What Goofy USB Devices Have You Found?

pluckyduck asks: "What's the goofiest USB device out there? The links below are by no means an endorsement of the company, just links to goofy USB devices to illustrate my point. The first one is not really a USB device, but a wall adapter in case you want to power your USB Coffee Mug Warmer from a wall outlet (hey, there's a concept!). I believe they also have an auto adapter should you feel the need to run your USB air purifier in the car. The latest PC I bought only has 6 USB ports, I'll need to buy a hub soon!" Yes, they even have USB Massage Balls, as well. Although goofy, some of this stuff could be useful in the right situation. What off the wall USB devices have you found? How might you use some of the devices, that have been listed?

USB Massage balls

[Sayten241]

I only it for massaging my wrist, I swear!

Re:So no USB dildos?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they could make an external USB model [onzin.nl]?

Re:So no USB dildos?

[PatoLucas]

it REALLY bothers me the yellow "laser product" sticker on it, I won't put anything into that....
...Wait a minute........ doh.....

Re:So no USB dildos?

[pacc]

Actually, some USB products [gamegirladvance.com] have been known to have better uses than what was originally intended...

Re:USB Massage balls

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Does this [subvertise.org] count?

It might be USB, but I think the new ones are FireWire(tm).

Re:USB Massage balls

[nocomment]

It's not my bag baby!

USB Reading Light

[Anonymous Coward]

Useful [allproducts.com.tw], but hilarious high-tech/low-tech juxtaposition (to me).

Re:USB Reading Light

[phineasx]

I actually have a couple of these, they are incredibly useful :) Especially when you need some emergency light to find your dose of caffeine that wandered off. Overhead lighting at 3am really sucks!

Re:USB Reading Light

[cybermace5]

I absolutely hate these, if only because I had the idea about two years before they came out, and actually half-constructed a prototype before getting myself buried in college.

I love them ..

[McCarrum]

Of my favourite two (which I have), they include a USB based battery recharger so I can recharge the batteries in my logitech RF mouse (sorry, cant find a link) and the USB Mobile Phone Charger [pccasegear.com.au].

Now, on the goofy side, nothing beats the PC 12V Cigarette Lighter Panel [pccasegear.com.au]. Okay, it's not USB but it's still insane. I want one just so I can put a 'non-smoker' button in it.

Re:I love them ..

[Schmucky The Cat]

Man, I'd love the reverse! I have a DC/AC inverter in my car, but I'd love it if I could just get molex plugs out of the cigarette lighter. Half the devices I plug into the inverter do another AC/DC conversion.

Wouldn't a cigarette lighter draw too much power?

[enosys]

I thought a car cigarette lighter would draw too much power to run it off a computer's 12V power supply. Also, would rapid switching of such a huge load cause glitches in the +12V line and crashes?

Hmmm.

[omarius]

A USB Massage Ball sounds pretty dang-dingitty close to a teledildonic. A good STD-free way to share your goofiness! Next: a USB massage, er, tube?

USB lights

[dougmc]

How about the USB light [maccessories.com]? Pretty mundane, but it still seems pretty whacky ...

Re:USB lights

[PD]

My Thinkpad has a teeny lite controlled by a key sequence that illuminates the keyboard dimly. It actually is very useful. It's impossible to see the keyboard without it if the room is completely dark.

Re:USB lights

[op00to]

It took me a few days to realize my thinkpad has the light, but it is the coolest thing I have ever seen.

Re:USB lights

[nullard]

It took me a few days to realize my thinkpad has the light, but it is the coolest thing I have ever seen.

Then you must not have seen this [apple.com].

Here's a video [akamai.net].

Re:USB lights

[Polyploid Pimp]

I have frequently used a usb light with my laptop. The real usefullness, I have found, is not to light the keyboard, but to illuminate documents, books, etc. while working in a dark environment. For example, the light has come in very handy on long plane flights at night when the cabin is dark to see editorial comments on papers, or while working in my lab when somebody needs the main lights turned off.

