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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
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
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.
The Realdoll was the best, at least until the time I left it plugged in while playing Quake.
The usb big red button.
What they need now is a cubicle missile defense system. Let the cubicle arms war start!
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!
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.
Well Duh. Thats why you have a laptop...
I want a USB Bayonet.
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
I'm amazed that the USB Fondu pot didn't make the list!
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.
Look again: Silicon Labs
makes some nifty microcontrollers and you can buy a developer's kit with in-circuit debugger for a hundred bucks. And you can use sdcc for your compiler.Of course if you want to sell your USB device you need to get your own Vendor ID from the USB-IF.
I mean, sure, there was a reference to the fictional iBrator, but this is real.
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