Does Apple hate connectivity standards? Always seems that way. So OWC is now offering an inexpensive option to fix yet anothet Apple design flaw. For just $169, plus shipping, the company will cut a small hole in the bottom grill and install the missing eSATA port.

The only problem is that the port isn’t port-multiplication-compatible so it won’t work properly with most multi-drive RAID enclosures. Still, if you want it, they will do it. Like Burger King, you can have your iMac your way.

When it comes to flash drives, most of them all use the USB port. Some larger external HDDs available use eSATA, but that connectivity option is not common on flash drives. The OCZ Throttle does offer eSATA and is virtually identical to this new Active Media Products drive.

The drive has 16GB or 32GB capacities available with prices of $69.95 and $109.95 respectively. The drives both have an eSATA connector on one end and a mini USB port on the other.

Another day, another new flash drive. These things are being announced by the droves close to CES. A company called Team has announced a new flash drive that features dual connectivity and faster speeds than the typical USB 2.0 drive.

The drive is called the X092 from Team and it requires no power adapter to operate. Presumably, it can get power from the USB port to run in eSATA mode when needed. The drive will come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities.

The problem with netbooks is that they lack optical drives. I learned that the hard way when I used my netbook at CES earlier this year and everyone was handing me CDs with information on them to check out.

Addonics has a new external optical Blu-ray drive that has both eSATA and USB connectivity. The Blu-ray drive can play Blu-ray movies and burn CDs and DVDs. The drive is also available in a DVD only version that can burn and play DVDs or CDs.