PC Mechanic, New Article

Blow Off Some Steam With The USB Stress Ball

Posted: 07 Apr 2011 11:00 AM PDT

If you have ever been to any kind of technology show or conference, you probably know that stress balls are a very popular giveaway item. However, if you find this insufficient for your stress relief needs, take it out (virtually) on your computer screen with the USB Stress Ball.

The USB Stress ball is red blob that fits perfectly in your hand, whether you’re righty or lefty. Squeeze it, pull it, twist it, smash it – whatever you need to do to release the tension after being hassled by your least favorite supervisor. When an annoying email pops up in your box, pulverize it. When those lines of code are buggy, smash ‘em! The USB Stress Ball connects into your computer (via USB, duh!) and will smoosh, stretch, and otherwise murderize the image on your monitor while you’re letting out your frustrations.

In addition to the rather animated description above, the product page also provides a YouTube video which demonstrates how the product works.

This would make a great $20 (at the time of this writing) novelty gift for just about anyone who works on a computer.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Blow Off Some Steam With The USB Stress Ball

Current Good Hardware Available For USB3

Posted: 07 Apr 2011 07:00 AM PDT

USB3 is a technology that was hyped up quite a bit in 2010, and it was said many times in many different places that wide availability of USB3 would be available in 2011.

I decided to do a quick search for ‘USB3′ on NewEgg, sorted by most-to-least expensive (otherwise all I would see is cables) to see what’s out there. Here’s some of the better stuff I found:

3tb iomega 3TB external hard drive

With USB 3.0 brings better accessibility to (presently) extra-large external storage. It’s more accessible because of the faster transfer rate of the USB 3.0 spec. Not cheap, but big on storage.

datatraveler Kingston Data Traveler Ultimate 3.0 64GB

Again, this is external storage and has everything to do with the speed advantage of USB 3.0 over 2.0. And again, not cheap. If you don’t like Kingston, Patriot has one as well of the same storage size and it’s the same price.

star StarTech USB 3.0 to SATA Docking Station

Surprisingly affordable (and has good reviews to boot), this docking station supports both 2.5 and 3.5-inch hard drives (HDD or SSD) in a relatively small and tidy package. It’s also literally light on its feet as it weighs under 3 pounds unloaded. It accepts 4 drives and has dual 60mm variable speed fans to keep things cool.

What I haven’t seen (yet)

You’ll notice that all three examples are about storage to take advantage of USB 3′s transfer speed; I’ve seen nothing that takes advantage of 3′s power output. USB 3.0 has significantly more deliverable power compared to 2.0, but I haven’t seen anything truly usable just yet that takes full advantage of it.

A simple (and somewhat ridiculous) example of what USB can power is the USB Heated Blanket. Yes, it’s a real electric blanket powered by 2 USB ports. Chances are were it USB 3-designed it would only require a single port instead of two.

An example of a really good use of USB 3.0-powered would be a USB-powered router. There have been home brew hack ways of doing this, but nothing officially for sale. It should be, especially considering USB 3.0 could handle it easily. Remember, wireless routers use next to nothing for power. A Linksys WRT54G for example at most uses 3 watts.

Would you trade a bulky "wall wart" AC adapter for slim-and-trim USB cable? I know I would.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Current Good Hardware Available For USB3