Crave

If you've always wanted to connect an external display to your laptop without having to physically hook a cable between the two, I have good news for you.

Iogear introduced on Tuesday its Wireless USB to VGA Kit for streaming PC content to an alternate display. This is going to be one of the first implementations of Wireless USB.

WUSB technology has been under development since 2004, and the first time I saw its demo was during Winhec 2006. As the name suggests, it's essentially the current USB 2.0 technology without USB cables. WUSB can operate at full USB 2.0 speed (480Mbps) within a 10-foot range--longer than the length of most standard USB cables--and up to 110Mbps within a 30-feet range.

The WUSB to VGA kit from Iogear includes two compact components.

(Credit: Iogear)

For now, most computers and legacy peripherals have to be upgraded to WUSB with add-in cards and hubs. Going forward, most computers and devices will hopefully have this technology built in, just like USB 2.0.

The WUSB VGA kit from Iogear will allow for quickly displaying your laptop's visual content to an external display such as an LCD, a HDTV, or a projector, just like you would currently do by hooking the two with a VGA cable.

The kit allows for displaying anything you see on the laptop's screen, including 720p HD video content on the alternate display up to 30 feet away. For non HD content, the kit supports resolutions up to UXGA (1600x1200) or WSXGA+ (1680x1050), which are higher than the native resolutions of most laptops. It can also take advantage of a television's picture-in-picture function so that you can view the laptop's content and watch TV at the same time.

The WUSB to VGA kit consists of a Wireless USB adapter that connects to a Windows PC and a wireless VGA adapter to plug in to a VGA display. You'll still need a VGA cable (not included) to connect the wireless VGA adapter to the display, however. Aside from the VGA cable, the setup is compact enough for you to easily carry on the go.

The kit is compatible with both Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems and will be available for the general market sometime in October for about $230.

Iogear's USB Laptop KVM Switch can do more than just switching mouse, video, and keyboard.

(Credit: Iogear)

Iogear introduced on Monday the first KVM Switch that enables control of a second computer using your laptop--the USB Laptop KVM Switch.

For those who are not familiar with this type of device, KVM stands for keyboard, video, and mouse. A KVM switch is a device that allows for working directly with more than one computer via only one set of KVM and therefore keeping the work space free from clutter, and saving energy as well as money. This is only applicable to situations where you don't need to directly interact with all of the involved computers at the same time.

Unlike most existing KVM switches, the new USB Laptop KVM Switch also works as a data connection. This means, apart from controlling a second computer with your laptop's KVM, you can, too, transfer files between the two computers. All you need to do is simply connect two computers via USB 2.0 ports.

In addition, the USB Laptop KVM Switch has an integrated USB 2.0 port to connect another USB device, such as a printer, an external hard drive, a Webcam, and so on. You then have direct access to this device from the controlling laptop. The USB Laptop KVM Switch also features desktop scaling that modifies the second computer's resolution to be compatible with a laptop screen.

The new Iogear USB Laptop KVM Switch works with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista operating systems and is estimated to cost $130. I couldn't find it at any online stores at the time of writing this blog, but it's supposed to be available for purchase immediately.

(Credit: Iogear)

Just what the world needs, another media player. We're not sure what would possess Iogear--or anyone else, for that matter--to enter this already-overcrowded arena but at least this one is trying something different.

There's good news and bad news about the cleverly named "Portable Media Player": The good news is that it has a 120GB storage capacity that can hold up to 50 hours of DVD-quality video, 34,000 digital photos, 30,000 MP3 files, and 3,000 uncompressed songs, according to the company, as well as upscale up to 720p resolution. The bad news is that it has no screen--instead, this PMP is meant to work with a TV. Which means that, while it may indeed be portable, don't count on using it on your subway commute.

And for the record, there was no mention of any "germ-free" claims in the press release.

(Credit: Iogear)

Bad news for the germaphobe community: Iogear's Wireless Laser Mouse and other peripherals, touted as being "germ-free," have resulted in a $208,000 fine by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA fined the company for what it called "unsubstantiated public health claims regarding unregistered products, and their ability to control germs and pathogens"--an offense that the agency says violates the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Engadget says the company no longer makes the claims about the products' germ-nuking powers. Apparently the only sure-fire way to make your mouse squeaky-clean is old-fashioned soap and water.

For decades, tech companies have been trying to create a digital pen that appeals to the masses. But after years of effort, the world isn't exactly overrun with high-tech quills.

A new crop of companies, however, say it's too soon to write off the idea.

This week, Irvine, Calif.-based Iogear announced plans for a digital pen that can work with standard paper. Last month, educational computer maker LeapFrog introduced the FlyFusion, its second go at the digital pen. And later this year, Silicon Valley start-up LiveScribe plans to introduce a $200 device that can not only take digital notes, but also synchronize them with an audio recording.

The latest bunch are a far cry from the earliest attempts to add a brain to the standard Bic. But the question remains: Will these new devices be more than a curiosity? Or will they, like their predecessors, find themselves quickly relegated to the back of desk drawers or spend their days as expensive paperweights?

