LaCie today announced at CES 2008, the new Little Big Disk Quadra, an ultra fast mobile disk designed for speed-intensive and capacity-demanding applications, like digital content creation, high-volume data exchange, and video editing, while on the move. The Little Big Disk is designed to run quietly and has superior heat dissipation with an integrated fanless cooling system. The aluminum heat-sink design also ensures superior reliability.

The Little Big Disk Quadra will be available in 400GB and 500GB versions with your choice of either 7200 or 5400 RPM drives, respectively. A quadruple interface allows universal connectivity for cross-platform compatibility.

The beginning of a new year signals the event most consumer electronics geeks have been waiting for: the Consumer Electronics Show. We’re planning on putting a lot of coverage on this exciting event, including the creation of a category from which you can get the latest news on product announcements. We kick off this category with pre-show announcements - the first of which is a new USB flash drive from SanDisk which will offer automatic online backup of its data.

The SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus, priced at around $60, will offer an online backup service compatible with Windows and free for six months before having you incur a $30 a year charge. The 4GB USB flash drive will, after having new files copied to it, automatically back them up to an online account created by the user. An Internet connection is required of course and if one is not available the drive will wait until it detects a live connection through its host computer before backing up new files.

This retro looking radio has a very simple design marrying the old with the new. It’s powered via the USB port on your computer and will give you the current time and weather conditions. It features two round portal like displays on the front. One display shows you the current week on the top, the hour and minute, and the bottom part displays the year, month and date. The other display gives you information about humidity and temperature.

It’s also available in a smaller version with a few features missing. Instead it has a count down function and a birthday reminder. I just like the fact that these remind me of my grandfather’s electronics. They are basic with no bells and whistles. Sometimes it’s nice to have something low-key.

A company by the name of Ziova has unveiled what it is calling a new high definition network media player which can sport an internal hard drive. The ClearStream CS615 is expected to price at around $330.

The ClearStream CS615 from Ziova is powered by the Sigma Designs 8634 chipset. It is a home networked media player which brings your media files to your home theater system. You can get entertainment via the 10/100 Ethernet wired networking, an internal hard drive and a USB 2.0 hard drive connection. Video output options include HDMI and component video.

I got my Eco Media Player about 2 weeks ago and I’ve been checking out it’s various functions. The device has several features like a video player, music player, fm radio, LED torch, photo viewer, hi-fi recorder, memo recorder, data storage device and a mobile phone charger. You charge the device via USB, but if you don’t have a computer nearby it can be hand cranked to recharge the juice via a fold-out handle on the rear.

They claim that 40 minutes of audio play requires only one minute of self powering. Actually when I put that to the test I got a whole lot more. Closer to 2 hours. I don’t know if that is typical or not, but I let the battery deplete to nothing before I wound it. So that was a plus. I loaded a few videos and the conversion software is pretty effortless. The quality of the video is surprisingly crisp and clean for the small 1.8″ color screen. No complaints there.

This Heart Lamp design by Lígia Carteiro is not the heart shape we would normally expect to see, but uses a more realistic and a little less appealing likeness of the human heart. According to Carteiro, the lamp was inspired by the proverb “cold hand, warm heart” and the lamp is warm to the touch due to a 15w light bulb. It doesn’t look like it would do a great job as a lamp, however. By looking at it I think the concept would do just as well as a mouse, or a maybe a USB powered lamp?

Personal storage product manufacturer Apricorn is bringing to computer users a new external hard drive solution which is secured via hardware encryption. The new Aegis Vault line is available in sizes ranging from 80GB to 250GB and is priced at around $140 to $270 respectively.

The Aegis Vault from Apricorn uses AES-128 bit hardware encryption with password protection to secure data. It can be configured into multiple partitions for public data sharing and features an administrator password option for corporate applications. It connects through USB, making it bus-powered, and works with Windows operating systems.

