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Trendnet shows off tiny Wireless-N USB adapter

Hardly any laptop computers come without built-in wireless nowadays. However, if yours lacks Wi-Fi, or if you want to quickly upgrade to Wireless-N without something sticking out of the USB port, Trendnet has something to offer you.

The networking vendor announced on Tuesday what it calls the "world's smallest Mini Wireless N USB Adapter," the TEW-648UB. This ultracompact adapter is just slightly larger than a quarter in size, measuring merely 1.3 inches in length.

What's the catch? It's a single-stream adapter, meaning it supports speeds up to only 150Mbps (as opposed to 300Mbps of … Read more

Top gadget travel accessories

The requisite "what's in my gadget bag" feature is a mainstay of consumer electronics coverage these days--we now know what David Pogue (The New York Times), Joshua Topolsky (Engadget editor-in-chief), and Dave Zatz (tech blogger extraordinaire) tote around with them on a daily basis. But I wanted to get a bit more granular. If you want to know which laptop, camera, media player, or phone to buy, there's an app a site for that.

But what about the accessories you need to keep all of those gadgets juiced up and ready for action? Or ways to avoid traveling with three or four proprietary AC chargers stuffed into your bag? That's what I'd like to focus on: some tips that should help anyone who's traveling with multiple portable gadgets, whatever they may be.

First, a few ground rules:… Read more

Crave giveaway of the week: Hercules ePlug 200 Duo

For this week's installment of the weekly Crave giveaway, we're offering up the Hercules ePlug 200 Duo. The product is an Ethernet-to-powerline adapter set, and it's ideal for anyone who wants to extend a home network into another room of the house without running extra wires or setting up complicated wireless bridges. Just plug one of the ePlug units into the electrical socket near your router, and put the other one near the destination device (a game console, DVR, set-top box, or any other networked product), and you should be good to go.

Normally, this package would … Read more

System diagnostics toolbox

SiSoftware Sandra provides a robust package of diagnostic tools for testing your system and teasing out its problems--or potential headaches.

This download launches a cheerfully designed interface with an array of colorful--one might even say sprightly--icons for each of its tools. Its arrangement of tools was nicely categorized for the user's benefit: Computer Maintenance, Module Types (Benchmarks, Hardware, Software, Support), and Program Maintenance. Across the top of the window are tabs for each category that match the icons, and each tab provides access to a set of focused tools. We were very pleased with SiSoftware Sandra's performance during … Read more

PayPal tries rewiring e-commerce with new interface

PayPal, eBay's well established but aging mechanism for online payments, is trying to rebuild itself for a new generation of online commerce possibilities.

At an event for press and developers on Thursday, PayPal and its partners described several new programming interfaces that are part of the company's upcoming Adaptive Payments Service and showed what developers can do with them.

For example, Microsoft will use the interface to enable payments within its forthcoming Azure cloud-computing service. And LiveOps' on-demand outsourcing service will use it to automatically handle fluctuating payment amounts and changes to who's being paid. Finally, the … Read more

Amazon.com has the Zyxel PLA-400 Home Plug Powerline Ethernet Adapter for $68.61, after $16.38 savings.

Save $16.38 on the Zyxel PLA-400 Home Plug Powerline Ethernet Adapter from Amazon.com >> Regular price is $84.99 >> Sale price is $68.61 >> Savings $16.38 (19.27%) >> Click here for deal

Using cheaper microSD memory in your PSP and Sony cameras is a no-no

For anybody who complains that Sony's Memory Stick Duo memory cards are too expensive compared with other forms of flash memory, DealExtreme has a solution. It's the StarJade SDHC microSD to Memory Stick MS Pro Duo Adapter Sleeve, which retails for a mere $2.85, including free shipping. Unfortunately, the only problem is that it's illegal (see "update" note at the bottom of the post).

A quick comparison on Amazon for prices of microSD and Memory Stick Duo reveals that an 8GB microSDHC card costs around $20 (with shipping), while an 8GB Memory Stick Duo … Read more

Wii adapter lets you BYO retro video game controller

Sure, we really liked the Nyko Wing Wireless Classic Controller for use with the Nintendo Wii, but if we could choose any controller to use with Virtual Console games, it would be the originals themselves.

Developer Komodo may have come up with a device that could pacify these desires. With the Retro Adapter (to be distributed by Innex), you'll be able to use original NES, Super Nintendo, and Nintendo 64 controllers with Wii Virtual Console games.

The adapter itself resembles that of a Nintendo 64 console and has three female ports for each system. It connects to your Wii … Read more

Logitech's Harmony Adapter for PS3 arriving soon

A few months ago, we reported that Logitech was getting ready to launch an accessory that would allow its IR-based Harmony remotes to control the PS3, which only has a Bluetooth wireless interface. Well, according to Logitech, the Harmony Adapter for PlayStation 3 is a couple of weeks away from hitting stores in North America. Europe will see a July launch, while Australia will get it any day.

Logitech has a blog post up that offers a full FAQ on the $59.99 adapter, but the long and short of it is the accessory simply converts your Harmony's IR … Read more