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USB Gizmos, Gadgets and Trinkets abound
Los Angeles, March 21: Back in the 1990s, when the computing industry banded together to develop an easier and faster way to connect peripheral devices to computers, they expected the new technology to be used for printers and cameras, not rubber duckies.
Nor coffee-cup warmers, for that matter. Or blankets or humidifiers or any of the many strange-but-true gizmos that hook up to desktops and laptops.
The Universal Serial Bus, or USB, standard has opened the way for new generations of external devices to connect to computers efficiently and quickly, without the need to tighten screws or adapt different types and sizes of pins and holes so that everything fits together.
But since the USB standard also provides a way to power those external devices directly from the computer -- usually without an additional plug -- it has provided the more enterprising designer with a creative outlet to build weird, wacky and, in some cases, useful products.
Take for example the USB desk fan, with soft blades and a flexible neck, perfect for the cubicle farm or studio apartment. Or for the rare smoker who is still allowed to puff indoors, there is a USB ashtray, whose filter sucks away the smoke. Both are available from ThinkGeek (
http://www.thinkgeek.com) for under $40.
Harder to find at retail are the Arvel USB Fragrance-Oil Burner, an aromatherapy device that creates a tranquil feeling that even the worst computer crash can not disturb, and MIB's USB heating blanket, perfect for keeping warm during the winter months.
"The percentage of things that are just actually silly is pretty small," said Jeff Ravencraft, chairman of the USB Implementers Forum and a technology strategist for Intel Corp. INTC.O "From some point of view, they're probably fairly practical-type implementations."
MASS STORAGE
As with any technology, hardware sizes have shrunk with time and innovation, and now USB plugs are starting to show up in the unlikeliest of gadgets.
The technology has caught on quickly in the area of portable mass storage -- putting as much as a gigabyte of data on a device the size of a key chain.
According to the USB Flash Drive Alliance, which promotes and encourages development of such products, USB drives now outsell other flash memory formats, like the compact flash and Secure Digital cards used in cameras and personal digital assistants.
But the key-chain drive design quickly became routine, inspiring people to create new shapes and sizes.
Among the devices with built-in USB storage are watches, pens, Swiss Army Knives -- and even ducks.
The i-Duck from Japan's Solid Alliance, starting at $49, plugs into a USB port and offers up to 256 megabytes of memory -- enough for many, many copies of the song "Rubber Ducky."
"We were very surprised at the success of the i-Duck," said Douglas Krone, chief executive of Dynamism, which sells imported Japanese technology to gadget-hungry U.S. consumers. The product, which comes in a range of colors and lights up, has been selling out constantly at Dynamism since its launch late last year.
Many other unusual USB gadgets, like a USB noodle cooker, also come from Japan, where Krone said cuteness is as important as function.
"It's just an appealing concept," Krone said. "There's no really advanced technology involved here. It's just using the power from the USB port to do something."
