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Outré USB Gadgets
PreacherTom writes, "We've all connected a myriad of useful things to USB ports: flash drives, printers, webcams. How about a vacuum cleaner? Pair of heated gloves? Anti-cubicle missile system? Joseph Pisani offers a listing of some of the most creative USB-controlled gadgets available, and includes a slide show of the most popular."
My most sincere apologies to Fiftythree.org, but when I read about plugging unconventional things into the computer, this classic came to mind. Note: the USBKiller is not listed. Scatter a few of these outside the back door of your local bank.
The EtherKiller and friends: http://www.fiftythree.org/etherkiller/
The Google cache
Or this stupid thing is more in line with the aim of the article.
FairTax baby!
I'm only interested in weird stuff that uses the USB data connection also.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
They're not USB controlled at all. They're USB powered, and I wish people who write articles would get the difference (hint: one can be replaced with batteries, the other can't).
I knew there was a reason Intel invested $6 bln in R&D last year: so I'd have plenty of power left over to run my USB nose hair trimmer.
If USB gives us nothing more in the way of alternative devices and gadgets, I will consider it a victory anyway =)
Well, there is always the iBrator, the most, uh, "friendly" of USB devices.
Patrick "Diablo-D3" McFarland || http://AdTerrasPerAspera.com
The site's down for me (BusinessWeek.org down?! Maybe it's just gremlins in my walls.)
Physicist, consultant, science communicator
Only the little missles look like they could be USB controlled. The rest just seem to be drawing power from the USB port.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
I wish more devices used USB power to charge, then I wouldn't have to carry as many different power adapters around.
Fellowship 9/11
However, by the same token I'm way more interested in really cheap wireless telemetry a-la zigbee (thermometers, etc) than I am in USB, which was junk to begin with, once it decided to try to play in areas where it really didn't belong.
Someone had to do it.
I'm sick of every man and his dog working out that their product can run from 5v dc, and therefore sticking a usb port on it, and saying its now able to connect to your computer!
Imagine if a photocopier did this. Oh no, you can't *print* to it. It just runs off USB power, but because the specification limits a single USB port to 200mA, we have provided a "conveniant" multiheaded usb plug (count them, 4 usb plugs).
No no no no no no
There are some really neat ICs out there that allow you to build a device thats USB controlled, eg the PC can send a signal down the wire (and vice versa) and you can make the device do something. USB pencil sharpers are not a great category for this. USB weather stations are.
Heck, I've always wanted to build a USB *controlled* fan. One that you can change the direction and speed via the USB port.
A really big useful-ness of the USB devices is that you can now replace almost any part of your PC. USB serial, USB parallel, USB sound, USB network. Case-in-point, my network took a power surge via the network/switch. Best I can tell, the server took the main charge, probably though the power supply, and happily diverted it through the ethernet port, which the switch passed on to each device connect. Then end result is the network component on every device on the network is fried. The simple answer, especially for my beauitful geeked-out slimline MythTV box is a USB network. (No room for any more PCI cards)
I use to have a funny sig, but slash cut it off, and I forgot what the punchline was.
As suggested elsewhere, sex and pornography are the true killer apps for any medium/device. Thus, I submit the REZ Trance Vibrator as the future of USB devices.
It's a Playstation 2 USB compatible vibrator that's *controlled* by in game events, not just powered. If I had any idea where to start reverse engineering this device, I would have done so already.
Could any of you hardware/interface wizards suggest some approprate tools?
~od
The Realdoll was the best, at least until the time I left it plugged in while playing Quake.
Anti-cubicle missile system?
I wished I had one of those when I was a video game tester at Atari. One of the supervisors used to fire his soft pellet air gun over the cubicles, especially when he lost at Counter-Strike.
The usb big red button.
Mind on a flash drive? You could carry it around with you on your keychain and talk to it once in a while through the USB port.
Another AI Mind is also available as we approach the Technological Singularity.
How about a vacuum cleaner? Pair of heated gloves? Anti-cubicle missile system?
A pair of heated gloves? What a brilliant idea! Until, ya know, you have to actually go outside. In the cold. There ain't an extension cord long enough.
