January 2005 USB News

Disco may be dead, but the flashy colorful lighting that distinctly marks the 70’s continues to thrive in the novelty markets, and now the PC enthusiast market. Popular eTailer Xoxide has two USB powered disco balls for sale that are sure to liven up the room.

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Kinesis has further interfaced the human body with computers with their Savant Elite Foot Switches, available in two and three pedal configurations with an optional jack for connecting a fourth pedal and hand trigger. Able to enhance workflow by offloading work from the hands to the feet, an obvious use for these would be browser back and forward, however the pedals can also be configured to carry out more complex operations such as phrases and strings of keyboard commands. Generic driver support is provided for all platforms including Sun systems, although reprogramming is limited to Windows and Mac.

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With the new Joybee 130 MP3 player, Benq has removed many of the limitations found in the older 120 model to provide a stylish flash-based player worthy of attention. To start, the connection interface is now USB 2.0 to provide much faster file transfers, a must considering the ability to hold up to 1.5GB of tunes with the use of a 1GB Secure Digital flash card. Other perks include SRS WOW audio enhancement, WMA DRM support, cross-platform compatibility, along with the standard FM tuner and microphone found in competing players.

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Western Digital has entered the popular 1” hard drive market, joining the ranks of Seagate and Hitachi to bring a 6GB drive to the market sometime in the 2nd quarter. The drive uses a standard Compact Flash Type II interface, spins at 3,600 rpm, and has power management along with anti-skip protection.

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IBM’s Personal Computing Division recently informed us of a new keyboard / mouse combo using Cypress' 2.4Ghz WirelessUSB. The Enhanced Wireless Keyboard and Optical Mouse (73P4067, $80) has a working distance of up to 10 meters, and although the combo uses the 2.4GHz frequency, IBM claims that it does not interfere with other 802.11b/g networks in the area. The keyboard features programmable hot keys, dedicated multimedia controls, Internet back / forward keys and a button that takes you straight to IBM’s website.

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Adder Technology has implemented Icron’s ExtremeUSB technology in their latest KVM extender, the AdderLink X-Series X USB. With ExtremeUSB, the unit is capable of extending not only the audio in/out and SVGA video, but also four USB 1.1 connections over 100 meters via Cat5e cables, whereas the standard length for USB is only 5 meters. Currently this is the only KVM extender capable of working with servers lacking PS/2 ports, such as Apple’s Xserve.

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Chinese site Gingdaonews.com, German site Hardwareluxx.de, and the UK’s TheInquirer.net are all talking of a new addition to Logitech’s line of mice, the MX518. Furthermore, a prototype unit has reportedly been spotted on eBay Germany too, although we were unable to find it. The optical engine is said to be using that of the MX1000, and while the button layout is practically identical to the MX510, the scroll buttons have been replaced by sensitivity adjustment controls.

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Alex Yeh over at Merry-Link has made an LCD that is ran solely off of USB. Similar to Apple’s flat screen monitors in the sense that it only requires one cable, the monitor uses a PoweredUSB cable and hub to provide both 12v of power and the video signal through a USB interface VGA card. While only a sample, the intended audience is for people with only one VGA port that would like a second monitor, or perhaps even flight sim addicts looking for a third monitor..

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Leadtek has improved on their WinFast TV USB II by introducing a newer Deluxe edition. Apart from bundling Intervideo's WinDVD and MuVee's Auto Producer to the pre-existing Ulead software package, the tuner itself has also swallowed a 3-port USB 2.0 hub. While not very portable with the need for an AC adaptor and audio cables, the tuner offers some intriguing features such as the ability to stream video in WMV format, FM tuner, and the remote control that others neglect to include.

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The unique designs found in flash drives never cease to desist with PQI’s U230 flash drive, uniquely shaped as a golden beetle with a retractable USB cable that is hidden underneath the wings. As for the specs, the U230 holds up to 256MB of storage over USB 1.1, software for encryption and partitioning, as well as a write-protect switch to avoid accidental file deletion.

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Japan’s Canopus Corporation has just unveiled their latest external USB TV tuner, by far the most compact unit we have seen to date. With no power adaptors or cables, the “Bean” just plugs straight into the computer’s USB port, and probably blocks off the adjacent one as well.

