Western Digital’s Passport portable hard drive now encloses a 250GB 2.5″ drive while keeping the same small, portable 5 inch length and $199 price tag.

This pocket-size portable drive connects via USB 2.0 and can easily go with you in your computer bag or in your shirt pocket storing loads of multimedia and information. The smooth black finish on the rounded enclosure makes the device easy on the eyes as well.

The 250GB Passport also comes with some data synchronization features along with help searching its content. When you’re away from your home PC, you can transfer and modify files through other computers or your notebook and they can be automatically synchronized when you connect it back up to your main computer again. There is also some Google-based software that helps with indexing and finding content in the large space.

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With all the peripheral USB devices around today that you can connect to your computer, there just never seems to be enough USB ports to go around. Here is a highly unattractive but functional USB hub that has 16 ports to connect your USB peripherals to your computer.

Not only can you connect many devices, but the USB hub has two ports which connect up to two different computers. A selector switch lets you choose to connect the hub to “PC A” or “PC B”.

The hub is USB 2.0 compatible and retails for $24.17 USD.

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Here’s a USB-powered gadget that looks fairly practical for those that work on the road. This portable paper shredder runs off of either 4 AA batteries or can be powered from the USB port of your computer making it a handy device for use visiting clients or in the hotel room.

Weighing only about 12 ounces this device works great to shred any documents or receipts with personal information on them instead of trying to tear them to bits only to end up taking the pieces with you when you go anyway. I’m guessing it can handle not much more than one sheet of paper at a time, and I don’t think you’ll be shredding any credit cards but USB power surely must be better than hamster power.

Source: UberGizmo

The USB SurfDrive sounds like it might be some cool storage gadget that automatically saves information or settings while surfing the internet, but the cool part of this USB thumb drive lies in its surfboard shape more than its functionality.

There are USB flash drives available for the geek in just about everyone, and now even for the surfers, or at least the hodad’s. So, if you’re like me and wish you could be standing on the beach next to your cool car and a surf board stuck in the sand, maybe propping this little SurfDrive up against your desktop speakers will be almost as good? Maybe not…

The USB SurfDrive works on Windows and Mac’s and comes in capacities ranging from 256MB up to 2GB.

GetUSB via CoolestGadgets

SanDisk today is offering business computer users some serious new security USB flash drives for protecting valuable data. These drives are the Cruzer Professional ($55 to $145) and the Cruzer Enterprise ($75 to $185).

The SanDisk Cruzer Professional, available in storage sizes up to 4GB, offers hardware-based 256-bit AES encryption. This is on top of letting you create a password protected private area on the drive for your eyes only. The Cruzer Professional gets a maximum read speed of 24MB per second.

The Cruzer Enterprise, meanwhile, has the same hardware protection while also taking the password option one step further. It requires that all of the drive’s contents be complex password protected. While we aren’t exactly sure what complex means we assume the four letter password of your dog’s name won’t work with this drive.

This looks like one handy gadget to have in your car. It’s a one-piece 4-port power inverter that plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter socket and provides a 110 volt AC outlet, two USB ports and a cigarette lighter socket.

The USB ports would be incredible convenient in order to power devices such as an iPod or a PDA, and of course you can plug in your laptop or any other device to charge in the 110 volt outlet. The 4-port inverter has circuit protection to prevent damage to your electronic gadgets due to power surges and it will automatically shutdown if it overheats or senses your car battery is getting to low.

The compact design of this power inverter is nice, and the USB ports are a great …

USB flash drives come in all shapes and sized these days, and not even a lego brick can escape it.

A Australian company called Zip Zip has created a 1GB USB flash memory thumb drive out of small Lego bricks just to add a little fun to you data storage needs.

This design makes me wonder if you could stack these bricks together, and something that would be really cool is if by stacking them you could expand the memory. But for now I think they are just regular Lego bricks with a flash drive built in.

The Lego USB flash drive comes in six colors of yellow, blue, red, white, black and green and retails for just under $49 ($59 AUD).

ZipZip via Giz

Developers, graphic designers and just about anyone that needs to frequently Alt-Tab between windows could stand to use a second monitor connected to their PC or notebook. Unfortunately not all computers have the extra connection, especially notebooks. Or maybe you just don’t want to mess with another video card on your desktop PC.

Either way I-O Data has a solution aptly called the USB-RGB. This dongle allows you to connect a second monitor to you computer through your USB port, ending the single-monitor constraint you’ve been living with for so long.

