Articles about USB

When USB flash drives first hit the market, they felt like magic. Don't forget, at that time, we weren't far removed from floppy disks. Flash drives were brilliant for students, businesses, and general home use. Over time, these USB drives became faster, while gaining greater capacities.

While the explosion of cloud storage has made flash drives less necessary, the USB devices are still very useful. Even if you do choose to store your data in the cloud, making a local backup is very wise -- redundancy, folks! Today, I am looking at one of the most intriguing such USB drives -- the VisionTek USB 3.0 512GB Pocket SSD. That's right -- a half terabyte!

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When it comes to computing, I always prefer a desktop when possible. I like using a big monitor, mechanical keyboard, and mouse. If I am not at a desk in a comfortable chair, my productivity drops. While I do use a laptop when on the go, a trackpad and small screen are pain points for me.

Not everyone can afford to have both a desktop and laptop, so luckily, it is easier than ever nowadays to use the latter as a makeshift of the former. Unfortunately, docking stations from laptop manufacturers are often expensive and proprietary. USB variants are sometimes preferable, and today, Satechi announces the beautiful Aluminum Mini Docking Station.

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Nowadays, many computers have paltry amounts of storage. Why? Solid state drives carry a higher cost per gigabyte, meaning these faster SSDs are usually lower-capacity for cost-savings. With the emergence of the cloud, this might be OK for many home and business users.

If you need more local storage, an external hard drive is a great way to get it. Not only are these drives convenient, but versatile too. But what if you need a lot of storage -- more than the typical single, double, triple, or even quadruple bay solution? LaCie has you covered. Its all-new '12big' raid unit has a mind-boggling 12 bays, and can accommodate up to 96 terabytes. It even utilizes the super-fast Thunderbolt 3 interface, making it perfect for professional use too.

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USB Type-C products that are non standard compliant can be so dangerous that the USB 3.0 Promoter Group has introduced an Authentication protocol, to enable smartphones, laptops and other types of devices to detect out of spec USB Type-C cables and chargers.

The "authenticity" of the cable or charger will be determined "right at the moment a wired connection is made -- before inappropriate power or data can be transferred", so, for instance, there will be no risk of damaging your phone when you plug in a bad cable to charge it.

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Many times in life, we must make decisions. Often, there can be two paths -- both with pros and cons. Ultimately, we must make a choice, potentially making a sacrifice.

A good example of this is USB hard drives. "Laptop" variants, at 2.5 inch, can be powered by USB bus, while "desktop" models, at 3.5 inch, need a dedicated power cable. When it comes to capacity, however, the desktop variants offer more. Ultimately, you must choose which is more important -- more storage or less wires. Today, this changes, as Seagate unveils the Innov8 -- the world's first USB-powered desktop hard drive.

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There are many USB Type-C cables on the market, but, as it has been pointed out numerous times, not all are standard compliant. Even the cable that ships with OnePlus 2, one of the few smartphones that support USB Type-C, is out of spec, and may not work flawlessly with other handsets. And this is a serious problem.

Cables that do not comply with the USB Type-C standard can cause permanent damage, as Google's Benson Leung has explained in his reviews of various options available on the market. Amazon has taken notice, banning such products that do not comply with the official standard.

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ESET has detected an undetectable malware. The security firm recently said to have discovered what it now calls Win32/PSW.Stealer.NAI, also known as the USB Thief.

The malware is designed to steal data and is, according to the firm, basically undetectable. It cannot be copied or reverse-engineered, making it extremely difficult to detect or analyze.

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There are many tools to help you customize a USB flash drive. You could make it bootable, run one or more LiveCDs, lock it to prevent unauthorized access, create encrypted storage areas, and more.

This will often work just as you expect, but sometimes, when you try to use the flash drive to store files again, you might find that some of its capacity has disappeared.

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If you are a vlogger, podcaster, or someone who video chats while on the go, you know that a quality microphone is key. Sure, a good camera or webcam is essential, but if people can't hear you well, their interest will fade quickly.

