The insanely popular Asus Eee PC has the same number of USB ports as many regular laptops, yet the sub-notebook doesn’t go well with USB peripherals particularly TV tuners until recently. Asus apparently has been updating Linux drivers for its My Cinema U3100 Mini DVB-T & DMB-TH tuners. The former is what European countries use for digital video broadcasting while the latter is the standard backed by the Chinese authority.
During preliminary testing carried out by a HK-based PC magazine, both driver and software worked smoothly except H.264 software decoding was missing; hence HDTV channels broadcasting in this format won’t play on Eee. Other channels sent over in MPEG-2 were played back properly. One caveat is that software doesn’t come with recording function, not that it really matters anyway as Eee PC isn’t exactly a portable MCE.
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When you think your mobile mouse like the Logitech VX Nano is unrivaled by anything else, that maybe true if you are navigating in 2D program mostly. (Well, 3D-rendered FPS games are an exception, but you rarely have to leave the ground.) The 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator for Notebooks is one of a kind input device that lets you take control of the Z axis as well the usual X and Y.
Basically, you can push knob down, twist it, pull up and even tilt it, giving you the greatest control in 3D environments. And you don’t have to worry about the device favoring only the right-handed majority since USB controller is as ambidextrous as it gets. This is immensely useful in Google Earth, AutoCAD, Adobe PhotoShop, Maya and now Second Life. These programs aren’t something you would do well with a touchpad or a top-notch notebook mouse. One caveat is that the base needs to be a bit heavier, but 3Dconnexion has to strike a balance between portability and stability.
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Streaming media to living room via wireless network might not be a feasible solution for every home due to setting complexity and equipment limitation. So, the idea of playing back multimedia content from a USB drive on a regular 32″ TV set is tempting for many. Iomega already has several failed attempts over the years, but let’s keep our fingers crossed on this one. The company’s latest ScreenPlay HD kicks it up a notch by throwing in a HDMI interface, which is a first and isn’t even found on the recently announced LaCie LaCinema Premier. The HDMI interface ensures your SD video will be upscaled to 720p or 1080i digitally. Component & composite video remain as lower end output options.
By equipping it with a 3.5″ 500GB, the media player has plenty of storage for average folks except for heavy downloaders. The video decoder can handle
most formats from MPEG-1 to MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB) and MPEG-4 (DivX3-5/XviD). It doesn’t appear the ScreenPlay HD will playback H.264 so it probably won’t upscale your H.264 iPod-friendly video on your HDTV. We still think it’s a steal that the Iomega 500GB media extender goes for just $218.
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More details emerges from Hauppauge on HD PVR, aptly named for the world’s first consumer-grade USB component video capture. It appears that the company is going ahead with retail release in May with a MSRP of $249. First images now show up on Hauppauge’s website, revealing the most importantly the component video in as well as video loop out. Optical audio in and out are also available, which ironically is the only digital input for the HD PVR. RCA audio in and out are spotted too along with S-video in and composite video in.
As a bridge for TiVO and DirecTV set top box, the HD PVR comes bundled with IR blaster to automatically change TV channels for scheduled recordings. Its onboard H.264 hardware accelerator that can encode up to 1080i signals into AVCHD from 1 to 13.5Mbps (constant or VBR) and that can record audio in either AAC or Dolby Digital. If you go with 5Mbps, you can actually put 2 hours of AVCHD video onto a standard DVD for playback on PS3 or other players alike.
Hauppauge HD PVR has rather steep requirement for video capture with onboard video encoder. It asks for a dual core CPU and a video card with 256MB memory. Ouch…
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It’s good to know the latest FireFox 3 beta 5 has already been packaged by the good folks at PortableApps.com into portable USB edition, which allows you to test all the latest features of the upcoming version without messing around your current perfect FireFox installation. Based on the Gecko 1.9 rendering platform, FireFox beta 5 includes some 750 changes from previous version. Among the new additions are malware protection; anti-virus integration; Vista parental controls; a new download manager; improved Windows icons; and speed improvements to Javascript engine. This release weighing at 8MB will install alongside FireFox 2.0 Portable Edition under PortableApps suite so the two are completely separated from each other.
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Here at Everything USB we report on a lot of random USB gadgets that aid in passing time or relaxation and occasionally one comes along that is so good, we just have to give it a shot. Just like the USB Mini Lava Lamp and USB Pulsing X-Mas Tree, these USB Missile launchers from Dream Cheeky serve no purpose at all other than pure entertainment, however they are one of the most talked about USB gadgets by geeks everywhere. Today we take a look at all three of the USB Missile Launchers: the original wired, wireless and wired webcam version with MSN support.
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Ever since flight sims because popular, manufacturers have been trying to make joysticks that could cater to a gamer’s needs and provide a better flying experience. However there are many that take flying beyond the game and do it with RC airplanes. Unfortunately the sport is very expensive and the learning curve required can increase this cost exponentially when you keep crashing your plane. Thankfully Esky was smart enough to make a RC airplane simulator for the PC and even made a USB remote control to go with it.
The
Esky USB RC Simulator comes with everything you need to get going, except the PC. The controller looks exactly like what the RC planes use to fly so you can get used to the controls and get all your crashes and disasters out of the way in the simulator, saving you from many costly repairs. If I had one of these when I was a kid, I probably would still be flying these instead of them laying in broken pieces in the box.
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You have to admit, there is little in this world that gives you the satisfaction of a do-it-yourself project. Doing it for April Fool’s day… even better. If you’re looking to prank a computer user, what better way to do it than a discrete USB device that randomly sends the caps lock scan code? OK, yeah, there are tons of other options but this one will leave them screaming. The Stealth USB CapsLocker is tiny enough to go unnoticed, especially when surrounded by other cables and devices.
This is sure to be enough to cause temporary insanity, as the user’s caps lock is turned on or off at random intervals between 30 seconds and 8 minutes. Perhaps what is best about this device is how incredibly simple and cheap it is to make, requiring just a tiny bit of soldering and a few parts.
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When Real Madrid LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham rejoined to play his 100th match for England’s national team against France, his teammates got him a gold iPod touch with his name and the team’s emblem engraved on the back. If it weren’t for the piece of black plastic in the top corner, the placement of the power button and the iPod capacity printed on the back, it wouldn’t been easy to tell Beckham got an iPod touch (hopefully with the January update installed). Incidentally, the midfielder won’t even come close to breaking former goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s record of 125 match appearances if he isn’t selected to play 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
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