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Popular external hard drive manufacturer LaCie has made their version of a multimedia hard drive, the LaCie silverscreen. Available in 40GB ($249) and 80GB ($329) capacities at 5400rpm with an 8MB cache, the silverscreen connects to your television set to playback a wide variety of formats including MPEG-1/2/3/4, WAV, AAC, WMA, and AC3, as well as JPEG photos up to 8 mega pixels.

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Sreaming your computer’s MP3s to the living room stereo is easy, so long as you use iTunes, want a wireless router, and are willing to spend about $100. Griffin Technology has removed these inconveniences with the RocketFM, a $40 USB-powered FM transmitter that works with both Mac and PC.

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Mobile users have seen so many innovations from the laptop to the zip and flash drives, but Realm Systems’ Mobile Personal Server (MPS) tops it all off. This portable computer plugs into another computer via USB, and regardless of the host’s operating system will take over the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and network connections without leaving a trace, providing access your web-enabled applications virtually anywhere. The specs are impressive for such a small unit, featuring dual 425MHz PowerPC processors, 1GB of flash or a 20GB hard drive, and 64MB of DRAM.

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In another attempt to get rid of the slow QWERTY keyboard layout that’s sole purpose was to prevent typewriters from jamming, Singapore's brightest have released the abKey (website requires IE), which claims to have a learning curve of only one hour and doubles typing speed. The keys are arranged alphabetically and in related groups of fives, threes, and twos, and are all aligned with each other rather than the usual staggered layout. While the key layout is new, the $99 abKey maintains some of the innovations of later keyboards including power state and function keys, multimedia controls, as well as an ergonomic design that splits in half to relieve wrist tension.

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Contrary to Jobs’ statement that there was no longer a market for flash based MP3 players, Apple has released the $99 iPod shuffle. Weighing in at .78 ounces and smaller than a pack of gum, the iPod shuffle has no LCD screen, and after all why should it when the only features the player has are shuffle and play in order? Still, the iPod shuffle has its strong points such as integration with the iTunes Music Store, 12-hour battery, 512MB or 1GB of storage, and a boatload of accessories already available including an armband, sport case, external battery pack and a dock connector. Also of note, Apple has released a sub-$500 headless Mac mini for all those would-be switchers holding out solely because of the sheer price.

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Elgato has once again announced partnership with another third-party manufacturer, this time choosing to partner with ATI to develop the $149 EyeTV Wonder, using what appears to be the same hardware as the PC’s TV Wonder USB 2.0, although we are unclear as to whether or not the software will work with the PC tuner. The EyeTV software has both a recording mode for time-shifting and recording into MPEG-1/2, as well as live mode which Elgato claims has so little latency that video gaming is nice and smooth. Other Mac-only features include exporting directly to Apple's iMovie, iDVD and DVD Studio Pro, as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding..

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Canon has replaced their compact PictBridge enabled $149 CP-220 photo printer with the new SELPHY CP-400. Apart from shaving 4 seconds off printing a 4x6 photo, Canon has added a new N-Up feature that can print multiple smaller versions of an image on one sheet, along with Fixed Size Printing that can print at a certain size regardless of the media being used. The i80 has also been replaced by the new $249 PIXMA iP90 printer, which not only has PictBridge support, Bluetooth expansion and a battery pack for mobility, but also an ultra-fine print head that has 1,088 nozzles in total, capable of delivering droplets as small as 2 picoliters to create grand landscapes of 4800x1200 dpi..

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It’s quite strange that there’s no press releases or hype yet for this, but in the Friday CES photo archives on Creative’s website are pictures depicting a new Zen Micro Photo, which appears to have received G4TechTV’s Best of CES 2005 award. The new player maintains the same 12-hr battery, 3.3” height, and FM tuner, while gaining a new 260 thousand-color OLED display with 130x130 resolution, new faceplate color schemes, and a 6GB capacity that can hold 7200 photos or 3000 songs. According to the image, the Zen Micro Photo should be out this summer, although no price is stated..

