Sip from the Firehose

It’s that holiday time of the year for many of us.  If you celebrate Boxing Day, Ramadan, Santa Lucia Day, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Festivus, and the other world holidays that take place near the end of the year, what to get the software person that has everything? Hard to know since we probably have just about everything we need for defining, designing, developing, testing, managing, and delivering software projects. Finding the right gift for the technical astute is a daunting task. Let me see if I can help. You’ve got a computer with a USB port, right? You probably have one that is unused, or you have a USB hub that has several available connections? USB is for important programmable devices, right?

From the USB.ORG site FAQ file, I found the following question and answer: Q4: What kinds of USB peripherals can I connect to my PC? A4: USB carries data at the rate of 12 megabits per second, which is sufficient for "medium to low-speed peripherals". This broad category includes telephones, digital cameras, modems, keyboards, mice, digital joysticks, some CD-ROM drives, tape and floppy drives, digital scanners and specialty printers. USB’s data rate also accommodates a whole new generation of peripherals, including MPEG-2 video-base products, data gloves and digitizers. Computer-telephony integration is expected to be a big growth area for PCs, and USB can provide an interface for Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and digital PBXs.

Sounds like USB is for really important things. But there is more that you can do with your USB port. I also use mine to power a light and to charge my cell phone battery. Below you will find a list of additional USB devices along with a sample URL (I’m sure there are other places to buy these) where you can find them. I’m sure there are many more cool USB toys. Write comments to this article to share additional fun USB devices that you’ve found.

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