At first glance this noisy little car powered by USB doesn’t seem that interesting, but much to our surprise it’s actually kind of cool. The USB RC Car is an actual radio controlled car that gives about 5 minutes of remote controlled drive time with a 10 minute charge.

The car comes with a small garage complete with a door that closes which houses the car when it’s not in use and also acts as the charger and the wireless transmitter. The garage connects to a Windows XP or 2000 computer through a 4 foot USB cable and transmits 6-way directional signals from an on-screen graphical interface that’s controlled with the keyboard.

Waterproof electronic devices just always seem kind of cool for some reason. Anytime you can take some electronic gadget under water and it still works, even when there is no need, automatically moves it up the “cool” list a few points.

A good example is the mDrive waterproof USB Flash drive from Gidis. The slim drive comes packaged in a CD jewel case with a smooth looking black and red Taegeuk design, but what’s most noteworthy is that its waterproof. We’re not sure just how many things you’re going to be able to actually plug this thing into when your under water but when a device comes along with a functional, underwater USB port, Gidis will be ready. Then again, this of course could be handy right after you’ve downloaded the secret documents onto it while on your secret spy reconnaissance mission, and then have to dive into the ocean in a narrow escape.

If you are looking for the ultimate in security for a new thumb drive take a gander at the IronKey, the military’s solution to keeping their secrets safe. The IronKey is made to be both tough physically as well as data attacks.

For starters it encrypts your password using 256-bit AES and then encrypts that info a second time using 128-bit encryption. It may sound like overkill but heck why not do it? If a hacker wants to try and guess your password they only get 10 tries before the IronKey destroys all of the data it contains. If the villain tries to pop the drive open and get at the chips inside he will have a next-to-impossible task pulling it out in one piece since the guts are coated with an epoxy and would gum up the removal process.

Even though the size of hard drives are continually increasing so does the media that you store on them, requiring you keep buying more drives and bigger capacities to store all of your awesome-quality high-def content. A real pain however is having to go through the process of powering down your computer, opening up the case and connecting one of these new hard drives just so you can format it or transfer some data to it. Also, I’ve found that sometimes there just isn’t another SATA or IDE connection available once I get the case cracked open.

The folks at Tripp Lite have made this a whole lot easier with this set of cables designed to let you connect your SATA or IDE drive external through a simple USB 2.0 adapter. The U238-000 USB 2.0 SATA/IDE Combo Adapter allows for individual or simultaneous connection to a drive to configure it or transfer data without having to install it, turning any internal hard drive into an external USB storage device.

LG has a new non-high def DVD burner that should hit the market within days, sporting a very slim and portable design. The LG Slim DVD burner is completely USB powered requiring no additional cables to run, helping you to conveniently burn discs and drain the battery from your notebook when you’re on the go.

The device measures only .84 inches thick and weighs less than a pound making it very portable, housing the ability to burn DVD+R / RW, DVD-R / RW, and DVD-RAM discs as fast as 8x. LG has two models of this slim burner coming out; the GSA-E50N will retail for about $122 and is the standard model. For $136 you can treat yourself to the GSA-E50L which adds LightScribe to the feature set, using the same DVD burning laser to let you burn labels …

SanDisk has announced a doubling of the drive capacity of their SanDisk Cruzer Micro flash drive, brining the total capacity to 8 Gigabytes from the previous maximum of 4GB.

This capacity equates to around 1,600 high res photos or 2,000 songs on this single, 2-inch long, half an ounce USB Flash drive. The drive, like the previous Cruzer’s, features the retractable USB connector so there is no cap needed and more importantly no cap to loose. The connector retracts into the drive when not in use. When connecting and transferring data the sliding switch lights up to indicate its in use.

We should expect to see the new 8GB SanDisk Cruzer around mid-September world-wide, retailing for around $129.99. Of course if you like the drive but don’t think you need quite all of the 8GB’s (yet), you can …

In a world where your cell phone can be a camera, mp3 player, portable video device, and access the web you most definitely need a lighter that can be used to secretly store your personal data. Combining two of my favorite things, information and fire (the true key to the modern world), the memlite is a hybrid lighter and USB flash drive that would even make Q himself jealous.

The memlite will eventually come in five colors (black, grey, blue, red and green) and soon will have a capacity of 4GB… more than enough room for all the viral videos a lighter could assist you in making. Unfortunately for now, however, this German creation is only available in orange or black and is limited to a capacity of 512 MB.