Re:USB lights

[MattBurke]

noooo! Those things are excellent! Not only for lighting the keyboard, but in case you need a raised light somewhere (soldering, etc). Also when the lighting breaker tripped in my house the other night, I found they make a superb impromptu torch!

Re:let me guess

[pluckyduck]

Nope. I just get their catalogues, and noticed they always have some whacky, useless junk.

I've Seen A Few

[MBCook]

I've seen a few, most of them links to images on Akiba. Here are what I can think of off the top of my head:

• Coffee Warmer (mentioned)
• Electric Toothbrush [impress.co.jp] (for when you need to brush your teeth on the plane during long flights?)
• Electric blanket [mib.co.jp], in 2 patterns! (incase you aren't running a fast enough processor to keep your room warm)
• I'll post more if I can remember 'em

A USB Toothbrush

[rf0]

An electric USB toothbrush JPG [impress.co.jp]

Rus

hmmm...

[XO]

RadioShack sells a Cell phone adapter that plugs into car accessory outlets/cig lighter outlets, airline power connections, and USB ports. Pretty cool product.

Re:hmmm...

[Paul d'Aoust]

I work at a RadioShack store in Canada, and at the fall dealers' conference they gave out these silly USB fans [radioshack.ca] to all the attendants.

Re:hmmm...

[XO]

LOL .. that's pretty amusing. Although not nearly as fun as the USB vibrator someone else was showing off in this post!

We don't have those at US stores. yay. :D

Some things I have come across....

[qube99]

For those of you who might have burned your penis [wired.com] on your laptop, cool it down [nwfusion.com]!
If you are a mobile traveler like me, it's one less thing to pack when your toothbrush [impress.co.jp] is USB powered!
Or while you are brushing your teeth, you can find time to make some noodles [altavista.com] or whatever the hell this thing does.
And one last one to make soup with I guess [altavista.com].

USB Everything

[Noah Adler]

A co-worker of mine is kind of a USB nut:

• USB electric blanket [mib.co.jp]
• USB coffee heater [dct-net.co.jp]
• USB toothbrush [impress.co.jp]
• USB fan [tt-hardware.com]
• omg wtf is this! [dreamkitty.com]
• USB 'Desktop safety fan' (?) [skysis.com.tw]
• USB light [gamestech.com]
• USB fingerprint reader [eyenetwatch.com]
• USB police strobe [impress.co.jp]
• George Foreman USB iGrill (knock out da USB fat!) [thinkgeek.com]
• USB electric razor [impress.co.jp]
• USB noodle strainer [impress.co.jp]

You're making this up

[jareds]

The George Foreman USB iGrill was an April Foll's joke. Your "coworker" couldn't possibly have one.

Re:You're making this up

[BJH]

Of course he is, considering some of the products listed on the impress.co.jp site were limited releases in Akihabara.

Re:USB Everything

[lowmagnet]

omg wtf is this! [dreamkitty.com]

Kawaii?

Re:USB Everything

[LWATCDR]

Where are the hacking HelloKitty pages! I have to have one to hack!

The police strobe looks like firewire

[gotr00t]

While a plastic tip is common on firewire connectors, I have never seen one on a USB connector.

Speaking of which, more of this stuff shoud be for firewire.

Re:The police strobe looks like firewire

[bhtooefr]

Actually, if you looked closely at the picture, the display case had a few inside it on the left with a tag saying USB 2.0 above them, and a few on the right saying IEEE 1394. So, there IS a FireWire version.

Re:USB Everything

[bhtooefr]

The Desktop saftey fan means it's designed to sit on a desk, and has foam blades. To get a feel for the power of one, go buy one of those big, but still cheap, fans with squirt bottles. The fan is a safety fan because if you put your finger in it, it'll barely hurt (foam blades), and it'll stop (weak motor).

Re:USB Everything

[Wolfrider]

--If you've never read the book "Samurai Cat Goes To The Movies" by Mark E. Rogers, I suggest you do so. The "omg wtf is this!" reference comes to mind when the Terminationer walks up to the inventor of Hello Dere Kitty merchandise with an order to assassinate him.

http://www.biology.eku.edu/KEEFE/KEVIN/samurai.h tm
http://hallfantasybooks.com/authors_a-z/R/237.sh tm l

Vibrator!