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Inspired by PC World: The aptly named Crazy Arm monitor from BenQ takes PC accessories to new heights, while confusing the computer illiterate beyond belief. Branching off from what would pass as an otherwise normal 19” LCD screen are five flexible arms that hold the essentials, namely speakers, a USB-powered fan, LED light, memory card reader, and webcam, along with the heavily underappreciated rearview mirror that makes cubicle life more bearable.

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Logitech has just unintentionally declared their support for the Home Theater PC market with their latest MX3100 Cordless Desktop, an impressive wireless keyboard bundled with their flagship MX1000 mouse that has 20x the sensitivity of other optical mice to work on virtually any couch. The keyboard itself is more featured than their previous Elite keyboard, complete with zoom wheel, instant messenger status control, internet radio preset buttons, and the standard multimedia control buttons and enhanced function keys. The bundled MediaLife software also provides a full screen interface to manage your media files from a distance. The MX3100 will be made available within the US by April with a price tag of $150..

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We never expected this, but two of our favorite technologies – P2P and Wireless USB are about to rolled into one device thanks to Memsen’s Click n' Share keychains. While providing the essential function of storing files as a USB flash drive, when two of these come within range of each other, wireless file sharing can take place between the two drives without any computer intervention.

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Not satisfied with the current state of the USB flash drive, M-Systems and SanDisk have decided to join forces to create the open standards U3 platform, which not only provides a place to store your files but also applications that can be run on any computer directly from the U3 flash drive through the usage of both hardware standards and an Application Program Interfaces for Developers follow. U3 enabled applications would be opened through a “Launch Pad” desktop interface, and new applications could be downloaded and purchased from the same centralized interface. Already U3 enabled applications gained support from Mozilla, ICQ, McAffe, ZoneLabs, Corel, and MedicAlert..

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Philips has even more goodies coming down the line with their new PS110 Personal Sound System and GoGear Hdd084 MP3 players. The $159 PS110 is for those who like sharing their tunes for all to hear, housing XSL Acoustics enhanced speakers, FM radio, and 256MB of MP3 and WMA files, playing them back for a continuous 10 hours on a single charge. The $179 GoGear Hdd084 is a sleek 3GB micro jukebox that holds 3GB of songs and voice recordings, and can be worn around the neck with the included lanyard.

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Sony has eliminated the need for buying multiple flash cards with their new Photo Vault, a mini CD-R recorder operated on AA batteries. With 200MB of storage per disc, you can transfer tons of your digital photos from the various Memory Stick formats, as well as from the camera directly thanks to the Photo Vault’s USB OTG support. Sony has also updated their Micro Vault line, with a new Micro Vault Pro 5GB microdrive, 512MB and 1GB Micro Vault Ultra Minis, and a slimmed down Micro Vault with Fingerprint Access that doubled the capacity to 256MB, with a slide cover for the biometric sensor..

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Similar to the Digimaster flash card we covered last month, SanDisk will be developing their own hybrid USB / Secure Digital flash drive. The simple design of the card itself folds to reveal the USB connector, eliminating the need for a cap that can be easily misplaced, while a LED lights up indicating drive activity.

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Archos has finally launched their long-anticipated Personal Media Assistant PMA400, a 30GB handheld device powered by Linux Qtopia. This could easily become a part of our everyday lives with the insane amount of features it packs, such as a WiFi detector, wireless surfing and email, media player, photo viewer, MPEG-4 video recorder, personal organizer and memo recorder.

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Back in October we covered how manufacturers like D-Link are beginning to support Microsoft’s Connect Now technology, which relies on a flash drive to carry the configuration info to the router as well as the various PCs that will be connecting to the network. It turns out that Lexar has been working with Microsoft to create a 256kB “Connect Now Key” based on Lexar’s royalty-free FlashCard storage medium, providing a cheap option for OEMs looking to simplify the network setup process that remains as hard as setting a VCR clock. With Microsoft’s backing, this new storage medium could catch on quickly and eliminate the need for card readers..

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To all the skeptics who think the ability to view images on an MP3 player is useless, Samsung aims to prove you wrong with their new YH-925 and YH-820 players. The $299 YH-925 sports a 20GB hard drive, 260K-color TFT LCD, and USB OTG support for transferring files from other devices such as digital cameras.

