Tech News

Tokyo-based gadget maker Solid Alliance has given us quite a few cool/whacky USB drives in the past, and their new sushi USB stick [JP] is a nice addition to the line-up. The so-called SushiDisk offers 2GB of storage, but that’s not really the important selling point here, is it?

Fingerprint security? Ha! Maybe that's fine for those of you wearing zebra pants and slap bracelets.

At Giz, we only endorse finger vein security (publicly, because privately we'd rely on nothing short of full colonoscopic verification). Sony's FVA-U1, going on sale December 18 in Japan, will be the smallest finger vein reader on the market conveniently operating over USB.

Why do we keep pets? To get us entertained and keep us company and have someone to shower our excess love, time, energy and money on. But hey, the pet rock doesn’t need much of that nor does it reap the benefits for us that we derive from cats and dogs. This one’s an inspiration from the original idea.

Would you make a monitor that had a fake arm sticking out of it, brandishing a knife at the viewer? I would, too, but we would never sell any because people find that sort of thing scary. I don’t know why. But whatever the reason, it’s the same as why they’d be afraid of this Apuri USB hub from Roccat. It looks like a tripodal scorpion ready to thrust its barb into your hand should you attempt to unplug that thumbdrive.

The Japanese madness for all things USB continues. Today I can give you an Alien figure that you can connect to your computer’s USB port. It then sticks out its nasty tongue at random times, backlit by a spooky red LED. Apart from that, the thing isn’t good for much else.

Heads up, Twilight fans. Now you too can own a piece of the Cullen family empire. Specialty USB drive makers Tymemachines have produced a Twilight product for your purchasing pleasure.

The perfect gift for the tween on your shopping list, this Cullen Crest USB drive is ideal for storing school work,

That faint sound you can hear right now is the approaching sonic boom of a new portable speedster. OCZ, already the proud patriarch of some pretty radical SSD varieties, has confirmed a new external drive that will hook up via the super speedy USB 3.0 interconnect (whose uncertain future we've discussed here).

USB drives keep getting smaller and smaller. For your viewing pleasure: the Wink. Advertised as the world’s smallest USB drive, it really is quite diminutive.

Ideal for attaching to a keychain or necklace, or smuggling out of a secure data facility in on your body,

Brando, home of the odd USB device, finally has a product I want to order. No no, it’s not a heated slipper or a spy camera, it’s a Transformers USB drive. How cool is that?

It’s only a 2GB drive, and it’s pretty expensive at $45, but they certainly are cool. There are two models to choose from, Jaguar on the Decepticon side, and Tigerton from the Autobots.

OK, now the USB gadget craze gets really silly. Tokyo-based crap USB accessory maker Thanko has been selling USB-powered slippers and gloves that are supposed to keep you warm in the past, but the new model, Dinosaur foot-shaped slipper(s) [JP] (of all things), is probably the silliest.

My first reaction – when I saw today on Thanko’s web site that the notoriously silly gadget maker from Tokyo is selling USB-powered gloves with built-in heaters [JP] – was: Who actually buys this kind of stuff? I mean Thanko is a real company, they have brick-and-mortar stores in Tokyo (two of them),

Cup holder, eh? I like cups. Who doesn’t? If you constantly find yourself in need of a 22 inch wide glass shelf with a built-in three-port USB hub and cup holder attachment, then today is your lucky day.

If you’re dedicated to smoking or camping (or smoking while camping), then there’s a good chance you’ve purchased a nice refillable metal lighter in the past. But the past is the past and sooner or later you’ll need to step into the future (which, coincidentally, will almost immediately become the past).

At major events like CES, thousands upon thousands of little USB sticks are distributed, full of assets, press releases, and so on. Stop by a booth or show, get a USB stick. Usually they’re only 1 or 2GB (and dog slow),

One day, 128GB flash drives will be common. We'll lose em and only say "oops." Today, you can have one if you don't mind the size and price of this $400 Corsair. But F me, this thing is fast.
 

With technology comes the good … and also the evil. Hence proved, with this USB Computer Prankster. What it can do is allow a cyber saboteur to sneak to your computer, plug the USB in a not-too-obvious USB port, roll back the time delay,

Yay! Its another flash drive – a funky, cool and brilliant one! Imagine having your very own Star Trek flash drive! Wicked! But only a few lucky ones gets these as these are limited version 4GB Starfleet Insignia flash drives.

Its been sometime since the USB 3.0 technology got the seal of approval. And here's the world's first external drive powered by USB 3.0 technology. The Freecom external drive comes in capacities of up to 2TB and boast of speedier data transfer rate of 130 MB/s.

The wait for the truly plug and play monitor is finally over. DoubleSight Smart USB Monitors require no video chipset, video port or power adapter, and works in both landscape and portrait viewing modes. The 7-inch LCD monitor supports up to 800×480 screen resolution while the 9-inch type supports 1024 x 600. Model DS-90UC is mounted with an additional compact web cam which can facilitate users with video conferencing and Internet voice services.

Submarines are silent predators of the sea, although older ones that do not run on nuclear go about being as clumsy as they possibly could when picked up using sonar technology. Good thing for nuclear power though.