I never use labels. I’m in the habit of using a sharpie when I burn CDs. The problem is that my writing is terrible. Lucky for me I understand my chicken-scratch most of the time, but sometimes even I’m at a loss. Printing out labels is a hassle. So the Casio CW-E60 Title Printer looks perfect for me. We all want more professional looking CDs.

It features a 200 dpi print resolution and uses a thermal transfer ribbon to print the label on your disc. Plus it comes with easy to use software to design your labels. It will also let you choose from 8 different colored ribbons for your prints. The price isn’t too bad either at $60. Sure beats trying to decipher bad writing.

These speakers/moodlight/FM radio are simply way too cool to behold. They remind me of the Easter Island stone heads, you know, if aliens had mated with robots and then made art. For a dock, it really does do quite alot.

Raise and lower the volume by simply waving your hand across the infrared sensor. You can tune the radio by the same means. No need to press any buttons. Of course you can plug your mp3 player into it, or turn on the radio. If you get really bored you watch the pretty mood light glow.

Maybe this company just likes making speakers shaped like fruit or maybe they’re taking a more welcome route of latching onto the Apple popularity as apposed to throwing the letter “i” in front of their product name, but either way these speakers look kinda’ cool.

When put together the two channel, 1W speakers are held in place by magnets and they are in fact shaped like an Apple and have no affiliation to Apple the company. The speakers are powered by a USB connection from your computer and connect sound through a standard 3.5mm audio jack from your computer or just about any mp3 player. They come on colors of red or green and measure, well, about the size of an apple at 112×104x56mm each. The Apple Design speaker set runs about 25 Euros, (~$36 USD) on Ebay.de.

Take a look at this Visuals analog USB gauge used to monitor the power supply unit on your computer. The gauge has a dial and looks like something you’d find in an automotive shop but can be a very handy tool for anyone building and/or overclocking their computer.

The Visuals USB gauge has three buttons, one of which needs to be pressed in order to see one of three monitoring parameters. The gauge will monitor the wattage, temperature and fan speed of your power supply and is as simple as plugging it into your USB port. Unfortunately you can’t use it to monitor just any power supply unit, though. The analog gauge is only compatible with GIGAYBTE’s ODIN GT series of power supplies. The gauges retail for a little over $60, that is if you can find one.

We’re often surprised here at the ‘Brick by the different types of things that companies come up with which are powered by a USB connection. Most do seem to make a lot of sense though; people are spending more and more time at their computers and most of these devices don’t require a lot of juice to power them. This far infrared heating pad is a good example, offering the benefits of infrared heat through the convenience of a USB connection.

G-Technology, a developer of external hard drives for computers, announced today a new triple rear interface design for its G-DRIVE mini portable hard drives. The new G-DRIVE mini Triple starts at around $180, depending upon the drive’s storage capacity.

The G-DRIVE mini Triple is available in sizes ranging from 120GB to 250GB. It offers for connectivity to a PC or Mac a choice of FireWire 400, FireWire 800 or USB 2.0. The drive is housed in an all aluminum enclosure with built-in heat sink and weighs under nine ounces. It’s bus powered and requires to external power source to operate.

The small table top jukebox reproduction stands 36cm high and has a real wood cabinet (veneer) and illuminated tubing that changes colors making it look and act like the real old time jukeboxes.

Instead of being packed with tiny records this jukebox houses electronics to play your favorite old-time music on CD’s through a retractable tray in the front. It also has an FM radio tuner and a USB 2.0 connection to connect and play MP3’s, although the jukebox itself does not have any internal memory or an MP3 player.

Do you have a green thumb? Or are you a homicidal gardener? It won’t matter anymore, thanks to Brando’s USB greenhouse. You will never have to feel bad again as you watch plants grow before your eyes.

Combining nature with technology, Brando’s greenhouse has a USB-powered (And egg shaped) case that uses a growth light to stimulate plants. Since it is a mostly hands-off process, you’ll soon forget about your previous plant track record. The device will monitor moisture and remind you when you need to water your thriving plant friend. Comes with software, Marigold seeds, and artificial soil.