Ultra resistant notebook

My last post was related to ultraportable notebooks, but now i would like to focus on different type of portable computers. This group is called ultra resistant.

World moves forward. In the journey, even in the most remote nooks of the world, far far away from the civilization... we need not only a knife, lighter, flashlight, clothes and canister of petrol, but also possibility of communication by the computer.

One of the most popular manufacturer of resistant notebooks is Panasonic. anasonic is also very well known of it's incredibly tough, well made and really expensive series of notebooks called ToughBooks. Let's take a closer look on specification of model cf-t8: weight 1.3 kg, screen size 12", made of steel and magnesium. As you can see it is really interesting combination of components. This feature in a special way protects against damage LCD display and hard drive. Cf-t8 can survive fall 75 cm of height and 100 kg of pressure. The specially designed splash resistant keyboard drain off the liquid and don't allow to reach in the electronic components. It's also equipped with GPRS modem and touch screen, so we can confortable connect to the network everywhere we are. Allow to work in all conditions for 8 hours on a single charge at the super fast processor and powerful graphics.

I am lucky because I had a chance to work on it. My first impression was: hmmm looks like cheap made of plastic toy for people who has to much money. I was wrong. New series characterize not only small weight, but also well overthink reliable construction. It allows to eliminate one of most frequent reason of damage, that happen in daily work. Integrated handle ensures comfortable to wear, as well as safe, convenient transport.

There are several companies producing armored laptops, for example: Itronix or GETAC, but there are not as popular.

So have you ever been in a situation where your computer fall from desktop, or fall out of your hands, and you thought that one day you will have the device that is more toughter?

3D Graphics Evolution

The quality of 3D graphics has changed enormously over the years. Digital 3D image has came a long way since Atari released Battlezone in 1980. The reason for that is the fact that computer processing power has increased exponentially. The 3D technologies, which were avalible only in large grid 3D stations, now adapt in normal PC computers in our homes.

But the first 3D graphics system was developed much much earlier. In 1953 U.S. Air Force with support from MIT constructed SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment), which was a connection between radar and computers. SAGE took informations from radar and created, using computer power, simple 3D images.

The next big step in the development of 3D graphics was, mentioned before, Atari's Battlezone. From a futuristic-looking tank, players fought in a valley surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. Later, Atari modified the game for the Pentagon for U.S. Army training procedures.


In 1988 Autodesk introduced AutoCAD, the earliest computer-aided design software packages for personal computers. Autodesk created something amazing, because from appearance of Autodesk, people has started modelling 3D scenes, not on the paper, but using CAD software.


Then the Pixar took the floor. Pixar's Toy Story was a courageous 3D project. Many movies used a digital enhancement, but none of them was made fully digitally, using only computer 3D graphics, but Toy Story was. Wired magazine called it "arguably the most ambitious computer-generated undertaking yet."


These days 3D graphics has walked to the highest level. 3D scenes are so realistic that human cannot see the difference between 3D image and photography. 3D movies has so advanced features like hair and clothes waving. The calculations taken for the rendering, are 1 000 000 000 more complex than 10 years ago. Virtual reality has become true.

Ultraportable laptops

I am sure that each of you have heard about some small or light laptops, but for sure few have ever had one. For several months I was looking for some small, light and really slim computer, but user friendly and not so expensive. I'm sure you know, that carring to school a computer weighting about three pounds cant't be called comfortable. I focused on founding some compromise between useful but heavy device and extremely light expensive one. It's obvious that you can't have everything... But I found a few models which are extremely tiny, light and not so expensive. I'd like to focus on a few models. 

the first thought came to me when I hear about "small laptop" is asus eee, looks very small, but a bit thick. Fits easily into women's handbag. Eee seems to be perfect for long boring lecture in school. Producer says that Asus is designed for the internet but working on it, for more than several hours is impossible. So I started to digging andlooking for something that fits better to my needs.

Second notebook I have found was macbook air. Probably the most popular laptop produced by Apple. The first impression was: WOW!!! I was impressed and interested how is it possible to hide all components in such tiny computer case. Incredibly thin. Everything is great, but it has one fundamental flaw, it's insanely expensive. So I was still looking for something different.

I wonder how many of you are aware that Sony have produced even smaller and thinner toy than macbook air.

I have red about ultraportable Sony vaio x505 few days ago on one of the foreign web pages. It has made huge impression on me. Currently x505 is one true competitor to the macbook air. It isn't built of the strongest components, but this is the thinnest laptop I have ever seen. Only 9,7 mm of thickness and approximately 800 grams of weight makes difference.

So what is your smallest, thinnest, lightest and coolest notebook you have ever had chance to work on? So now after few moments of thinking, what is your opinion about that?