I wanted to up the ante in a rubber-band-gun arms race in my office, but I couldn't find it available from any online vendors in the U.S. I see ThinkGeek now has a listing for them and they're expected in stock there in October. Anyway, I ended up picking one up on eBay from a guy in Australia for a decent price, about a month and a half ago.
It takes AA batteries to actually power the launcher motors, with a switch on the underside of the base. The part of the missile that locks into the spring mechanism is actually heavier than the the rest of it, so it doesn't always fly nose-first like you'd think. It also doesn't have much in the way of range. If I could find extra missiles for it I'd experiment a bit with weighting the tips to try to address those issues.
I haven't used the included (Windows-only) control app yet, but a guy wrote a control app for it for OS X that's not too bad. You can find it on Versiontracker, I'm too lazy to hunt it down and make a link right now.
~Philly
how this didnt rate a mention is beyond me!
Hmm... how about the Trance Vibrator from the game REZ. You remember, the one featured in the infamous GameGirlAdvance article.
And yet, still no combined bottle opener/usb memory.
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I can't read the words, but the pictures speak for themselves
However it is worth noting that it is the power that really makes USB different from other interfaces (sure you can steal a few mA from RS232). I quite often use USB to power small electronic circuits (development boards etc) instead of a wallwart or a bench power supply, even if they are using some other connectivity.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
All these comments, and not a single mention of the USB Ghost Detector/Radar.
c tor/
h ost-radar/
http://www.engadget.com/2005/04/02/usb-ghost-dete
http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20060712/the-usb-g
When you think about it, when you carry a laptop with you all the time, all you're really lugging around is a massive battery with a computer on top of it. Seems to me, that battery could be used to power all the OTHER crap I have to lug around - why carry three power adapters when I really only NEED one?
You can show me all the flashy usb devices that currently exist, but NOTHING is as convenient as one of these.
I want a USB Bayonet.
I think they missed this USB device.
With this thing it seems that I can keep my USB missile launcher at Defcon 1 even when the PC is off. Wuhahahahahaha http://www.northq.com/products/powersupply/nq4200G P-USB.html
Some of those knicknacks may have been mildly amusing, but nothing in that article compared to the wonder and majesty that is the USB turd.
My favourite USB thingy is my memory card reader. Instead of the 347-in-1 readers that take up a lot of desk space, this one is a SD memory card reader shaped like regular thumbdrives. This should last a life time (mine or of the SD/MMC card standard). http://www.amazon.com/Simple-BONZAI-CARD-READER-ST I-USB2BONZAI/dp/B000189W0A
So, how hard would this be to develope, how much would it add to the price of a flash drive and is it practical? Would it sell?
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity but they've always worked for me" - HST
I'm amazed that the USB Fondu pot didn't make the list!
A friend of mine wreaked havoc with an IT department. He noticed that IT was servicing the floor's shared laser printer because it kept spewing out random text on the pages. He immediately realized it was occurring whenever he turned on his Radio Shack air ionizer. This was placed right next to the laser printer. He toyed with IT for months.
Anger has its uses. Here, let me show you.
The rocket launcher was features as a gadget to get for Xmas last year on the Register in the UK.
Sold by Marks and Spenser for 20 quid.
And now only available in Aus? Someone didn't check things out properly. This is Slashdot, what's new?
Well I would like the heating gloves...My class is so cold
Still looking for a usb dildo (high-speed).
Some video of what one can do with a number of launch vehicles: http://scott.weston.id.au/software/pymissile-20060 126/
Gotta love technology in action.
Make a device and supply a command line program to retrieve that simple information. It would seem to be expensive and more than a couple weekends of work.
That was Zen, this is Tao
Oh Yeah, great substitute. Last time I checked, vacuum cleaners and the massive amounts of static electricity they generate are NOT particularly good for your electronics. that really is genius.
I want to make a project like the USB missile launcher... how could I make a little USB robot like this? What would it take to control it and to write a program for it? Does anyone know of some good sites for learning about this?
I mean, sure, there was a reference to the fictional iBrator, but this is real.
.