USB - SlashGear

‘USB’ Stories

iPad 2 Light Peak: High-speed port refresh for tablet and MacBook Pro?

Chris Davies, Feb 21st 2011 Discuss [5]

Apple's iPad 2 could be the first tablet to have a Light Peak port, it's been suggested, with persistent leaks showing what was initially interpreted as either a Mini DisplayPort or USB connection in fact being a hybrid USB 3.0 socket. MacRumors has led the speculation, highlighting the near-USB sized mystery port spotted on the leaked iPad 2 cases and the hybrid connectors Light Peak prototypes have been using. Read The Full Story

Tandar – Interactive Monkey Pet with a USB tail

Samia Perkins, Feb 17th 2011 Discuss [2]

Yes, it's furry, it talks, and it is a little bit scary - and it has a USB port on its tail. And it can also be a nightlight. It is the new Tandars Interactive Pet. Beware if you go to the website, you will need to get past a slowly blinking monkey and a talking tree. The Tandar Monkey uses the USB port to recharge, which takes about 15 minutes for quick playtime and 2 hours for a full charge (hint: do this while the kids are sleeping, or you will be in for a major fit). Read The Full Story

Intel Shipping XMM 6260 HSPA+ modem, Introduces LTE XMM 7060

Samia Perkins, Feb 14th 2011 Discuss [0]

Intel announced on Monday that it will begin shipping the XMM 6260 platform to key partners. The plaform supports HSPA+ networks with download speeds up to 21Mbps and upload speeds up to 11.5Mbps. The platform is said to use less power than competitor's products (especially ARM). XMM 6260 is built with the 40nm manufacturing process, and is based on the X-GOLD 626 baseband processor and the SMARTi UE2 RF transceiver. Read The Full Story

Verizon adds OS X support to Pantech UML290 4G LTE modem

Chris Davies, Feb 2nd 2011 Discuss [0]

It's taken a while, but Verizon has finally released Mac drivers for its 4G LTE modems; well, at least one of them. The LG VL600 we reviewed - and were so impressed by its data speeds - is still Windows-only, but the Pantech UML290 now has official OS X support. Read The Full Story

Roku announces official support for USB drives

Shane McGlaun, Feb 1st 2011 Discuss [0]

Media fans that use a Roku XD|S or HD-XR media steaming device will be glad to hear that a new update is coming for both of the devices. The new update adds a feature that lots of people that own the devices have been waiting for. The feature is called Rocku USB Media player. Read The Full Story

Princeton MyDitto NAS offers easy remote access with USB key

Chris Davies, Jan 28th 2011 Discuss [0]

Just about every NAS offers a way to open up the contents of your network-attached storage to external access, allowing you to quickly retrieve a document or media file you've forgotten while on the move, but all too often the settings required are too tricky for the average user. Princeton reckons it has the answer, though, with the MyDitto DE-MD2H2T, a 2TB drive that comes with a USB stick that when plugged into a remote computer automatically gives access to the NAS' files. Read The Full Story

Double USB – It goes both ways

Rue Liu, Jan 27th 2011 Discuss [1]

Inserting a USB connector is generally a fairly simple task. But there's always that little pesky split second you spend checking which side is on top. Now considering how many devices these days rely on us plugging and unplugging their USB connectors, we are possibly wasting loads of time each day. This problem may now be solved should the Double USB design from Yanko be adopted as a standard. Read The Full Story

Scosche flipSYNC II keychain charge cable ships

Shane McGlaun, Jan 27th 2011 Discuss [0]

Scosche unveils its new line of gear for 2011 back at CES early this month. Among that new gear that it was showing off was the flipSYNC II charging cable for your key ring. The original flipSYNC cable was a very cool device that you could get in a version for Apple gear of for USB charging gear. Read The Full Story

Plantronics Voyager PRO UC Bluetooth Headset and Calisto 825 Speakerphones Announced

Chris Burns, Jan 26th 2011 Discuss [0]

The folks at Plantronics are celebrating their 50th anniversary by announcing some brand new communication devices, software, and services. Amongst them, two items stand out: the Voyager PRO UC Bluetooth headset and the Calisto 825 speakerphone set. In addition to these two, a Plantronics Unified Communications Toolkit has been announced, "the industry's first" totally complete set of tools, training, and documentation "for expanding the growth of unified communications solutions. Ken Kannappan, president and chief executive officer at Plantronics, notes the following: “We want to end the pain-points that people experience when trying to stay connected at work or home. We think everyone - from consumers to mobile professionals to the business world- should be able to simply communicate regardless of device or location. We want to deliver innovative products with uncompromising quality, an ideal experience and extraordinary service so everyone can simply communicate.” Read The Full Story

Pioneer MVH-8300BT head unit packs iPhone support, App Mode & Bluetooth

Chris Davies, Jan 24th 2011 Discuss [9]

Pioneer has outed a pair of new in-car stereos, the MVH-8300BT and MVH-7300, which each prioritize external digital media sources like iPods and iPhones. Each has a 3-inch LCD TFT display and a 7-way rotary controller; the button backlighting and wallpaper can be customized to match your dashboard, too. Read The Full Story

FlipIt! USB charger makes an AC sandwich

Chris Davies, Jan 21st 2011 Discuss [2]

With more gadgets wanting to get their juice via USB, and the contents of our hardware bags quickly outnumbering the AC sockets on offer, manufacturers are getting clever to ways they can extend what power ports are accessible at any one time. FlipIt! may have a silly exclamation point in its name, but it also has a reasonably compact way of doubling up a standard US AC socket, sandwiching its connection in-between the wall and a regular plug. Read The Full Story

USB smartphone exploit turns Android into an invader

Chris Davies, Jan 20th 2011 Discuss [0]

Next time somebody asks you if they can recharge their smartphone from your laptop's USB port, you might be opening yourself up to a potential malware attack. Professor and student team Angelos Stavrou and Zhaohui Wang from George Mason University have figured out a system whereby a compromised Android smartphone mounts as a standard HID (human input device) when plugged into a Windows, OS X or Linux computer, potentially giving keyboard and mouse access to malware or even a remote hacker. Read The Full Story