The quest for a digital pen people actually want has lived alongside another perennial tech pursuit--getting people to navigate traditional computers using the pen as an input device. While Microsoft has managed to create a few converts with its Tablet PC and many graphic designers use pen tablets for their work, the overwhelming majority of people still do their hunting and pecking via the venerable keyboard.

As for the standalone digital pen, it has been around, in its modern incarnation, since Sweden's Anoto developed a special kind of paper that allows a pen with a built-in camera to easily track itself.

Logitech has been using that approach since 2002, when it introduced the Io digital pen. It has since added handwriting recognition and Bluetooth wireless abilities.

Still, it has yet to really take off. "It's a small part of our business," said Logitech spokeswoman Nancy Morrison.

The allure of such devices is undeniable. The idea of a pen, only better, inherently sounds good. However, there have always been significant trade-offs.

That's still true with the latest crop. Both the FlyFusion and LiveScribe devices require special paper.

Brian Wells, the senior product marketing manager for Iogear, said digital pens have always required special paper, special pens or both. The benefit of the company's $99 Digital Scribe, he said, is that it can work with any pen and write anywhere. "Any paper, a sheet of paper, a sticky note, masking tape," Wells said. "Heck, you could probably attach it to the top of a wall."

Iogear's pen, however, must be connected to a computer while the notes are being taken. That's a big drawback, because most people who have their computer with them might just use that to take notes. (Iogear hopes to eventually add an untethered version.)

Wells said there is still a big market, such as college students in classes where they need to take down more than text, things like diagrams that can best be done with a pen and paper.

LiveScribe agrees, but takes the notion a step further. One of its big selling points is that it can record audio and then synchronize it with the handwritten notes. Microsoft offers a similar feature for computer-based notetakers that use its OneNote application, though the LiveScribe pen offers the benefit of being able to work without being tethered to a PC.

The device is expected to cost less than $200 and make its debut before year's end, the company said when it first discussed the product at the D: All Things Digital conference in May. LiveScribe declined to provide an update or comment for this article.

LeapFrog, meanwhile, introduced its $79 FlyFusion at the end of July. The device is a sequel to Leapfrog's first Fly. The last generation was a standalone device that used specially coded paper to enable youngsters to draw a calculator and then add up some numbers or draw a piano and then play music.

The new pen is cheaper, $79 versus $99, and about 25 percent smaller than its predecessor. "It really looked and felt like a toy," senior brand manager Chad Weiner said of the first Fly. Still, Weiner said, the original "sold surprisingly well," though he would not give specific sales figures.

This time around, Iogear is aiming at slightly older youths, adding the ability to take digital notes and then connect them back to a Windows PC, where they can be either saved or e-mailed as images, or converted to text (with the results varying widely based on the penmanship of the author).

For Iogear's Wells, the digital pen has been a labor of love. He's tried out devices since 1992, when he got his first one after graduating high school. That first model, which he took with him to Cypress College in Southern California, cost $300, required special paper and was tethered to a big plastic piece that sat under the paper.

Over time, though, the technology has improved. Wells said Iogear connected a couple years back with a chipmaker that had the technology that would work with any ink or paper.

"We thought it was about time," he said. "We thought we can really make a run now."

One thing all the new products have going for them is that they come at a time where Windows' support for digital ink has never been better. With Windows XP, only the stylus-based Tablet PC edition really supported pen input. With Windows Vista, though, the operating system supports more kinds of ink, including that from tablets like those from Wacom, as well as things like Iogear's Digital Scribe.

"Everything just kind of fell together," Wells said.

As promised, more gadgets have been approved as official Wireless USB devices. D-Link and IOGEAR both announced Wireless USB hub and adapter kits Monday.

(Credit: D-Link)

D-Link's Wireless USB Adapter & 4-Port Wireless USB Hub and IOGEAR'S Wireless USB Hub & Adapter Kit are both backward compatible with wired USB and have bandwidth capabilities of up to 480 Mbps at a distance of 10 feet, and 110 Mbps at 30 feet. While Wireless USB does free you from using cables, the signal does not go through walls, so make sure your laptop and the peripherals you want to connect have a line of sight to each other.

The kits bring the list of approved devices to six, joining Dell's Inspiron 1720 notebook and Lenovo's ThinkPad T61 and T61p notebooks, also announced today.

(Credit: Iogear)

One of our (many) pet peeves here at Crave is the penchant among some companies to develop products of dubious value, especially when it comes to variations on the mouse. But Iogear has bucked the trend with two useful features in one device even beyond its primary use.

The "Personal Security Mouse," as we reported earlier this year, is equipped to read fingerprints to prevent unauthorized mousage. What we just learned in a press release announcing its shipment, however, is that it another feature that every germaphobe can appreciate: "The surface," it says, "is covered with a titanium dioxide and silver nano-particle compound that contains antimicrobial properties to protect the product from bacteria."

Now that's what we call handy--a mouse that repels thieves and germs at the same time. As far as usefulness goes, it ranks right up there with the mouse for sweaty palms.