Perhaps even gratuitous. In that vein, Gizmodo has recently featured the following USB-powered items:
- hot cup
- toothbrush
- heating pad
- fan
- lamp [later]
Is anyone remotely surprised that three of these four products are Japanese?
3 thoughts on “Technology should be fun”
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What’s obscene is how much the markup is on that fan! You could probably throw one together with under $5.00 parts… and drawing power from the USB cable is child’s play. grrr.. Are there any other devices that one would like to see via USB?
USB cellphone charger. Really, though, there should be a combined power/data link so that you can sync the phone’s speed-dial with your contact list. Bluetooth is supposed to make all this happen wirelessly, and I suppose we’re partway there, but a cheap 6″ USB cable would be more convenient to carry when travelling (and less painful to lose) than a power brick and charging stand, assuming you are carrying a laptop anyhow, or will be near a USB port.
Why the big cellphone makers haven’t adopted USB as a standard power/data jack is beyond me.
are these things ahead of their time, or just pointless? Isn’t it true that in situations where you have access to USB power but not a wall plug (an airplane ride comes to mind), you probably also value your laptop juice high enough that the utility of having, say, a fan is fairly marginal? Not to mention that having power in airline seats is becoming much more common. If laptop batteries lasted 12 hours instead of 2 this could be useful, I suppose.
I’m still hanging out for the 5 1/4″ pizza oven: http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/5_201_2f4_20Pizza_20Oven#1045157337.