Today, Samson announces a new laptop-focused portable microphone (it can also work with desktop monitors), called the Go Mic Connect. This should meet the needs of many on-the-go vloggers, podcasters and communicators. Unfortunately, the product is not yet publicly available, as the company is instead leveraging crowdfunding to make it a reality.

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Having multiple mobile devices is great. Charging them? Not so much. If you need to top the battery on a few smartphones and tablets at the same time, you are going to need as many wall chargers to be plugged in. But there is a better way -- enter the multiport USB charger.

A multiport USB charger can allow you to charge a significant number of handsets simultaneously, freeing up sockets in the process. I have been using Choetech's six-port USB charger for the past couple of weeks to find out how good it is and, ultimately, whether it's worth buying.

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If you live in the suburbs, such as on Long Island, you pretty much have to own a car. Without a vehicle, getting around in a reasonable amount of time can be downright impossible. Sure, taxis are available, but that is way too expensive.

City dwellers, however, can get by without owning a car. Quite frankly, having a vehicle can be more trouble than it's worth, with hard-to-find parking and frequent dents and dings. Instead, public transportation is the wiser choice -- it is fairly affordable and dependable. Unfortunately, buses and trains are not always modern -- especially in NYC. Luckily, this is changing a bit, as NY Governor Cuomo announces an initiative to introduce free Wi-Fi and USB charging to 2,042 new buses.

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USB Type-C is slowly starting to gain traction in the smartphone market, as more handsets are being introduced with this wonderful new connector. Last month, we saw two new flagships -- LG's G5 and Xiaomi's Mi 5 -- unveiled with USB Type-C. But, for consumers, having it on a new smartphone may actually be an issue.

An external battery, for instance, is generally charged via microUSB, which means that, when it runs out of juice, you will not be able to use the USB Type-C cable, that is used to charge your device, to also charge the external battery. This can make having a smartphone with the new connector feel like a drag, but Xiaomi has decided to (also) offer a USB Type-C external battery so you can have a great experience.

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When USB flash drives hit the mainstream, many consumers -- including myself -- were shocked by the small dimensions. I remember staring in amazement, thinking of how many floppy disks would fit on one.

In 2016, however, flash drives are no longer impressive. Many young tech users have never seen a floppy, and the concept of a flash drive could be seen as a dinosaur, because, you know -- the cloud. Today, SanDisk announces a new such drive, the Ultra USB Type-C Flash Drive. Fairly fast, rather pretty, and using the latest USB connection type, it injects some excitement into an -- arguably -- dying medium. Unfortunately, the quoted "USB 3.1" is a bit misleading.

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My smartphone is my life. Understandably, some people will decry my love for an inanimate object, but it is my window to the world. Quite frankly, I know that I'm not alone with my feeling towards the device. Between things like social media, news and email, to name a few, it is my constant companion. It is an essential tool for both business and personal needs.

While my iPhone 6s Plus has great battery life, few smartphones are up to the demands of active users. This is why USB battery packs are so popular nowadays. Hell, even Apple recently released a battery case. Today, SCOSCHE announces the goBAT 12000 Rugged portable backup battery. While the 12,000mAh product is not unique in its function or capacity, its rugged nature makes it very intriguing.

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USB is one of the most important inventions in the history of computing. You young folks don't know how good you have it -- before USB, installing hardware was a huge headache. Over time, the standard has become faster and ubiquitous, but always had one huge issue -- knowing which way to connect it! A rectangle is a stupid port design; that was one way the now-dead FireWire was superior.

The invention of USB Type-C, however, remedied that large user pain point. This new connector can now be inserted in any direction, making USB even better. Some companies, like Google and Apple, were early to adopt it, but now, it is starting to explode in popularity. Today, Toshiba announces some good-looking USB Type-C drives, with its new Canvio Premium HDD and the TransMemory EX Dual flash drive.

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