At a cost of EUR 29.90 (roughly $40) it may be cheaper to simply do …

It seems like lately we’ve been seeing more and more gadgets being made out of wood; adding to the list is the Shadow external hard drive from Suissa Computers. The Shadow comes in a round wooden enclosure made from Maple in three different styles called the Silver, Natural and the Shadow Glass shown here.

Each enclosure contains a USB 2.0 connection to a 750GB hard drive housed inside. The box also has 4 USB ports and jacks for audio out and a microphone. The Suissa Shadow drives are designed to give you a functional external hard drive that breaks the mold of standard metal and plastic enclosures along with additional convenient ports that you can access within arms reach (since you will likely have this art-like piece sitting on your desk). The Shadow Glass pictured here has a glass-top finish and …

Overheating and ergonomic issues are two potential problems laptop users face. A new laptop stand/cooling dock combo device has been introduced which claims to effectively combat both these problems. The Cooldock Laptop Stand is priced at around $65 and available now.

The Cooldock is part of a small category of generic laptop stands which one can use to put the laptop at more traditional eye level to take strain off your vision. This is accomplished via one of eight adjustable levels for height tilt. Also built into this product is a four port USB hub for connecting items like keyboard and mice.

Although it makes me shudder every time, when I see this lamp I envision a multitude of these little things mounted on the walls of programmer cube farms so managers can make sure the keyboards are always going. Due to this I think this lamp is just a horrible invention. Of course, I’m sure it can be used for purposes of good as well, and with a little therapy I can probably get there.

Proving USB drives can both be ugly and functional Corsair rolled out today the Flash Padlock. This manual security code dependent device is available in 1GB ($30) and 2GB ($40) capacities.

What is perhaps most interesting about the Corsair Flash Padlock is that you can set a PIN up to 10 digits long for accessing the drive’s contents. You have to then enter this PIN on the keypad built into the drive’s body. The Flash Padlock also seems noteworthy for its security feature of automatically locking itself when you remove it from an attached PC.

Advanced Media, the manufacturer of Ridata digital products, announced it had begun sales of its Ridata Yego Drive through the Web sites of Wal-Mart and CompUSA. The Yego Drive is available in 2GB and 4GB storage capacities.

The Ridata Yego Drive is a rather unique looking USB drive. Besides allowing one to store data on it this drive also acts as a USB hub via the two USB ports built into its limbs. These USB 2.0 drives also feature what is called “advanced partition and security functions” so one can create password protected areas for storage of important files.

PQI has been at work packing more storage capacity in the same wallet-sized USB memory device. They’ve doubled the maximum capacity previously available in the super-slim, 3mm thick flash drive from 16GB up to 32GB. Now you can easily carry 32GB of data in a place as small as a credit card slot in your wallet.

The 32GB U510 connects via USB 2.0 with a slide-out dongle so there’s nothing making the card any larger, and no additional parts you need to have with you to make it work. It connects and transfers data like any other USB Flash memory device would except that it’s in a slimly designed frame instead of the shape of some animated character you’d be embarrassed to take out during a meeting. The 32GB PQI U510 is available now, retailing for around $285….

Sony has announced a new series of flash drives called the Pocket Bit Mini (USM-HX series). The USB flash drives come in capacities of 1GB and 2GB are Vista ReadyBoost compatible with virtual expander, encoding and secret file lock built into the drive.

They come in colors of black or white and has a two-way carrying case to make them convenient for different USB port locations. The little drives are 14.5mm long and weigh just 1.5 grams. They will retail for $34 and $52 for the 1GB and 2GB, respectively. Expect to see these guys showing up September 2.

FarEastGizmos

Trends Audio, a consumer electronics brand out of Hong Kong, announced plans to begin selling a USB device which will act as a bridge between a computer and a home entertainment system. The new Trends UD-10.1 USB Audio Converter is priced at around $120.

The Trends UD-10.1 USB Audio Converter can link a Windows or Mac machine with coaxial, optical and standard AES/EBU(110 Ohm via XLR) and S/PDIF (75 Ohm via RCA or BNC). This permits a computer, said Trends Audio, to act as a high-end digital-playback device for passing digitally encoded signals into a receiver or signal pre-processor/pre-amplifier for high-end audiophile applications.