Technabob » card reader

Submarine USB Hub: A Sub Hub for Your Flash Dives

Technabob — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:00:11 +0000

A couple of years back, I found these USB flash drives which looked like miniature submarines. I always thought they looked pretty cool, but I think they never got past the concept stage. But you can still live out desktop reenactments of Das Boot or The Hunt for Red October with this submarine-inspired USB hub.

The submarine USB hub not only offers five USB (2.0) ports, but it also works as a memory card reader, with support for SD, SDHC, micro SD (T-Flash), micro SDHC, MiniSD, MS duo, M2, and XD-Picture cards.

Despite its submarine styling, I would say with 100% certainty that you shouldn’t go floating this thing in your bathtub unless you want to ruin all your electronics and risk electrocution. You can get the USB sub hub over at Infmetry for $21 (USD).

Lexar Professional Dual-Slot Card Reader: What’s Really Fast and Pops-Up from Your Desk?

Range — Sat, 21 May 2011 12:56:41 +0000

Card readers can be a pain to lug around. I’ve had my share die on me when I needed them, which is when I switched to a SanDisk card reader that never leaves my desktop. Still, this new one from Lexar looks pretty nifty since it looks like the card reader can slide out of the house and back away when it’s not in use.

This card-reader is USB 3.0 compatible, so it’s speedy and it works with all of the usual suspects, from CompactFlash cards to SD cards. The pop-up mechanism is definitely unique, and it’s not just there for show – it’s supposed to keep dust and debris out of the slots when not in user. If you’re worried about the mechanism breaking down, don’t because it comes with a 5-year warranty from the manufacturer.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It will cost you $49.99 (USD) and Lexar wants to target prosumer to professional photographers and videographers with this.

[via FarEastGizmos]

Thanko Four Sd Slot Pen: a Pen That Can Write and Read!

Lambert Varias — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:11:12 +0000

Get it? Thanko’s neat pen and SD card reader combo can accommodate up to 4 SD or MMC cards in its slim 0.6″ x 0.6″ x 6″ frame. And if you really want to look like a dork, just keep your memory cards on the pen all the time.

If you need to use the reader half of it, just unscrew the pen to reveal the USB connector. I don’t know if you can use the pen half on its own though.

Maybe in the future we’ll have pens that can recognize our handwriting and store it as a text file, ready for us to plug in to computers - or our heads! – for reviewing.

You can get the Four SD Slot Pen at GeekStuff4U for appx. $22 (USD); at that price you’d better not be the type who easily loses pens. The pen comes with two ink refills and a USB cable.

Lacie USB Keys Open Up a World of Frustration

Lambert Varias — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:52:02 +0000

LaCie have made it their mission to come up with creative and entertaining products that allow customers to unintentionally destroy or misplace their data as easily as possible. After releasing their coin-shaped CurrenKey flash-drives, LaCie now present to us flash drives that look like keys. Prepare to lose data in the name of industrial design.

The iamaKey is the tough cooKey in the bunch. It’s water- and scratch-resistant, and its protective edges ensure that you’ll never insert the drive with the wrong side up, but it won’t prevent you from attempting to do so anyway. It will also not prevent you from trying to start your car with it after a beer or six.

The iamaKey comes in 4Gb and 8Gb versions. The 4Gb costs $18 USD while the 8Gb costs $28 USD. If iamaKey is a flash drive for the toughies, there’s itsaKey, a flash drive for trendy people. itsaKey is weirdly shaped, and it offers less protection compared to iamaKey. Trendy indeed.

It’s not exactly fragile because it’s coated with nickel, but there’s no mention of water- or scratch-resistance on its product page. The upside is that itsaKey is cheaper. The 4Gb version costs $15 USD and the 8Gb costs $24 USD. Rounding out the product line is PassKey, a useful little fella that eats your microSD cards, essentially turning them into USB drives.

In other words, PassKey is a microSD card reader, not a flash disk. It has no data capacity of its own. But if you have a bunch of old microSD cards then you only have to shell out $10 USD for the PassKey. Transfer speeds will obviously be slower on the PassKey: it only goes up to 40Mbits/s compared to 480Mbits/s max on the iamaKey and itsaKey.

You can buy all three at LaCie’s shop; I’ve linked the product names to their corresponding product pages. I see a LaCie imaPieceofTrashKey in the future.

[via GetUSB]