Usb Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Reasons why USB thumb drives are the wrong choice

by Erica Sadun (Sep 7th, 2011)

Photo: Dead Drops (Flickr) So yesterday, the TUAW backchannel got into a heated discussion about USB thumb drives. We had just posted about why Lion Version support was not available on non-HFS+ file systems. Our debate wasn't over whether they were good or not, but rather why they were a ...

Build your own Lion install USB thumb drive for cheap

by Erica Sadun (Aug 11th, 2011)

Why pay Apple $69.99 when you can build your own Lion install drive for the App Store purchase price of $29.99 -- plus the cost of an inexpensive thumb drive. Here's how to create a full install on a drive, not just the recovery disk that we recently posted about. You'll need a copy of the OS X ...

Lion will ship on USB drives in August

by Michael Rose (Jul 20th, 2011)

In the hustle and the bustle today, we failed to note a minor detail in Apple's Lion press announcement, but MacRumors picked it up: Users who do not have broadband access at home, work or school can download Lion at Apple retail stores and later this August, Lion will be made available on a ...

Aluratek Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station: Pocket-sized power package

by Steven Sande (Jun 21st, 2011)

One of my major gripes while traveling is the lack of available wall sockets in hotels, as I often have two or three devices while my wife brings her iPhone and iPad. To help keep us from fighting over where to plug in our gadgets, Aluratek is now shipping the Mini Surge Dual USB Charging ...

Hatsuden-Nabe thermoelectric cookpot keeps your iPhone battery charged

by Steven Sande (Jun 14th, 2011)

It will be difficult to charge your iPhone after the zombie apocalypse destroys the power grid, but a new product from TES NewEnergy Corporation can make topping off your battery as easy as heating up a can of SpaghettiO's over an open fire. The company has created the Hatsuden-Nabe, a US$278 ...

i-FlashDrive lets you quickly share files between PC and iPhone

by Michael Grothaus (Jun 5th, 2011)

Our sister site Engadget has discovered a must have accessory if you're constantly finding yourself wanting to share files between your iPhone and PCs. PhotoFast's i-FlashDrive features a USB 2.0 port on one end and an Apple 30-pin dock connector on the other. Plug the USB drive into your PC or ...

HP chooses USB 3.0 over Thunderbolt

by Michael Grothaus (May 17th, 2011)

PC World is reporting that the world's largest computer manufacturer has chosen USB 3.0 over Intel's Thunderbolt port in its new desktop PCs. HP's worldwide desktop marketing manager told PC World that "We did look at [Thunderbolt]. We're still looking into it. Haven't found a value proposition ...

Third Rail zaps iPhone case market with detachable battery pack

by Michael Rose (May 11th, 2011)

For every gadget that claims to charge an iPhone on the go, there's sure to be a constituency that swears by it (or quite possibly at it). With external battery packs from HyperMac, Zagg, Kensington, Newer and Monoprice, you can dangle a cable; with battery-equipped cases from Exogear, Boost ...

TUAW's Daily Mac App: unDock

by Samuel Gibbs (May 10th, 2011)

When you're using a MacBook in the vicinity of a desk, you're likely to have a lot of things plugged into it. Be it hard drives, flash drives, memory cards or any other type of storage, we all know how bitterly OS X complains when you just pull them out. When you're in a hurry to get out the ...

Apple patent reveals unused iPad design with two USB slots

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 10th, 2011)

In his last appearance during an earnings conference call last year, Steve Jobs hinted that Apple tested several designs for the iPad during its development stage. One of these possible designs may have reared its ugly head in a patent application recently approved by the USPTO. This patent ...

Apple plans to make Thunderbolt, USB ports thinner, more durable

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 5th, 2011)

A patent uncovered by AppleInsider suggests Apple may be improving the I/O ports on its desktop and notebook Mac computers. The approved patent describes several design changes that make the USB or Thunderbolt ports slimmer and more aesthetically pleasing. The bulky shell enclosing could be ...

M.I.C Gadget's iHub 2 looks like Apple lawsuit bait

by Steven Sande (Apr 18th, 2011)

M.I.C Gadget, the same website that brought the world the Steve Jobs action figure that was quickly given a cease and desist notice, is back for more potential legal fun. This time, they've come up with a very cool 4-port USB 2.0 hub. It doesn't matter how many USB ports you have on your Mac ...

Certain USB hubs could cause system instability on Macs

by Chris Ward (Mar 10th, 2011)

Stumble up to your Mac first thing in the morning, tap the keyboard to wake it up and -- what? I incorrectly disconnected my Time Machine backup drive? I never touched it, I swear! Turns out, this is not my fault for once. Apple has just released a support note explaining how, in a certain ...

Thunderbolt: Apple and Intel's new interconnect

by Michael Rose (Feb 24th, 2011)

It's been a while getting here -- Intel first demoed Light Peak at IDF in September 2009 -- but the first production laptops featuring the new, rebranded Thunderbolt interface are about to ship, in the form of shiny new MacBook Pros. Thunderbolt's raw speed (10 Gbps) and purported simplicity ...

Apple about to add Light Peak to Macs?

by Michael Grothaus (Feb 19th, 2011)

According to CNET sources, Apple is set to introduce a new "high-speed connection technology" very soon. The most obvious new connection type this could be is Light Peak, a sort of jack-of-all-trades connection technology. Light Peak allows one interface to be used to connect pretty much any device ...