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Gear Lover - by Craig Hill

The “Crab like” USB 2.0 Hub

April 27th 2008 00:07

Plug N play away.

Moving forward instead of sideways

Ever had to plug in a USB jack and find that the angle or position of the machine port is an immovable obstacle? Do you have multiple USB sockets filled you’re your essential gizmos? Well this nifty new invention available from USBFever.com is an affordable solution.

Flexible and designed specifically for most all portable and desktop technologies, the “crab like” design obviously refers to the crustacean like appearance of this neat gizmo. It’s a 6 Port USB hub that comes complete with an additional power supply for charging your device.

Under the microscope

External Hard Drives sometimes demand some extra volts to kick over and according to usbfever.com this solves it. As usual another simple little tool can make life easier in front of the screen or on the move.

Side 2

Costing $13.99 US the Features as listed on usbfever.com are as follows:
- Extra USB Port for extracting power from your PC
- A soft Hub instead of a HARD Hub, more flexible
- extra USB Mini 5pin port of for data upstream
- Plug and Play.
- An innovative design of Cable of USB Hub
- USB 2.0 specification compliant

Supports:
- Windows 2000 / XP / VISTA

Specifications:
- Total length: 26cm approx.

Package Contents:
- USB 2.0 Crab-like 4-Port Cable Hub with additional Power input x 1

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Posted By: Dexter - Category: Audio, Cameras, Cellphones, Gadgets

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HYmini Wind Charger

April 7th 2008 03:38

The power in the air

Available in a variety of colours

A few weeks ago I did a post on the freeloader 8.0 a solar charger for portable devices that uses the power of the sun to fuel your hand held gadgets. Now the people at Hymini have developed an affordable, environmentally minded alternative that is equally adaptable.

The HYmini wind-charger takes windmill technology that has existed for eons and has refined it to store electricity for your iPod, mobile phones, PDA, mp3 and digital camera.
The minimum gust that can get things happening is 9mph and a maximum velocity of 40mph is optimal for charging power.

The palm of power

According to the HYmini website:
"A Lithium Ion polymer rechargeable battery has around 500 complete charge cycles. If the battery is fully charged every time, it should have at least of 1000mAh of stored capacity for you to transfer this power to other 5V devices up to 500 times. A conventional mobile phone has around 0.4Ah to 0.7 Ah of battery capacity."

As for charge time the site says:
“With conventional 110-220 wall plug, HYmini takes at least 4 hours to fully charge. It depends on the environmental condition and the number of solar battery you have, Solar batteries can potentially fully charge HYmini’s internal battery.
Note: Wind generator is designed as a supplemental source, hence can not fully charge HYmini”

Though it seems that the charger still needs to some help from the traditional power socket this kind of development still seems like a step on the right direction for the greener gadgets revolution that has been growing in the last few years. I wonder what we will see come on the market in the next few years…maybe someday a bit of methane from a fart could end up being all we need to listen to our favourite tunes?

To find more about the HYmini charger please visit hymini.com

Here are some Specifications from HYmini

Here is some video footage discussing the HYmini wind charger

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Posted By: Dexter - Category: Audio, Cameras, Cellphones, Gadgets

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Freeloader 8.0 – iPod Solar Battery Charger

March 14th 2008 01:41

Freeloader - The solar powered Charger

Freeloader solar charger available to buy

Over on solartechnology.com they have announced a new range of sun powered charging tools for most portable devices.

An environmentally sound alternative to traditional battery life, the Freeloader is now available to purchase.

An alternate choice

From the site
“Freeloader takes power from its solar panels or via a supplied charge cable that plugs into a computers’ USB. Once charged, Freeloaders internal battery can power an iPod for 18hours, a mobile phone for 44 hours, PSP for 2.5 hours a PDA for 22 hours and much much more.”

“Supplied in a tough but stylish aluminium body, Freeloader can take the knocks of every day life whether on a business trip in New York, back packing in the Andes or chilling on a Caribbean beach.”

Technical Specs:
120mA premium quality crystalline solar cells
1000mAh environmentally friendly Li-ion battery – typical battery life is 2 years.
Freeloaders solar panels can charge its internal battery in as little as 5 hours or 3 hours when using the supplied USB charging cable
Supplied with a computer USB charging cable
Supplied with a power master cable and twelve adaptors to fit the following:

Impact resistant, rust free aluminium body.
Freeloader holds its battery charge for up to 3 months
Supplied with detailed user manual
Size – 123x62x17
Weight – 185g
Supports 80Gig with optional iPod Connector

Here are some of the products it works with:
1. LG Chocolate series phones
2. Motorola V66 series and current V3 series phones
3. All Nokia current and N series phones
4. Samsung A288 and current D800 series phones
5. Sony Ericsson T28 and current K750 series phones
6. 4mm straight jack for Sony PSP, Tom Tom sat nav, digital camera’s, PDA’s and two-way radio’s
7. Mini USB for Blackberry Smart phones, Bluetooth headsets etc
8. USB 2.0 female socket for iPod, iPod Shuffle, MP3 players, smart phones, PDA’s, GPS plus much more
9. Nintendo DS lite connector
10. Supports iPod, iPod shuffle & iPod video up to and including 60Gb*

135

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Posted By: Dexter - Category: Audio, Cellphones, Gadgets, PDA

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Apple iPhone 16GB & iPod Touch 32GB

February 6th 2008 08:30

When the Apple iPhone officially arrives down under sometime this year - or so we're told - it will be available with 16GB of memory along with the original 8GB version.

The new 16GB model was released by Apple today and is already available to order for US and international customers (where the iPhone is officially sold, that is). For just US$100 more at $499, the 16GB iPhone gives you double the capacity for music, pictures and applications.

Along with the iPhone, the iPod Touch MP3 player has also been given a memory boost from 16GB to 32GB. The 32GB iPod Touch will retail for $629 here in Australia - the 8GB and 16GB versions are still available for $399 and $499 respectively.

The 32GB iPod Touch is available to buy online at the Australian Apple store. As for the 16GB iPhone, you could either wait until it is officially sold here or till someone starts selling them on eBay although a lot of tech whizzes are expecting a price drop for the 8GB as a result of the model.

Apple America has released a press release for their two new products.

Apple Adds New iPhone & iPod touch Models
CUPERTINO, Calif., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today added new models of the iPhone(TM) and iPod(R) touch which have double the memory, doubling the amount of music, photos and videos that customers can carry with them wherever they go. The revolutionary iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for $499, joining the 8GB model for $399. iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for $499, joining the 16GB model for $399 and the 8GB model for $299. "For some users, there's never enough memory," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. "Now people can enjoy even more of their music, photos and videos on the most revolutionary mobile phone and best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world."

Both iPhone and iPod touch feature Apple's revolutionary Multi-Touch(TM) user interface and pioneering software that allows users to find and enjoy all their music, videos, photos and more with just a touch of their finger. All iPhone and iPod touch models include the latest software enhancements announced last month including the ability to automatically find your location using the new Maps application*; create Web Clips for your favorite websites; customize your home screen and watch movies from the new iTunes(R) Movie Rentals. Both iPhone and iPod touch feature the world's most advanced mobile web browser in the world with Safari(TM) and great mobile applications including Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes.

Pricing & Availability
The new 16GB iPhone is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and AT&T retail and online stores. The 32GB iPod touch is available worldwide immediately for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) through the Apple Store (http://www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. iTunes Movie Rentals are available in the US only. iPhone and iPod touch require a Mac(R) with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS(R) X 10.4.10 or later and iTunes 7.6; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) or later and iTunes 7.6.

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Posted By: Arnold - Category: Audio, Cellphones

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