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USB Pedometer lets you take step towards better fitness
Love being fit? Surely you would do well to walk more each day, and just to know how many steps you are supposed to take, it is highly recommended to get a pedometer to help you out. The £24.99 USB Pedometer that you see here is a step in the right direction, so to speak, counting each and every step that you take so that you can clock up those miles and make sure your physician remains up-to-date with your physical activities.
Hang the USB Pedometer around your neck, or opt to pop it in the pocket – it doesn’t matter. This device is still able to accurately measure the distance you have walked, in addition to the amount of calories burned so that you can consider wolfing down another Big Mac. Apart from that, at least you know how to gradually increase your physical activity each day to meet your fitness goals. All collected data can be transferred over to a PC by plugging this device via USB.
Avatar S Gaming Mouse from NZXT
I’m always glad when I can get my hands on a gaming mouse, and NZXT was nice enough to send over the Avatar S for me to review.
The Avatar S has a 1600 DPI laser sensor right out of the box, and it can be adjusted by installing the drivers for 1600, 800, or 400 dpi settings. You might notice in the image how there is a blue light, which will change color when those dpi speeds are changed. It has a tracking speed of 30 inches per second, which makes the cursor quite fast.
What makes the Avatar S a “gaming” mouse is that it has five buttons instead of the usual three (left, scrolling, and right). The other two are on the left and right sides of the mouse, and, once the drivers are installed, the user can program all kinds of macros with 16KB of onboard memory.
Continue reading » Avatar S Gaming Mouse from NZXT
Bracketron does the Dual USB Charger
Most devices these days have a USB port, and it goes without saying that this also means a USB charger is in order to keep said device juiced up at all times. Of course, finding a USB port wherever you are is definitely harder than looking for the ordinary, standard issue power outlet – after all, it isn’t as though all power outlets have a dedicated USB port crammed in at the moment, although we do wish it were otherwise.
Bracketron has every intention to make sure that no matter where you go, especially if you’re a heavy road user, will be able to keep your USB-powered devices juiced up before you arrive at your destination, and it does so in style with the Dual USB Charger. As with many other heavy duty electronic devices in your vehicle that need power, the 12V cigarette lighter port is taken advantage of. Sure, you lose your car’s lighter in the process, but that’s a small price to pay to make sure your phone’s all juiced up for that important meeting in an hour’s time. Wanna smoke? Carry a Zippo lighter with you then.
Continue reading » Bracketron does the Dual USB Charger
Verbatim splashes color with new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 portable hard drives
When it comes to portable storage, you can be sure that Verbatim ranks pretty high up there – and one of the company’s latest releases, the Verbatim SuperSpeed USB 3.0 portable hard drive, will now be available in a couple of eye-popping colors – Caribbean Blue and Hot Pink. What a great way to usher in the summer with such vibrant, bright colors, no? I am guessing that Verbatim wants to deliver both style and function in a single device, hence splashing a couple of colors that normally don’t see the light of day in portable hard drives.
As for the amount of storage space, you might want to rethink all those downloads you make – after all, 500GB isn’t that much to go around these days. Good thing it is connected via USB 3.0, so make sure your computer has such a port to make full use of it. Transferring 500GB worth of data over USB 3.0 is going to be a snap, and with the ability to reliably back-up and transfer files anytime, anywhere, this might just be what you are looking for.
Continue reading » Verbatim splashes color with new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 portable hard drives
Isostick has identity crisis
When is a USB flash drive an optical drive? Wait a minute here, before you think that I have had a little bit too much to drink, let me explain to you just how such a situation can happen. We’re talking about the Isostick, an idea that needs funding on Kickstarter. This particular device is a memory stick which is capable of converting ISO images into physical, mounted optical drives automatically – it does so by tricking the computer into thinking that way.
The entire process happens in a transparent manner, letting you stash away an image of Ubuntu or Windows on an Isostick, reboot up your machine and boot straight from it. Your computer won’t care that physically it isn’t an optical disk, as it “sees” it as an optical drive.
To sweeten the deal, you are able to cram in as many ISOs as you like onto the Isostick – as long as space permits, of course, limited by the 32GB of memory. Apart from that, a hardware read-only switch is thrown into the mix, letting you flip it if you want to prevent viruses or other malicious programs from messing with your images.
I would think that those who are power users or administrators at the office definitely love the Isostick for what it is. Imagine being able to stash away just about any and every utility and operating system you need on a solitary USB flash drive, without having to tote around discs upon discs. There is also no risk of the disc getting scratched, so that is definitely another incentive.
This convenience comes at a price – the 8GB, 16GB and 32GB models will retail for $100, $175 and $225. Anyone wants to contribute their bit over to the Isostick project? There are 24 days left to go, and the Isostick project is short of $3,500 thereabouts as at press time.
LEGO Minifig USB Flash Drive
Love all things LEGO? I am quite sure that you know by now the wonders of LEGO and how it does its job in tickling your imagination. Well, LEGO’s back with a spanking new device for computer geeks – the aptly named LEGO Minifig USB Flash Drive. You would surely place this Minifig in a potentially embarrassing situation, as in order to access data, you will have to pull down his pants. Yes sir, I wonder how many of us have dreamed of going around naked before waking and realizing it was not real. Phew!
This LEGO Minifig will hold 2GB of data inside, and he will play nice with both Mac and PC platforms. Accompanied by a keychain attachment, you can more or less carry around another 2GB of storage space with you – all that convenience will cost you $24.99 though. I am just waiting for someone at Hackaday to take this puppy apart and include a higher capacity chip – if only LEGO would come up with various capacity models.
Dr Who: Tardis USB 4 Port Hub
USB ports are to geeks just as handbags and shoes are to fashion forward ladies – do you subscribe to that ideology? Well, if you answered in the affirmative, perhaps you might be interested in the £22.99 Dr Who: Tardis USB 4 Port Hub. The name of this peripheral says it all – at that kind of price, you will be able to hold imaginary scenes right in front of you with the Tardis as the meeting point for your characters, while transferring data from a USB flash drive over to the computer (or vice versa). After all, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop, so why not send that noggin’ of yours into overdrive while you curse the slow speed of USB 2.0 compared to USB 3.0?
This 4-port USB hub will replicate the 1950s police phonebox, complete with a flashing lantern on the Tardis roof in addition to time-travelling sound effects, although you won’t be able to turn back the hands of time with this – not even when you Ctrl-Z a dozen times on your keyboard.
USB Body Scales for the geek in you
Keeping watch over your weight a good seven months after your New Year’s resolution in the eternal fight against the flab? Fret not, you have plenty of assistance in the form of nutritious meal replacement sachets, not to mention getting the right kind of tools to assist you in taking down details of your battle. For the inner geek, there is the USB Body Scales – and the name says it all.
Currently available for pre-order at £59.99 a pop (it will start to ship from August 11th onwards), this gizmo will get to work by measuring your essentials such as weight, body fat percentage and muscle tissue. Since the scale itself sports internal memory of its own, you need not look for scraps of paper to write down the daily statistics, as you can easily transfer all that information to a plugged in USB flash drive (not included, so use your own) in a jiffy.
Each USB Body Scale comes with the ION Healthsuite software so that you can check out your detailed readings in an easy-to-understand format, and it can even help you set goals for yourself.
