 | Dimensions | Duo size (31 x 20 x 1.6) mm | Connector Pin | 14-pin | Capacity | 32GB (format maximum) *4 | Max. Data Transfer Rate | 480 Mbps (theoretical) | Min. Write Speed | 120 Mbps *1 (As of 8-bit parallel transfer)
40 Mbps *1 (As of 4-bit parallel transfer) | Operating Voltage | 2.7 to 3.6 V | Interface | 8-bit / 4-bit parallel I/F and Serial I/F | Max. Clock frequency | 60MHz *5 | Copyright Protection Technology | MagicGate |
 BT are pushing BT Digital Vault, their product to store all of your digital data on, to that end they’ve just launched a Web service to calculate the value of your digital output.
The site lets you enter the number of music tracks, photos and videos that you have and attach a ‘sentimental value’ to each format. We threw a few numbers into it and it tells us the total monetary value of our digital doodlings is £3,490. We’re confused as to how they’ve come to attach these arbitrary values to the various bits of media – Music tracks – 79p; Photos – 10p; Videos – £12. The music pricing is based of the costs of tracks on iTunes. The other two? Photos based on BonusPrint.co.uk and films, Lovefilm.co.uk. Frankly the valuation service is a bit hollow – but may draw attention to the fact that people don’t have a backup. Backup your data
Our view is that you cannot attach a value to the photos of friends and family that you have – they can never be replaced, so we’re all for people looking after their data. BT’s Digital Vault is one way of doing this. 
One of the major advantages of an online backup service is you are protected against fire in your home, that may well wipe out backup that you hold at home. BT offer a free service, the ‘Basic,’ which lets you store up to 2Gb of data, but you have to manually copy the data up there. With a price like that, why would you refuse? You’ll need to sign up for the service before 8 Jan 2007, after that you’ll only get 1Gb. The pay-for service is £4.99/month, but gives 20Gb of storage and an automated backup manager. It’s this that provides the essential feature of any backup system – the ability to not to have to think about it – your data just gets backed up. Sadly the software only works on PCs though. BT are far from unique from offering this, as there are many other services around. Other services
One example that has been running for very many years is Iron Mountain Connected Backup, or connected.com as it used to be. Back in our PC days, we used the service on a daily basis as it was just so simple of use – the backup occurred automatically as the machine was shutting down. Prices range from $10 – $75/month for their 30Gb service. When you look at the amount of storage BT offers for its price, it looks quite a bargain against the Connected Backup. Vault Calculator
BT Digital Vault  If you’re having problems thinking of that perfect technological widget to make your Christmas go with a seasonal swing, look no further than Brando’s fabulous feast o’ festive trinkets.
USB LED Snowman
First up is a USB LED Snowman, who doesn’t do a great deal apart from add a seasonal touch to your desktop by cycling through a range of colours. He has got a nice hat mind, and he only costs $10. USB Fibre Optic Christmas Tree II
Going upmarket a tad, the $14 USB Fibre Optic Christmas Tree II apparently, “actually looks like a miniaturised version of the real Christmas tree” and comes in its own little pot. Like the USB Snowman, it doesn’t do very much apart from cycle through pretty colours, but it is perhaps a little more dignified than a clattering USB Snowman Drummer (see below). USB LED Music X’mas Tree
For office workers keen to impress, there’s no denying that the USB LED Music X’mas Tree pulls out the stops, offering 12 – yes twelve – built in Christmas songs, cycling colours and a “shining golden star” on the top. Beautiful. And it’s yours for just $15, squire. USB Drumming Santa
The real showstopper of Brando’s collection has to be the top-of-the-range USB Drumming Santa. Billed as “bringing happiness at Christmas” their $18 USB Drumming Santa Claus (Snowman version also available) looks set to redefine festive tack with an all-out assault of PC-powered lights and music. Plug him into the nearest USB port and whoop with joy as he drums along to a selection of five Christmas songs, complete with synchronised blue lights. Imagine the delight of your co-workers when you leave that running all day! Brando Christmas Collection  With the evenings drawing in and artic breezes circulating around your workstation, it may be time to invest in some handy USB-powered warming devices.
