The humble USB drive—supplanted by the download and the cloud sync, but still useful in all kinds of ways. If you’ve got an old drive lying around, here are some of the ways you can put it to use that don’t just involve sharing old pics to your mom.
Just when you thought you could chitchat with authority about USB standards at your next dinner party, a new one comes along to shake everything up again. The latest USB 3.2 standard is going to be confirmed in September, and here’s what that means for your laptop, your phone, and those new USB-C cables you just went…
Who doesn’t hate carrying around their laptop? Even the lightest ones weigh a couple of pounds and can be a huge burden to lug around the city. That’s where portable apps, ones stored on a USB drive, come in.
Google has a set of guidelines for Android manufacturers called the Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD). This document basically outlines what gadget makers need to do to make sure their devices are compatible with Android.
When I was in elementary school, kids used to pass around printed out copies of The Anarchist’s Cookbook and we would delight in the type of mischief and mayhem that book described. My favorite entry was the one for the floppy disk bomb. According to the book, with a little bit of match powder and nail polish, you…
The original film was great, but there’s really only one reason any of us will be going to see the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel: Baby Groot. The film unfortunately doesn’t hit theaters until May of next year, but in the meantime Thinkgeek’s got something to tide you over with this dancing baby Groot car charger.
We previously wrote about Anker’s PowerPort 5 USB-C, which, while a dream for MacBook owners, actually charged laptops pretty slowly. Now we’re at full power.
If you were looking for a USB stick that “instantly and permanently [disables] unprotected hardware,” you’re in luck. You can now purchase one for a little more than fifty bucks!
Anker’s brand new Speed Series chargers combine three different technologies to provide the fastest charging speeds to any device:
For whatever reason, Nintendo decided not to include a charger with its new 3DS handheld console. You absurdly have to buy one separately, or you could just spend $8 on this new adapter that lets you use your iPhone or iPad’s Lightning charging cable instead.
USB-C is a fantastic new standard for almost everything, unless you have a crappy cable, in which case you might accidentally fry your laptop. The people behind USB-C understandably see this as a problem, so a fix is in the works.
A cheap USB-C cable can fry your phone or computer. So it’s nice to see that Amazon is taking action, clamping down on the sale of poor-quality USB-C cables that don’t make the grade.
Centuries ago, man’s biggest struggle was survival. Today, it’s finding a way to keep our smartphones charged until bedtime. But instead of having to hunt for an available power outlet, Nathalie Teugels has designed a comfy chair that converts your fidgets and nervous energy into usable electricity.
Before USB Type-C replaces every charging cord you have to wrangle, the LMcable promises to play nice with both iOS and Android devices at the same time. Its brilliantly engineered connector supports Lightning ports, and microUSB ports, at the same time, without the need for adapters.
If you’ve configured two-step verification for your Gmail account, rather than checking your mobile for codes you can plug in a verified USB stick instead. You can carry it wherever you go, and of course, it doesn’t lose battery or signal. According to Google, it also offers better protection against phishing attacks.…
Back in October we praised Satechi for remedying the 12-inch MacBook’s shortcomings with a slim USB-C dock that expanded the laptop’s connectivity options. We also lamented the dock’s lack of a pass-through USB-C charging port, which Satechi has thankfully already fixed.
All cables are not created equal: some will charge most efficiently, others might just fry your battery. Google Chromebook engineer and Caped Cable Crusader Benson Leung has been testing USB-C cables off Amazon, and it’s not just the no-brand products that have been failing.
The unending march of technological progress probably left you feeling slightly confused when your fancy new 12-inch MacBook arrived with just a single USB-C port. Satechi has a solution to Apple’s oversight, though, that doesn’t compromise your new laptop’s tiny footprint.
The last thing you ever want to do is connect a random flash drive you’ve found to your computer’s USB port. But a security researcher who goes by the nickname ‘Dark Purple’ has created an even more dangerous flash stick that can physically destroy your computer—not just infect its drives.
There was much griping when Apple replaced its old dock connectors with the reversible Lightning cable, but they’ve made life infinitely easier for iOS users. So the MicFlip, the world’s first reversible micro-USB cable, promises to do the same for Android (and other smartphone) users.