[JANYAtty.]

USB Vibe by Grandtec USA is a USB powered personal massager that I got from Compusa last month for 10$. No it isnt computer controlled. It is a disk 3 1/2" in diameter with a blue plastic hemisphere section covered with bumps. I havent taken it out of the package which claims "Makes sitting at your computer a pleasure!". It claims to oscilate at 60 vibrations per second. It might be great to have one as a female and put this thing on your pleasure center, maybe while your working on the airplane on your laptop and have the passenger next to you ask whats that loud humming coming from. Probably just as much fun going through security checkpoints!

What I found the other day

[brejc8]

I had a rant [man.ac.uk] about it the other day. I found lights, [mycableshop.com] toothbrushes [impress.co.jp], heat blankets and hot drinks cups [man.ac.uk].
Unfortunately the heatblankets link is now broken

Re:What I found the other day

[arcadum]

Sorry, I dont do meaning of life questions.
But, you do repost. [slashdot.org]

Re:What I found the other day

[arcadum]

I was off base; I clicked the incorrect link. I appologise.

Re:What I found the other day

[brejc8]

No probs

Nightlight

[Professor Bluebird]

I used to have a USB nightlight.

USB Power

[beswicks]

I'm an electronics major, and I was woundering if anyone has a quick link, or just a pin out for tapping the power from a USB connection, which I guess is what most of these devices are doing...

Re:USB Power

[bluelip]

If you were a cs major, I'd have to lecture you on trying google first...... beings you're into E. Here's the link.

Just for you. [networktechinc.com]

Re:USB Power

[beswicks]

I am really a CS and E major, join degree, but I prefer to get a recommendation, possibly a HOWTO, over a random link from google, before I wire stuff I built for pence into a machine a bought for hundreds...

Besides maybe seeding the idea on slashdot, will allow generate sparks of imagination and new wounderful devices...

Personally I just need a 5V power rail to power an infrared repeater so that I can control the cable box while I sit at my computer in another room watching via my TV card...

Re:USB Power

[bluelip]

Sweet. Finding a ps was always an issue when I was in school. It usually ended up with using a spare computer ps and some 7805's. (Like the pwoer wasn't regualted enough already).

Do you ready any 'homebrew' magazines? I used to buy "Popular Electronics" now it's either "Circuit Cellar" or another google search.

Instead of a repeater, try taking output from the serial port, pushing that to an LED driver, through fiber optic cable to the cable box, and into a difuser positioned near the ir detector.

Anyhow,

Re:USB Power

[Col. Klink (retired)]

> I prefer to get a recommendation ... over a random link from google ...

There's nothing really "random" about google. There's a logic to it. When enough people find something useful, they link to it and google groks all these crazy relationships and gives you the best link.

Links from /. users, however, can be truly random.

Re:USB Power

[beswicks]

Oh and by the way, thanks, that page might also allow me to rewire the old 17" Sun monitor in my cupboard into something more useful with out spending $30 on a converter... one of the joys of a well stocked EE lab...

Re:USB Power

[bluelip]

Forgot to mention.... that page is one I've been using for some time. It just happens to also be listed at the top of google's returns for "usb pinout".

Re:USB Power

[beswicks]

The joys of searching, I was looking for usb pin out...

Not a USB device, but..

[PeekabooCaribou]

The Hubzilla [charismac.com] was always one of my favorites. This one's Firewire, but worth it for a laugh.

Re:Not a USB device, but..

[DiSKiLLeR]

LOL thats hillarious.

The footnotes about a Firewire Dino going on a rampage and needing to be well fed is damn funny :) Along with the rarely eats, and keep children away just in case! lol.

I want one, and i don't even NEED a FireWire hub (my external DVD burner gives me additional ports and is a hub more or less).

They need to make a USB version of one of these..

D.

Adapters

[Xunker]

Wall and auto adapters for USB devices are not crazyif you have a use for them.