The USB-RGB dongle runs about $87 (10,600 yen) which isn’t a cheap solution, but it will get you there.

via AkihabaraNews

Yoggie has announced the unveiling of its new Pico USB stick used to protect your PC from incoming data through mediums such as your wireless adapter, LAN or Bluetooth. Similar to the Gatekeeper series, Pico is a Linux based software running on the small thumb-sized device with a built-in 520MHz processor and 128MB of RAM to keep those protection-processing resources out of your computer and in the device.

In an enterprise network, most of the protection for computers is provided by separate appliances protecting the whole network. At home any type of spam protection or firewall software usually runs directly on the computer, taking up memory and processing power. With the Pico this is all taken care of within the stick which simply plugs into your USB port.

The Yoggie Pico runs 13 different applications providing protection from …

This tiny desktop refrigerator is a definite step up from the USB Beverage cooler “cold plate” we wrote about last fall. With the ability to cool your drink down with a running temperature of just over 8 degrees C, this USB Mini Fridge can hold and cool exactly one standard 12 ounce can. It’s powered solely by USB via your computer which makes it a fairly portable personal fridge that can sit on your desk and keep your drinks cool, one at a time.

The design resembles a tiny refrigerator and even has a little LED light inside when opened (we have a feeling that this refrigerator light really does stay on all the time). We’re not sure how long it would take to actually cool down a can of …

Similar to peanut butter and chocolate a money clip and a USB Flash drive each on their own are not too bad, but combine the two and now you’ve really got something.

One of the better Father’s Day gadget gift contenders I’ve seen this year, the Memorex Money Clip Flash Drive connects to both a Mac and PC via USB 2.0, has a 1GB capacity and is getting $34.99 at Target stores. It’s a little on the thick side as far as money clips go, but convenience should more the inconvenience of size.

You can see it listed at Target.com but you’ll have to find a brick and mortar to actually buy one.

There are quite a few webcams available these days for everything from simple communications to security monitoring, but most of these focus on the macroscopic world. Bodelin Technologies has a USB device that can deliver images to your computer on a little smaller scale.

The device they’ve created is called the ProScope HR and is a digital microscope that connects to your computer via a USB 2.0 connection. The device is compatible with Windows and Mac’s and has software for each. Depending on the attachments the ProScope HR can focus in on items from 50x to 400x magnification.

Bodelin has a gallery of examples taken with the USB microscope such as a fly eye, and earthworm at 400x and our personal favorite, a sweaty finger at 50x where you can actually see the sweat pores.

Along with still images the …

For all of you heavy duty survivor types out there that need dependable technology for your spelunking, deep-sea diving or any other fun pastimes, Corsair claims to have created the world’s toughest flash drive.

The Flash Survivor sounds like it could survive a boat sinking or building detonation: it’s water resistant to a depth of 200 meters (or 20 atmospheres), encased in durable industrial grade aluminum, protected by a ring of rubber molding and surrounded by a metal tube with two end caps. In short, if you’re taking this USB drive anywhere where you really start to question whether it will come back in working condition you’ve probably got a death wish.

The Flash Survivor comes in 4 GB ($59.99) and 8 GB ($129.99) models, has a 10 year warranty and also has a 256 bit AES security encryption application pre-loaded to further protect …

We’ve had the toys, the breakfast cereal, the clothing, the drapes, the carpets, the cars and sooner than you think there may very well be a “Star Wars” product for everything. Mimoco is doing their part by offering four very funky USB flash drives done up as classic “Star Wars” characters Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and the always anonymous Imperial Stormtrooper.

Every model is available in 1 GB ($69.95), 2 GB ($99.95) and 4 GB ($149.95) versions and come with appropriate bonus content already flashed on the drive like “Star Wars” avatars, wallpapers, soundbites and trailers. They’re 2 3/8-inches high and for an extra $5 you can pick up a protohoodie to keep it snug and safe while it dangles from your car keychain. Mimoco is saying that this is just the first series of SW USB it will offer so keep …

If the thought of owning a tricked out speaker system for your PC but not wanting to shell out for a expensive sound card excites you, Altec Lansing has a plug and play audio system that should sound sweet to your ears.

The FX5051 Powered Audio System has four satellite speakers, a base unit and a center speaker that delivers 5.1 surround sound by connecting directly into your PC’s USB port, then streaming out 6 channels of sound. You also get a headphone jack for those times that you don’t want to share your “Supreme Commander” gaming sessions with the rest of your housemates and jacks to connect to your iPod, MP3 player or CD player. There’s also a wireless remote and control pod which gives you complete command over three volume levels, the bass and treble.

With the sharp …