First up is the USB Foot Warmers, designed to get your tootsies toastie within minutes. The USB Foot Warmers are covered in soft brown and white fake fur backed by a ‘leather fabric’ base with the slippers being warmed through a compact, ultra-flexible heat panel lurking in the lining of the base. The heat panel can be removed for washing. Once the slippers are plugged into a USB port, this panel will immediately begin to heat and will remain at comfortably warm until unplugged. Or your machine crashes. The foot warmers come with a 107cm-long USB cable (how long before the user wanders off and drags the PC with them?) and it has to be said that the whole ensemble is quite exceptionally unstylish. The USB Foot Warmers are available from the Gadgetshop for fifteen quid. No thanks Santa!  USB G-Gloves for girlies
Somewhat more attractive – but equally daft – are the USB G-Gloves from our favourite purveyor of frivolous goods, Brando.
In case you didn’t know, the ‘G’ stands for ‘Girls’ who Brando hope will be wooed by their knitted (real wool!) pastel colour schemes on offer. The gloves feature an open ended design that lets girls show off their nail varnish do some typing, with the gloves offering two USB-powered heating levels. Each mitten comes with two built-in warming pads that heat by 10 degrees n five minutes, and you can pick up a pair for $22 (£13). Brando also do a men’s version, but they weren’t the mean’n’macho, black-leather, studded affair we’d hoped for.  Vonage have launched a new means of making VoIP calls on you PC – a USB stick with headphone socket.
The invite to Vonage’s event to launch the V-phone billed it as ‘The World’s smallest phone.” Whether you feel that is a marketing spin or correct is personal interpretation. It’s not a phone in old understanding of it … but frankly, what is? The USB stick has Vonage Talk software pre-loaded on it, with a detachable stereo earpiece/microphone and you’ll be left with 250Mb of usable memory. You also get a new Vonage phone number. All for £20. With it, you can use any PC as a way to send and receive phone calls on a Vonage – even PCs without the Vonage software installed. To use it, just plug the neat USB stick in with the the headphone, the software temporarily runs and you’re ready to go. When you’ve finished chatting, simply software-eject the USB stick and remove it. There’s nothing left on the machine. Skype has done a similar thing through a deal with SanDisk to have their software on their Cruizer USB stick. We’ve used it and found it pretty impressive. The only thing missing is the headphone socket. We think this kind of approach – temporary software – will become more common as computing become ubiquitous and more a utility than rarity. Vonage V-Phone  Although there’s no shortage of gadgets like smartphones, PDAs, iPod and PSPs that are capable of playing back video, getting footage on to the fellas can be a bit of a pain.
“Today’s increasingly mobile consumer wants to be able to watch their favourite shows and videos, whenever and wherever they want,” insisted Wes Brewer, SanDisk’s vice president of consumer product marketing, and he reackons the new SanDisk V-Mate is a simple and practical solution to the problem. Video hungry gadget freaks can simply hook up analogue audio or video outputs to the device, slap in the memory card from their multimedia handset and the Sandisk will record the content straight to the memory card.  Users can connect the V-Mate to the AV output of their video recorder, set-top box, Freeview, DVR, DVD player, TV or other device and use the V-Mate’s remote control to configure the device, plus record and access content via a TV-based interface.
