If you love retro and think that the cassette died way before it’s time you might want to check out this four port cassette USB hub. It goes good with the cassette mp3 player and if you never entered the 21st century and have cassettes lying around, who’s going to notice the difference?

You can even write the name of a retro artist or album on it. I don’t know, say Night Ranger, Journey or Styx. Those who prefer to have an 8-Track hub will have to wait I guess. It will cost you about $23. I love the warning they give on the website, for those who ate too much lead as a kid: “This is not a real cassette tape and attempts to play it in a cassette player could cause serious damage to your stereo and the hub.” You’ve been warned.

This guy is kinda cute, but at night I think he might scare you and whisper to you in your sleep, telling you to plug in gadgets so he can feed and grow, using the energy to spin a web and eventually encase you in a cocoon. It will take up to 6 USB gadgets and it’s seventh leg goes to your computer. I guess some guy who really likes bugs had some spare time on his hands. It’s made from fabric and wires and is a great scarecrow to keep your kids away from the computer.

USB hubs being the neccessity they are, it’s always nice to see one that looks like it could class up the joint. And this one really is a nice bit of architecture. They merged a Newton’s Cradle with a USB hub. The Boynq Swing gracefully suspends four USB cables underneath an arch. It just sits and waits and looks classy.

Aside from it’s awesome design, it’s pretty much your typical USB hub, sporting DC power for multiple high-powered USB devices and fuses to protect against power surges. It’s got a sweet look and I hope other hub designers are taking note. We’d like to see more like this.

I still can’t figure out why the calculator is making a comeback, but here’s yet another example of a new twist on the number crunching device. If the HP Quick calc isn’t enough or the keyboard calculator is too expensive, this USB Hub calculator has the added benefit of being a bit more useful.

Aside from the hub aspect, with 3 USB ports, it also has some other bonus features, like a 12/24 hour world clock with alarm, a calendar and a even a thermometer. And it’s only $19, so it won’t kill you in the wallet. If you absolutely need a calculator, it might as well have a few other functions.

It makes sense to have man’s best friend on your desktop, serving your USB port and radio needs. Even if your robo-dog has a head that looks like it met a Mac truck head on. One rather creepy design aspect is that the head can be detached, giving you an instant portable radio with auto-scan from 88MHz to 108MHz.

Put it back on the body, and like a zombie reborn, it will turn it into a crappy computer speaker. It sports two USB 2.0 ports on each side.(If it spawns robo offspring, these are what they will suckle, getting precious mothers milk of USB juice.) $19.15 will get you this bizarre desk pet.

Sometimes it’s like they just combine stuff together and hope the end result is great. I can’t decide if this combo of fish and USB hub is proof of designers on drugs or brilliance.

But, if you are lacking a little fish friend in your life, maybe this one’s for you, fake fish and all. It’s even got a few shells, some greenery and real water. If that’s not enough, it illuminates, cycling through four different colors. It will only cost you $12 and there’s no danger at all of you killing it from lack of attention.

When will HDTV manufacturers include more than a few HDMI ports on the back of sets? I don’t know, but right now there is a real need for HDMI hubs and switchers. Here’s some info on a new compact HMDI hub named Medusa. It actually looks pretty nice, and supposedly it will be reasonably priced.

Some specs: HDMI Spec 1.3, Compliant HDCP Rev 1.2 Spec, Wide Frequency Range : 25MHz – 225MHz, Supports 12-bit deep color up to 1080p, CEC support, HDMI 3 out port. There isn’t very much info aside from that, but they should start showing up in about a month.

Every now and then you come across a design that is absolutely brilliant. Like this Belkin USB hub that fits in the grommet hole on your computer desk. I always knew that hole was good for something, besides making objects disappear never to be seen again.

Combine that hole with something you can never have enough of, like USB ports, and what you’ve got is gadget gold. The 3″ grommet hub has 4 raised USB ports with openings on each side for hiding cables, and if your hole is smaller,(This all sounds really wrong…) you may need the 2″ version. Simple and brilliant.

Sure you can get a regular little rectangle 4-port USB hub just a handful of dollars, but what fun is that? This USB Runner Hub also has 4 ports, costs $12 and looks a whole lot cooler. The ports are cleverly placed in the end of one leg, arm, front of the base and in the brief case that swivels 180 degrees. This running man USB hub stands a little over 100mm tall and supports USB 2.0 and 1.1. It does look pretty neat but unless there is some heavy weight in the base (71g total weight) or some kind of suction cup I think it’s going to be tough to keep this guy on his feet when he’s plugged in and hard at work.

If you fancy yourself some sort of super villain,(And who doesn’t?) you’ll want to pick up one of these neat USB hubs. Whether the fate of the entire free world is in your hands or not, your minions will fear and respect you when they see this on your desk. It says “I obviously have a bunker. Do you?”

The Armageddon USB Hub is only $39.99. How you hook it up to your Nuclear arsenal is up to you. After all, you’re the boss. And then on some magic day in the far off future, when nothing is going your way, just turn the key, flip the switches and press The Red Button! It will make a honking noise rather than destroy the world, but hey, I bet it makes you feel better. No wonder 007 always wins.