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Winner of the 2006 GA Gift of the Year Hot Novelty Award, Verballs are a cute way to satisfy your VOIP needs. Produced by .uk company Aardvark Innovation, Verballs are cuddly USB microphone and speakers that add additional fun by moving their hands and mouth when they emit sound. There are presently five members of the Verballs family, from left to right in the picture to the left: Slick, Striker, Mr V, Britney, and Baby. Verballs get all of the necessary power via USB, come with 30 free Skype Out minutes and are Windows only. Britney is currently available on sale from Firebox.com for $25 while the rest of the crew can be purchased from iWantOneofThose for $60. |
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If you think you’d lose too many USB ports charging USBCell batteries, perhaps this offering from Energizer can solve your USB battery charging desires. The Duo USB Charger allows you to charge via USB from either a wall socket USB adapter or connected to any other USB port capable of providing the necessary power. Energizer provides both Windows, Mac PowerPC and Mac Intel binaries for monitoring Duo Chargers connected to those platforms so you will know how close to fully charged your batteries are. Availability for these chargers still seems spotty with the price being roughly $14 for the charger. Keenzo is one place the reports to have them in stock for $14 a piece but they require you to buy three. Hopefully availability will increase before it becomes time for me to look at rechargeable battery solutions. |
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Bottle openers have graced these pages before in the past, I even own a pair of Reef Fanning sandals from a Steep and Cheap special. But I don’t really use bottle openers since I don’t usually drink beer. But when they combine a bottle opener with a USB flash drive, that’s still somewhat noteworthy. The Popdrive combines a neon green bottle opener with a 1GB USB flash drive all on a convenient keyring. It measures 3.75″ x 1.5″ x .25″, so it is slightly on the bulky side but thats the price you pay for drink opening and data storage convenience. The Popdrive is available from Sky Mall for $30 or X-Treme Geek also for $30. |
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The Finger Mouse attempts to get past the constant swapping back and forth from keyboard to mouse in a simpler fashion then the orbiTouch Keyboard. Just use the Velcro strap and attach the mouse to the index finger on your right hand (there doesn’t appear to be a lefty version) and when you need to move the mouse, just point your finger down at any surface and start moving. The TechEBlog write-up also includes a link to a video of the Finger Mouse in use. The mouse features dual-buttons and a scroll wheel and 800dpi resolution. You can get the Finger Mouse for $35 from Brando or you can get a Logicsys branded one from Xoxide for $20. |
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Its been a couple of weeks since I posted my last USB hub integrated into an office product, so here we have the USB Hub Tape Dispenser. This four port USB hub has one port in the front for easy plugging and three in the rear that swivel 180 degrees to fit larger devices as well as what looks like a mini-USB B connector for connecting the hub to your machine. This USB hub is bus-powered only, so no high power devices. It comes in two sizes with the larger one having the dimensions of 171 x 87 x 47.5mm and weighing 790g and the smaller measuring 130 x 65.5 x 42mm and weighing 470g. The USB Hub Tape Dispenser hasn’t made it across the Pacific to Thanko’s US Rare Mono Shop, but you can get the large model in .jp for $24 and the small one for $21. |
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Created by Fifty Concepts, the USB Speed Typing Mouse is quite an odd USB contraption. The faster you type, the faster the little rodent pedals on his exercise bike. Below the bike, your current words per minute (WPM) count is displayed down to the first decimal place. It comes with software which keeps track of your total words typed per day as well as your top ten daily word counts. Not too many other details as Fifty Concepts has its product page in its VIP section that I am too lazy to get a login to get in, but the TechEBlog post linked below has a video of this little guy in action. The USB Speed Typing Mouse will be available from Drinkstuff in the UK for $40 on May 2nd. |
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USB flash drives themselves aren’t especially “fun” devices, they are more utilitarian in nature. So it always perks my curiosity when a USB flash drive is revealed in a new shape. The Pill Shape USB Flash Drive from Vavolo certainly fits the bill. This 2″ x 0.8″ x 0.8″ round shape drive comes with a key ring loop and I imagine probably would roll a lot if unattached. Of course the only flash drives I actually own are a first generation 1GB iPod Shuffle and a 512MB Lexar Lightning so even though the fun shapes amuse me, I end up buying relatively mundane looking devices. The Pill Shape USB Flash Drive is available for $70 or you can get the same shape in a 1GB model for $28. |
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