usb

This week, Sony introduced the new PRS-505 Reader for ebooks. I've already ordered one to replace my PRS-500, which I used a lot before it broke not long ago.

Update: my PRS-505 has arrived. The review, in two parts, begins here.

That's my old Reader there. The damage was internal, somehow. I have no idea what went wrong. I didn't sit on it or anything like that. I just turned it on one day and that band on the left side of the screen showed up. You can see that the band doesn't extend to the … Read more

Having never jumped on the Mimobot bandwagon, we weren't terribly excited when the Halo series made its debut last week. But then we realized that it had stolen the spotlight from the real star in our book: Domo-kun.

Our favorite sharp-toothed character from Japan has shown been incarnated in a line of Mimobot USB flash drives that blow away all others. In addition to the classic Domo X, they also come in Ninja Domo and--best of all--Rasta Domo.

As with other Mimobots, they have storage sizes ranging from 512MB to 4GB. But as far as we're concerned, the … Read more

Recently, I highlighted the Belkin Dual USB Power Adapter as a great option for anyone with two USB-powered devices. But what if you have three, four, or more--say, an iPod, a Blackberry, and a Bluetooth headset? With its ability to charge six devices, the CallPod ChargePod caught my eye--but the need to buy a host of proprietary adapters turned me off. If all my devices already have charging cables with standard USB plugs, wouldn't it make a lot more sense for a charger to use corresponding standard USB ports instead? Of course it would. So, I was looking for a charger with as many standard USB ports on it as possible.

And then I realized it was already sitting on my desk. And it's probably sitting on yours, too. … Read more

As much as we like Mimobot drives, and especially their latest Halo family, they wouldn't last a day once our kids got their mitts on them, which they would surely do. But there's a way to revel in your inner (or outer) geekdom with a USB key more discreetly while paying homage to Transformers to boot.

A 2GB Decepticon and a 1GB Autobot are available only in the U.K., according to GeekAlerts, for some unknown reason. Either will easily hold its own in the USB-bot community at large. And they also can be worn on one's … Read more

If you love Halo 3 but hate staying up till midnight to attend over-the-top launch parties, there's hope for you yet.

Mimoco has announced its line of Halo-themed Mimobot USB flash drives, so you can now experience Halo without all that gameplay. The drives are available for preorder on Mimoco's Web site.

The thumbdrives are available in three styles: the Master Chief Mimobot, the Blue Spartan Mimobot, and the Red Spartan Mimobot. Irregardless of the style, all three USB devices look like they're stuck head-first in your USB port when you're using them.

They're pretty … Read more

Pro-audio manufacturer M-Audio has unveiled a new $99 vocal recording package called Session Music Producer. Unlike their previous podcaster-targeted product, Podcast Factory, the Session Music Producer bundle consolidates the microphone and computer audio card into a single, idiot-proof USB microphone appropriately named the Producer USB. If nothing else, the sheer magnitude of M-Audio's 16mm cardioid capsule Producer microphone (see photo) will intimidate rival podcasters into submission.

Beyond its monolithic size and inexpensive price, there are two factors to the Session Music Producer bundle that are worth noting. First off, it comes bundled with M-Audio's capable Session multitrack recording … Read more

Update: I added some details about USB 3.0 device availability and performance.

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel and others plan to release a new version of the ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus technology in the first half of 2008, a revamp the chipmaker said will make data transfer rates more than 10 times as fast by adding fiber-optic links alongside the traditional copper wires.

Intel is working fellow USB 3.0 Promoters Group members Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, NEC and NXP Semiconductors to release the USB 3.0 specification in the first half of 2008, said Pat Gelsinger, general manager of Intel's … Read more

One of our original and most persistent gripes about the PS3 has been the lack of any sort of IR support that would allow you to program your universal remote to command the system. As you're probably aware, the PlayStation 3 uses Bluetooth technology for its wireless controllers, as well as an optional Bluetooth remote that's designed for movie watching. While home-theater buffs may love their PS3's AV capabilities, they tend to find the lack of IR really irritating. It means that every time you want to watch a movie (or play a game) on the PS3, you have to switch to a second controller. Not so with the Xbox 360, which has an IR port on its face.

One would think that Sony would put out some sort of IR dongle that would solve the universal-remote compatibility issue (or hopefully integrate IR into the next version of the PS3), but thus far, no such Sony dongle has emerged. However, a handful of other USB dongles are trickling their way onto the market. … Read more

When I posted my review of Belkin's TuneTalk Stereo, a representative of APC commented on the story to suggest that I might want to use APC's Mobile Power Pack to extend the iPod's battery life when recording.

I started to reply to describe the gizmo I designed to power my iPod from a spare PowerBook battery-- a little clip that connects the battery terminals to an iPod dock cable. This is what I used to use to power up my old 4th-generation iPod while recording long conference sessions with the Belkin Voice Recorder for iPod.

But even as I was typing, I realized… Read more