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Encouraged by the successful launch of their 5GB Zen Micro competing against Apple iPod Mini, Creative has announced 3 new capacities to choose from, with a 1GB flash based model for $199 slated for release in 1Q, a 4GB model for $229 that is said to hold twice as many songs as the iPod Mini (their marketing team must like low bit-rates), and a 6GB model for $299. Both the 4GB and 6GB versions will be available later this month. Also of important note, the classic 5GB Zen Micro has received yet another firmware update, which now provides PlayForSure subscriptions compatibility from online stores such as Napster.

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To add futher confusion to deciding between the various portable 1” hard drives, Archos has released it’s own ARCDrive 4GB USB Key, based on the 4GB Hitachi Microdrive. This thing is tiny, coming in at 1.8” x 1.7” x 0.5” and only weighing 40 grams.

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For quite a while we’ve been reporting on biometric flash drives that have fingerprint authentication, but they all had one thing in common: drivers. Bionopoly has developed an alternative solution that requires no drivers whatsoever, using onboard identification that can recognize multiple fingerprints.

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It’s about time something like this hit the market! IC Intracom has pulled the curtains on it’s MANHATTAN Personal Cinema Headset, a 5.1 surround sound headset complete with microphone, 8 speakers, and a “vibration mode” that gives the subwoofers more feeling. While surround sound headsets are out already from other companies, this is the only headset to include an external USB 5.1 surround sound card capable of decoding AC-3 and DTS, making it compatible with any Windows PC including laptops, while eliminating multiple cables and the need for a power supply. Intracom also bundled InterVideo’s WinDVD 5 and WinRip 2, making for a complete package at $149..

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The Wireless USB silicon vendor Staccato is positioning to be a major player in the emerging Wireless USB market. Its specialty is in providing MBOA-compliant all-CMOS silicones, which enable Wireless USB to be integrated into end products more quickly.

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Perhaps the most versatile external device ever introduced, Creative's new USB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor is first a THX-certified external sound card that delivers 24-bit Advanced HD in 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 surround sound with EAX, Dolby Digital DX and DTS-ES support. In addition, it can encode video via its onboard LSI Logic DoMiNO A/V processor into either MPEG or DV format from S-Video, composite and even FireWire camcorder.

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Lexar's new JumpDrive Lightning and Expression add to the huge flash drive arsenal. The Lightning, now taking over as the flagship flash drive, is enclosed in a stainless steel casing, and tops at 24MB/s read and 18MB/s write at sustained sequential speeds.

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For the 70% of our readers who have messy desks, Canon has designed a scanner that can be used in one of three positions in order to save space. The USB bus-powered LiDE 500F can be used in portrait, landscape, and upright positions, while the double-hinged lid opens 40° that also allows for "drop-in scanning".

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For small networks, having a centralized NAS storage system isn't such a bad idea. Maxtor just unveiled their N222/221 Shared Storage Solution, which offers 200 and 300GB of storage, shared over a 10/100Mbps connection to your router.

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One of the oldest names in MP3 players, Rio has breathed new life into their line with the introduction of the ce2100, which has a modestly sized Seagate 2.5GB hard disk inside that can hold about 80 hours of MP3s, as well as DRM-protected WMA and Audible downloads, and which play the tunes continuously for about 20 hours. Additionally, Rio has updated their Carbon 5GB player with a "Pearl" edition, featuring a sleek white finish and carrying case that doesn't obstruct the controls.

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In this (almost) commoditized flash drive market, everyone is trying to distinguish their products from the competitions either cosmetically or technologically. In the case of EDGE Tech, they choose to accompany its 128MB flash drive in transparent case with 13 flashing blue LEDs.

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The new Creative TravelSound Notebook 500 isn’t exactly what you call a complete USB audio solution. It still requires you to plug in a 3.5mm line-in, but for power options, you get three: USB, 4 AAA batteries and AC adapter (optional).

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After 130 years since inception of QWERTY, a new contender finally steps forward. The new keyboard from New Standard, whose keys are arranged alphabetically, has the first 13 alphabet keys from A to M sitting the left side and the rest on the right hand side.

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