eSATA Flash Drives Go Fast

I'm sure everyone has at least one USB key/flash drive sitting around or at least knows someone with a USB key well throw them all out, now. Actually you might want to wait a little while until these new fancy eSATA flash drives actually hit the streets.

While not as cheap as their USB grandparents these guys will kick it up a notch in the transfer speed stakes with eSATA almost doubling the speed of USB 2.0.

Engadget says there was no price announcement but Register Hardware estimates it'll be $32 for the 8GB model, $56 for 16GB and $160 for 32GB. That's USD.

USB 3.0: More Details Than You'll Ever Need To Know

Are you sick of USB 2.0 yet? According to Wikipedia it was released over 8 years ago (April 2000). Of course there's always a lag period between when things are released and when they are freely and cheaply available to the masses but that can't have been more than a year.

Well, last week, Intel gave AMD, nVidia and others what they'd been hanging out for: 90% complete USB 3.0 controller specifications. Today Engadget is reporting on a detailed analysis of those specs by MaximumPC which tells you just what you'll be getting in your USB 3.0 kit.

"The highlights include assurance that USB 3.0 will be backwards-compatible with USB 2.0 and that it'll provide transfer rates up to ten times more than USB 2.0's 480Mbps limit (that's 4.8Gbps). Furthermore, we're told that uploads and downloads are kept on separate lanes, the cables are thicker, it will charge more devices more quickly, and it will be much more mindful of energy waste."

The bad news is that it's going to be backwards-compatible with USB 2.0... yes, that's bad news. It means we're still stuck with that rediculous rectangular plug. Seriously, who designed that thing? Make it an irregular shape so we don't have to go crawling under desks just to see if it's the right way round. I'm sure there's a "Murphy's Law" that dictates that you will always get the plug upside down on your first attempt, something similar to the butter-side-down Tumbling Toast theory.

Anyway, if we're lucky, by next year we'll be seeing some crazy 4.8Gbps transfer speeds from our portable devices... maybe a nice 512GB SSD or something.

Stick It To Darth and R2

Now, I consider myself a bit of a geek but I think this is going a little too far. Click through to watch videos of these Darth Vader and R2D2 USB hubs.

Only the Darth video was working when I visited and after plugging him in his eyes light up, his head moves around and you head the scuba-gear breathing sound we all know and love. The guy in the video plugs a USB key into his chest thingy and other useless stuff happens.

If you have $68 USD to throw away or you'd like a USB hub that matches your awesome Boba Fett suit then don't let me stop you.