The SanDisk offers multiple programming slots for entering channel, date and start/stop times to schedule recordings, with users being required to select their playback device to ensure the recordings are playback compatible. The box also comes with an infrared emitter which can automatically turn on the TV tuner box (cable/satellite/terrestrial receiver or VCR) and select the right channel when programmed to record. There’s also a mini-USB port on board for connecting the unit to a desktop/laptop PC. Being designed for the wee small screen of portable multimedia devices, the SanDisk offers a maximum recording resolution of just 640 x 480 – perhaps not great for your 72″ HD plasma screen at home, but just dandy for yer average smartphone. At this low resolution, punters should be able to grab around three and a half hours of video footage per gigabyte – ample time to keep you entertained on even the most delayed of commuter journeys. “We are hoping to replace the VCR with this product,” a Sandisk spokesman enthused. “It will be like having a video recorder in your pocket.” The 5.1″ x 2.6″ x 0.8″ V-Mate is compatible with a ton of memory card formats: SD, MMC, MMCplus MMCmobile, SDHC, MiniSDHC, MicroSDHC, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick PRO Duo, and the device is expected to go on sale in October for $130 or so. If – like us – you’ve been using digital cameras and electronics gizmos for years on end you might now be the proud owner of a huge pile of memory cards in a host of different formats, with a ton of cables scattered around the office. With limited USB ports available on laptops, most of us have had to invest in a card reader, and although we were pretty impressed with the Targus 14 in 1 USB Card Reader we reviewed last year, compared to Brando’s brand new, read-anything-that-moves USB Bluetooth Card Reader, it’s positively Spartan. Brando’s new reader manages to accommodate an astonishing 52 formats and, for your enlightenment and enchantment, here’s the full list: CF I, CF II, Extreme CF, Extreme III CF, Ultra II CF, HS CF, XS-XS CF, CF Elite PRO, CF PRO, CF PRO II, IMB MD, Hitachi MD, MagicStor, MS, MS PRO, MS Duo, MS PRO Duo, MS MG, MS MG PRO, MS MG Duo, MS MG PRO Duo, Extreme MS PRO, Extreme III MS PRO, Ultra II MS PRO, HS MS MG PRO, HS MS MG PRO Duo, HS MS PRO, HS MS PRO Duo, MS ROM, MS Select, SD, *MiniSD, HS Mini SD, Extreme SD, Extreme III SD, Ultra II SD, SD-Ultra-X, Ultra speed SD, SD PRO, SD Elite PRO, HS SD, MMC, MMC 4.0, HS MMC, HS RS MMC, RS MMC, RS MMC 4.0, DV-RS MMC, SM, SM ROM, XD, *T-Flash. The USB 2.0 reader also conveniently doubles up as a Bluetooth hub, allowing you to wirelessly transfer data between Bluetooth devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. Being a device from our favourite weird’n’wonderful gizmo makers Brando, there’s also some totally pointless eye candy on offer, with the device cycling through “multi moody colours” – perfect if you’d like to host a mini disco by the pencil sharpener on your desk. Brando claim a receiving/sending range of 20m, with the supplied cable measuring in at 64cm.  Compatible with Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP, the 63x63x15mm reader weighs in at 76g and is powered by the host computer’s USB slot.
It’s as cheap as chips too, priced at just US$25. We only wish that electronics manufacturers would stop inventing bloomin’ new formats every other day and made these multi-readers obselete…. Brando  Belkin showed off their new 802.11n draft 1.0 equipment today. They’ve announced an access point and wireless card to go with it, both should be available in the shops by September. Following that, an ADSL router will follow along with a USB adapter and PCI card.
802.11n is designed to make set-up easier, so the user no longer gets to choose channels, it’s all done by the system to optimise the available spectrum. The router also displays coloured error symbols on the display to indicate problems (like security not being enabled, or devices that are disconnected). N1 ahead of the pack?
Belkin have waited for the 802.11n dust to settle rather than jump on the preN bandwagon. This should give them a big advantage in terms of interoperability – though there’s still no guarantee that their equipment will meet the final 802.11n specification which isn’t due for ratification until late 2007/early 2008. What they have done, is ensured the equipment works with various chipsets (Aetheros, Broadcomm and Marvell) that are used within their units. When Netgear initially launched their preN routers and cards, their Broadcomm based kit wouldn’t talk to their Marvell based systems (well they would but only using 802.11g). If their own software works well, there’s a chance that their systems might interoperate with N kit from other vendors. It’s all about speed
802.11n offers real speed improvements over 802.11b (11Mb/s) and 802.11g (54Mb/s). The wireless rate is 300Mb/s which should give around 150Mb/s useable bandwidth. Belkin were showing around 110Mb/s which is better than wired fast Ethernet (2 HD streams were being sent to two different systems and there was bandwidth to spare for their new Skype phones and other generic 802.11g laptops). Currently users should probably stick to buying all their N equipment from one vendor but it should allow greatly improved connectivity speeds.  If it’s just for connecting to the Internet, the Internet connection is going to limit the speed so upgrading isn’t worth it, but for distributing video and music around the house, the speed increase will make a difference.