For example, I have an auto USB power adapter which has a standard USB plug that provides only power. I also have the USB sync/charge cable for my pocketPC in the car (so I can play tunes without running down my battery) and a USB charge cable for my Ericsson t68i phone -- they can both use the same cigarette lighter adapter plugin, all I have to do it switch cables.

Having things that charge on USB is not crazy either. Anothe

TRANCE VIBRATOR!!!

[caulfield]

The japanese version of Rez [sega.com] has a USB TRANCE [ebay.com] VIBRATOR [gamegirladvance.com]. If only there were drivers for MacOS, or Linux.

Re:TRANCE VIBRATOR!!!

[L-s-L69]

www.opendildonics.org Cyber Dildonics for the GNU generation

Not USB...

[SiMac]

But I've always been a fan of the CharisMac Firewire Dino [pcmag.com].

USB adapter

[crmartin]

Surely the USB adapter to let you run your USB coffee warmer on house current is the last thing you'd call an "off the wall" USB product.

Phidgets

[jhines]

I found http://www.phidgets.com which has some cool sensors and such, but alas under Windoz.

I'd live to get IO for home automation.

USB 2.0 Light

[Gurezaemon]

...because they go faster....

Simpsons anyone?

[Knetzar]

My roommate has a USB Homer Simpson [simpsonscollectors.com].

I'm still waiting for...

[Kj0n]

...the USB killer, a device like the Etherkiller [fiftythree.org], but for USB devices instead.

Re:I'm still waiting for...

[bhtooefr]

It wouldn't be hard - maybe tie the power pins on a USB plug to the data pins?

Re:I'm still waiting for...

[Evil-G]

Wouldnt just connecting +5V and ground do some motherboard damage?

Meta-question

[Pseudonym]

Quick meta-question.

USB seems like a good technology for homebrew hardware. Does anyone know of a good way to interface USB to a cheap microcontroller?

Re:Meta-question

[oojah]

Yes! I have on my desk next to me a dinky little pcb with an ftdi usb chip on - the FT245BM. This chip has an 8 bit parallel data bus for IO and a number of control lines and is very easy to use.

On the PC side, ftdi provide "virtual com port" drivers for windows, so the new device appears to the OS as a serial port making it very easy to interface to.

Linux has appropriate driver support in the standard kernel as well (since 2.4 I think).

Bill of materials for this PCB (caveat - one of my colleagues made i

Re:Meta-question

[CMiYC]

Cypress makes the EZ-USB AN2131 series micros. They are 8051 cores with an USB SIE on the die. The low-level USB packetizing is handled by the SIE. All you do is program the 8051 to setup your endpoints and you're off and running.

They are about $10 in qty 100. If you purchase a USBSIMM (use google) you get a full development board for about $80. The coolest thing about the EZ-USB is that when it first connects to the bus, you use a driver to download the 8051 hex file to it. So you are essentially p

Re:Meta-question

[PIBM]

Microchip offer two devices. The PIC16c765 and PIC16c745. They both offer some A/D convertor & many pin of input (24 for the 16c765 I believe).

You can get them for free in sample from microchip if you find out a good enough idea. I've built some things but the funniest one is the PS2/USB keyboard adapter. Try programming with your friend using 2 keyboard and 2 mice =).

Anyway, have fun :)

Re:Meta-question

[confused one]

motorola and pic are producing microcontrollers with a built in USB SIE. Just wire it up to a port...

USB Homer Simpson

[200_success]

The Homer Simpson Dot Pal [simpsonscollectors.com] would make comments, such as when the Microsoft Word spellchecker detects a typo.

From the website,

[linzeal]

"Happy employees are productive employees!"

Anyone else catch that on the USB massage ball [cyberguys.com] page? What kind of philosophy is driving that company, are they good or evil or beyond both?
I Hail our new USB massage ball overlords!

Please, IF I'm at work expecting to relieve myself, "after several pressure-filled hours in your chair..." there better be a god damn local brothel where I can bring a company christmas bonus discount card. Who the fuck do these capitalists think comprise the majority of their te

Crap stuff will kill your computer.

