find out.
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LG Vaccine USB Drives Purge Viruses

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

With a million and one different flash drives available on the market these days, it was simply a matter of time before features other than speed and storage space became prominent. LG seems to have figured this out and have brought two new flash drives to the market, at least in the UK.

For those looking to reduce the risk associated with data loss/theft, LG created the biometric USB drive that features a built in fingerprint scanner. It will store up to 10 fingerprints for authentication in case you want to share your drive with someone or manage to misplace one of your fingers. It also can utilize a password for those that wear tin-foil hats and worry a little too much.

If that just isn’t your cup of tea then maybe you are a little scared of viruses and malware taking control of your computer by traveling through your flash drive. Ironically this is something that I thought we would have seen more of by now, but very few malicious attacks have occurred this way. The LG Vaccine seeks to stop it before it really takes off with its “plug and auto-run” protection. It comes with a two year license and they will release pricing for license renewal at a later date.
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