Another advantage is the use of MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) which uses multiple aerials to transmit and receive the wireless signal. It’s a complicated technology, but sort of acts like a radar beam which is steered so better signals between the router and the PC. Another Skype Phone
Coming in around October is the Belkin Skype phone. It looks rather like a SonyEricsson phone. It can do almost everything a PC Skype client can, obviously call other users, but it also displays your balances etc (though you have to go to the Website to buy credit). Various wireless networks can be set-up on the phone, but it doesn’t have a browser so using from a public hotspot that requires Web based authentication won’t work. It’s easy to use and small. Charges via USB. N will be the way to go
Though 802.11n is still a draft specification and likely to change, it can offer much higher data rates and is perfect for moving large datastreams around a building – like video. Belkin have done well to wait and may reap interoperability benefits for having done so. The router looks nice and the easy set-up will be a boon for users struggling with complicated WiFi networks. If it really does all work we’d give it an 80% score. The Ethernet router version (avail September) will have an RRP of £149.99 inc VAT. |
Electronics giant PC World has announced that it is to stop selling floppy disks once the current stocks run out.
In decline since the late 1990s, the floppy once ruled supreme, shifting more than two billion units in 1998 – a figure now down to a measly 700 million last year.
Attractively designed in a rounded sleek metal jacket and sporting a funky blue capacity gauge, Western Digital’s MyBook range of external hard drives are aimed at consumers looking for a stylish solution to their storage problems.
Setting up the drive was a cinch: we simply plugged the drive into a USB port our Windows XP machine, and the drive utilities were automatically installed.
We loved the glowing gauge though: it fades in and out when the drive is turned on and off and does a nice little shimmy when in use.
Although the drive is quiet in use, you can certainly feel it vibrating if you’ve got it on the same surface as your machine, so we recommend lobbing it up on to a shelf.
Our verdict
Sony are expanding their range of Memory Sticks further by adding the “Memory Stick PRO-HG.”
Major Specifications of Memory Stick PRO-HG
BT are pushing BT Digital Vault, their product to store all of your digital data on, to that end they’ve just launched a Web service to calculate the value of your digital output.
If you’re having problems thinking of that perfect technological widget to make your Christmas go with a seasonal swing, look no further than Brando’s fabulous feast o’ festive trinkets.
USB Fibre Optic Christmas Tree II
USB LED Music X’mas Tree
USB Drumming Santa
With the evenings drawing in and artic breezes circulating around your workstation, it may be time to invest in some handy USB-powered warming devices.
USB G-Gloves for girlies
Vonage have launched a new means of making VoIP calls on you PC – a USB stick with headphone socket.
Although there’s no shortage of gadgets like smartphones, PDAs, iPod and PSPs that are capable of playing back video, getting footage on to the fellas can be a bit of a pain.
Users can connect the V-Mate to the AV output of their video recorder, set-top box, Freeview, DVR, DVD player, TV or other device and use the V-Mate’s remote control to configure the device, plus record and access content via a TV-based interface.
If – like us – you’ve been using digital cameras and electronics gizmos for years on end you might now be the proud owner of a huge pile of memory cards in a host of different formats, with a ton of cables scattered around the office.
The USB 2.0 reader also conveniently doubles up as a Bluetooth hub, allowing you to wirelessly transfer data between Bluetooth devices such as mobile phones and PDAs.
Compatible with Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP, the 63x63x15mm reader weighs in at 76g and is powered by the host computer’s USB slot.
Belkin showed off their new 802.11n draft 1.0 equipment today. They’ve announced an access point and wireless card to go with it, both should be available in the shops by September. Following that, an ADSL router will follow along with a USB adapter and PCI card.
If it’s just for connecting to the Internet, the Internet connection is going to limit the speed so upgrading isn’t worth it, but for distributing video and music around the house, the speed increase will make a difference.