What is gearlog?
The Web abounds with gadget blogs. What makes this one different? Our posters are PC Magazine analysts and editors; we encounter an enormous amount of new products and announcements every day, and we know what you want to know about. Because Gearlog is the gadget blog written by geeks, for geeks.
CD Destroyer
A portable CD/DVD disposal unit that plugs into the USB port. That’s what CD Destroyer from Vubest of Taiwan is. At the touch of a button, the device scratches circular patterns on CD’s readable surface rendering its contents useless in six seconds. It’s not very clear how the company’s claims that this is the eco-friendly and safest way to get rid of your optical media, but if you do not have the knack for physically snapping your CD into half or putting them into the microwave, this is your next best bet. CD Destroyer is light and comes with a USB cable and a leather carrying case.
Slide and negative films go digital
Piles of slides and negatives can be quite costly to convert through an external service provider. Breathe new life into your old 35mm slides and film negatives by converting them into digital images with the Slide/Film Digital Converter, which connects to your Windows XP computer via USB 2.0 cable. One-touch scanning, three LED for backlighting and a 5MP CMOS sensor ensure that you will get aligned output, exposure control and color balance. The result: quality images up to 1800 dpi that you can edit with the included software. Turn negatives into positives, crop and resize as you wish. Your memories have never looked better.
Converting your old school music
Are your vinyl LPs and cassette tapes gathering dust on your music room shelf? Here are some USB powered solutions for converting your analog music into digital. ionAudio’s USB Cassette Archiver turns your audio tapes into CDs or MP3. It uses Audacity software and EZ Tape Converter, and is PC and Mac compatible. No drivers required. For your vinyl records, ionAudio also has a Vinyl Recording Portable USB Turntable for 11, 45 and 78 rpm records. It utilizes Audacity software and Vinyl Converter by MixMeister, reduces noise for quality sound output, and can be battery-powered on the go. The best part? They’re surprisingly affordable for such quality output.
Olympic fever on USB
Did you know that the design of the Olympic torch came from the design team at Lenovo, which worked on it for ten months? The winning “Cloud of Promise” design is not only on the torch, but also on Lenovo laptops and USB drives, as the company is a worldwide sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The laptops look more impressive than the storage devices, which are only available in China. Souvenir hunters will be happy to pick these up in Beijing during the Games, but the limited distribution points to one thing: the Olympics may not be so hot elsewhere.
USB for foodies
Do you prefer American-style fast food or Japanese sushi? With these USB storage devices, you can feed your cravings. The USB drives in the form of a pizza, hotdog sandwich, burger, and bacon, lettuce and egg sandwich (we think) can store up to 1 GB of data, and cost $79 each.
The realistic sushi come in different designs: futomaki, mentai, tekka, ebi, maguro, otoro, squid, egg, uzura natto, kappa, aji, tobikko, ikura, kanitumi, and uni. Prices for the sushi vary widely, from $65 for a 256 MB to $249 for a 4 GB piece. You can also get one in the form of a sake bottle. Kampai!
Images from dynamism.com
The World’s Most Secure Flash Drive
They may not look fancy, but IronKey calls its USB drives the world’s most secure. And they are certainly the most sophisticated ones out in the market today. Read speeds reach up to 30 MBps and write speeds up to 20 MBps. IronKey employs AES hardware encryption and secure online backup for password recovery. It cannot be hacked, rendering other password manager software program on regular USB drives inferior. The drive is tamper-proof, housed in waterproof metal casing, and will self-destruct in case of physical attack. The interior components are sealed in an epoxy-based potting compound. IronKey works on Windows XP and Windows Vista computers without drivers or software. It is designed with business, military and government use in mind. IronKey comes in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB for Basic, Personal or Enterprise use, with prices starting at $79.
A modem, a phone, an MP3 player
And on top of that, the Toshiba G450 is a USB drive for 160 MB of data, too. Talk about multi-tasking. This 3G phone functions as a 3.6Mbits-per-second modem on mobile broadband. Unusual in design and function, the G450 automatically charges when connected to a laptop via USB. Like a regular mobile phone, it can take calls, send SMS and works as an alarm clock. The light and compact G450 had reviewers scratching their heads because of its tiny screen and the unique keypad layout, which takes a little getting used to. It comes in three colors: white, red and black.
Do You Really Need These?
These USB gadgets are not exactly the most time-saving devices ever made. Whatever works for you, man.
Keep your desk spic and span with Mr. Gadget USB Vacuum Cleaner. The two attachments are ideal for cleaning your keyboard.
Something for a fresh-smelling workplace: the USB Ashtray and Deodorizer absorbs smoke through a fan that leads the air into a carbon filter.
Forget lost or misplaced USB drives. The Mr. Gadget 1 GB USB 2.0 Executive Watch keeps your data at hand. The watch is made of stainless steel and comes with a five year warranty.
With the USB Shaver, you don’t even have to go far to get a close shave. It is compact and has twin floating heads for precision.
Useful or Not?
Cast doubts on the usefulness and practicality of these USB gadgets if you will, but these might just make your soda cooler and your workspace a bit more colorful and literally full of life. The USB Mini Fridge comes in red and black and holds one soda can. Its cooling pad becomes 8.5 degrees cold after only five minutes. The USB Fantastic LED Fan cools you down and lights up your area with 5 colors and 32 light patterns. Since it’s LED, the lights themselves don’t generate so much heat and defeat the purpose. The USB greenhouse provides artificial lighting for your marigold and reminds you when your plant needs watering. But seriously now, how dark can your workplace be?
Images from usb.brando.com.hk