usb

Suppose you're taking a long trip and want to stock your smartphone or tablet with a bunch of movies.

Just one problem: there's no room at the inn. A Kindle Fire, for example, famously has only 8GB of storage, with no option for expansion. Same goes for any iDevice you own: once it's full, it's full.

Maxell's AirStash offers storage salvation. It's a USB flash drive that also happens to be wireless, meaning it can store files and stream media to a variety of mobile devices. It's an effective solution, though not an … Read more

Some "portable" headphone amplifiers aren't all that small, but the Firestone Audio Fireye Mini is downright tiny.

It's just 1.5 inches by 1 inch by 0.5 inch, and the soft-rubber-shelled amp weighs almost nothing, so you can hang it off your iPod, iPad, iPhone or any device with a 3.5mm headphone output. Plugging in a headphone turns the Mini on and lights a bright blue LED, unplugging turns the amp off. Charge the Mini via the USB connection and it'll play for up to 24 hours. It's available in green, gray, purple, red, and white.

The Mini is no giant-killer, but it definitely bumped up the detail and resolution of my Monster Turbine Copper, Ultimate Ears UE-4, and vPulse in-ear headphones.… Read more

Let's just cut to the chase, shall we? Today only, and while supplies last (and they will NOT last long), Newegg has the Team Group Color Turn 32GB USB flash drive for $14.99 shipped. That's after applying coupon code EMCNBNH224 at checkout. (You must be a Newegg newsletter subscriber to use the code.)

That's unreal. Insane. And a first. It was just a few months ago that finding a 32GB drive for less than $30 was a big deal. I've seen some under-$20 sales in recent weeks, but those usually involved rebates. This one: … Read more

Streaming you the top Friday headlines with the latest in 2D technology:

Amazon scored a licensing deal with Warner Bros. to offer more shows for Prime streaming, including West Wing and Fringe. Amazon Prime continues to step up the competition with Netflix. Prime costs $79 a year, which works out to be less than a year's subscription of Netflix.

The fight between Viacom and DirecTV is finally over. The 20 million subscribers of DirecTV can now access 17 Viacom channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. On July 10, DirecTV turned off 26 Viacom channels over a payment dispute … Read more

With the iPad Camera Connection Kit allowing users to connect a variety of unexpected USB devices (like a MIDI keyboard) to their iPads, the next logical question was, "Is there something similar for Android?"

Although it's not advertised or sold by any of the big Android phone manufacturers, the solution is a cheap cable called a USB On-The-Go adapter.

USB On-The-Go (Amazon link), or USB OTG, is essentially a female USB port that plugs into the Micro-USB port of a phone or tablet, allowing you to connect devices that use a standard USB 2.0 or … Read more

Apple has issued an update for its latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models that were released in 2012, which addresses a couple of issues where the system's processors unnecessarily use too much power and can drain battery lives, and also addresses compatibility issues with some USB devices.

The update is a 76.64MB download that includes new versions of I/O kernel extensions and frameworks, the Dock application, and some shared resources including desktop pictures, user icons, and system sounds. Apple recommends this update for all of its new systems, which may help address problems with USB devices … Read more

Kickstarter, the crowd-funding portal, has a lot of interesting "projects" that are seeking backing, but it isn't always easy to tell how unique or exceptional they truly are.

Take the just-launched ChargeCard. It's a USB-charging cable for iOS devices that's in the shape of a business card. The ChargeCard looks cool but I seem to remember seeing other devices kind of like it. So I dashed off an e-mail to Noah Dentzel, one of the two guys behind the project (Adam Miller is the other), asking him how it was different -- or better -- than I product I'd found on eBay . The product I'd dug up had a built-in rechargeable battery while the ChargeCard was just a cable. … Read more

USB drives are convenient for storage and for transferring data to other computers. This convenience also makes them a great delivery system for malware. If you're comfortable with the Windows Registry or know how to set Group Policies, you can lock down your PC's USB drives. A much simpler way is by using USB Disk Manager.

USB Disk Manager is a small Windows program that can help you manage the permissions of USB drives. The portable app doesn't need to be installed and can be run from a folder on your hard drive or from a USB … Read more

The AudioQuest DragonFly is a USB-powered (it doesn't use batteries or an external power supply) digital-to-analog converter. I usually need some time to get a handle on the sound of a component, but within minutes of plugging in the tiny $249 DAC I knew exactly what made it so special. It sounds clear and clean, so there's less standing between the music and my ears.

The DragonFly is a bona fide audio component, designed by Gordon Rankin, a man known in audiophile circles as a great tube electronics engineer, but Rankin is also a computer audio guy. He's one of the few DAC designers with equal depth of knowledge in analog and digital audio technology.… Read more