[GoRK]

All of this crap is just some electrial device that pulls power off of the USB bus. Most do not even let the host OS know they exist and if you use them you risk blowing your USB ports (usually on your motherboard) with excessive current draw. I'd imagine that coffee warmer thing is pulling at least 1A, double the maximum of a USB peripheral, but probably OK if the other USB device you've got plugged in is a mouse or something.. The point is, this stuff might as well plug into a PS2 port or parallel port since you can get just as much 5V current out of them!

I wouldn't call it an interesting USB device unless it actually talks to software on the host computer.

Re:Crap stuff will kill your computer.

[confused one]

While for the most part you are correct (and I happen to agree with you about this trash) I should point out that some hubs (such as the one I bought for development work) can source > 1Amp per port using an external power supply. I don't plug anything "questionable" directly into my motherboard...

What about USB laptop charging?

[wicked_little_critta]

Why doesn't some manufacturer make a laptop that can be charged via USB?

I first thought of this when in a meeting. The laptop of the guy next to me was running out of juice - I had two batteries in mine and plenty of power, but there was no way to move the power the 15 inches from my machine to his.

Think of the possibilities: no more carrying a fat, proprietary power brick around to charge your laptop - just slip a USB cable in your pocket and pull some power from your desktop machine (or a friend's, or a stranger's, or the local library's). No USB port handy? Grab one of the $15 USB power jacks in the original post, and you're all set.

Probably won't ever happen, though - too much damage to the 'laptop power brick' sector of the economy...

Re:What about USB laptop charging?

[Hank Reardon]

Why doesn't some manufacturer make a laptop that can be charged via USB?

I'm trying to remember the USB spec; it's been about 3 years since I had to deal with it, so this information may be a bit out of date.

By my recollection, though, there are two reasons that manufacturers don't do this:

1. The USB spec allows for bus-powered devices to draw power only. And the power they draw is supposed to be negligable, as well; something in the range of 5 milliampres for a bus-powered device. Devices are supposed to

Re:What about USB laptop charging?

[teks0r]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that USB devices are officially allowed to draw 250 millivolts through the cable.

Fan

[ModernGeek]

Once I got a computer fan and put a USB cord on it, I lost it though, you can make it faster and faster if you just daisy chain the wires too :)

Game Console to USB Adaptors

[Skeme]

Not really goofy, but useful, are those USB adaptors for using console controllers on your PC. You can get a Playstation 2 controller for $7 to $15 bucks at electronics stores, and get the USB adaptor for about $15 online. That's cheap for a nice joystick, and better than the fifty dollar and up PC joysticks since (with PS2 controllers) you get dual analog joysticks, lots of buttons, and vibration motors (supported by windows & linux).

Re:Game Console to USB Adaptors

[Wolfrider]

--Got a link? I googled for an Xbox-to-USB adaptor and came up empty. That was a couple months ago tho.

Re:Game Console to USB Adaptors

[Skeme]

Try http://www.levelsix.com . They don't have any X-Box though, just PlayStation / N64.

lights and buttons

[dubl-u]

Delcom Engineering [delcom-eng.com] makes some cool USB-controlled lights, buttons, and numeric LED displays.

Thinkgeek also has a USB volume knob.

USB-powered vibrator. Really.

[technogamy2]

Blissbox [blissbox.com] has USB-powered vibrators. No "massage balls" etc... just down-and-dirty good ol' toys. All I can say is... yummy. :)

Digital Herbal Vaporizer - For Medical Cannabis

[Anonymous Coward]

This stylish vaporizer, developed for medical use, has an optional USB-Interface. I'm not sure what it's for, but i assume you can use it to charge the batteries.

http://www.xijix.com/

Bluetooth

[gooru]

I would have to say USB Bluetooth adapters. You still can't use them with anything affordable!

Re:Bluetooth

[stfvon007]

Authough it was an april fools joke, I saw an ad for a USB George Foreman Grill. It supposedly would draw power from the USB port and use that to cook your food, set it to start cooking at a cirtain time, and even download cooking times for different foods from the internet.