Freeskiing

Today I would like to introduce to You maybe a rare topic - an extreme sport which is called freeskiing. Freeskinng grew in the mid 1990 from a skiing branch wich was then called "Big Mountain". BM refers to mainly to skiingoutside of specialy prepared ski areas, often from extremely steep slopes that can be accessed only by hiking or a helicopter. Today freeskinng is mostly associated with doing tricks in specificaly designed area which is called snowpark. Snowparks include a variaty of jumps, boxes, rails and can have a well known half-pipe. Snowpark's original users were snowboarders, but today the number of freeskiers is rapidly growing, so there are even parks design specificaly for them.

Freeskiing is not much more expensive sport then ordinary skiing, all You
need to have is a pair skis which are called twintips, these are skiis which
have tips on their both ends to allow the skier to switch (which means to
ski backwards), takeoff or land back words when performing airborne
manouvers. A pair of binding used with twintips is usualy not much different
for ordinary ones, the only difference is that their tend to more robust.
Boots have also a specific design, usualy their are softer than normal ones.

What makes an extreme breakout of populatiry of this discipline is the fact
that it is much more safer than other extreme sports. Crashing on snow won't
hurt You much especially if You ware safety gear. There are even
professional freeskiers which haven't got a single lim broken.

Beskid 106 - Polish Renault Twingo

Everybody knows Renault Twingo, the French small town car, presented in 1993, but not everybody knows that it was based on a polish car called Beskid 106. Renault develops Twingo after expiration of Beskid patent applied by FSM.

Beskid 106 was presented in 1983. The development of the construction has taken about 2 years. The effect on the work was pretty car with aerodynamic profile what makes consumption of the fuel really amazing, about 3,9 litre per 100km.
The engine for the Beskid 106 was taken from Fiat 106p and Fiat 126 BIS, but there was really big difference between car from Turin. The gearbox got another 5 gear. That increases maximal speed to 120km/h. The boot has an enormous capacity: 800 litres after folding rear seats. Next advantage of Beskid was cost of production. Because the amount of steel taken for production one car, was a half less than in Fiat 126p, the car could become good competition for Fiat.

The mass production has never started, because Fiat introduces in 1987 plans of Cinquecento, and FMS finds, that buying a license for production for the Cinquecento from Fiat will be the better solution, that improving own construction.

Gardzienice Ancient Theatre

Today I’d like to write a few words about “Gardzienice Theatre”. I’ am not an expert on a subject (far from that), but I had a wonderful experience in participating in one of Gardzienice Theatre events and it was incredible. Gardzienice were founded in 1977 by Włodzimierz Staniewski, who is one of the most important polish theatre directors. He worked out a new actor training method, which is considered as one of most significant methods of XX century.

The idea was to create theatre in a natural environment, with a huge of attention to detail and originality of ethnic expression.
Staniewski made impressive research on ancient culture, especially Greek. With his team he reconstructed the original songs that were being performed in ancient theatres of Greece. They did that by reconstructing original instruments and working on original pieces of text. There are some samples on Gardzienice web page.
http://gardzienice.art.pl/en/posluchaj2.html
In one of their performances they sang a song, which they had reconstructed and which wasn’t performed for 3000 years. Of course they had just few pieces of the original so, they sang just parts which survived and the rest they filled with silence (they paused singing leaving just reconstructed music). Whole performance was incredible and those silent moments just made it more impressive.

Another important element in this natural-eko theatre method is authenticity. Actors performing in Gardzienice live together in a commune, they are modest, and they are focused on training (moving and singing), meditation and self development. Effects are incredible. Every gesture of every actor is meaningful, carefully planned and so expressive! What’s very nice, before performance, Staniewski made a short briefing about the meaning of symbols and play, so such a layman like me could understand what’s going on? I’d like to encourage you to visit Gardzienice and their performances. All info is on their www page. www.gardzienice.art.pl . Do you enjoy theatre? What performances could you recommend?

Vacation with NFZ

Today It’s my turn to post some new exiting stuff on our blog. Perhaps It’s not very entertaining but I hope You’ll forgive me. ;) I decided to share my shocking experience from 3 weeks ago with You. I am aware that the Polish health service is not a favorite subject for almost all of us, but I think that there is a good reason for that. And here it is:

I spent 5 days in the/a hospital on Banacha street, where I had my septum operated. Septum is a part of the nose which separates two holes in the nose and its being operated when you have problems with breathing. I discovered that the hospital is a magic place, where absurd meets horror. It’s a place where 5 hour waiting time for registration isn’t anything abnormal. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised to discover that there is no place to wash, because there is no hot water on the 7th floor and showers are full of broken wheelchairs. Would You agree that guilt for such situation lays on poor management and many years of underinvestment? But I guarantee that there is money in the system. I spent 2 totally unnecessary days waiting for examinations, which finally took 15 minutes. Money spent on me doing absolutely nothing could have been invested better. I have heard rumors that NFZ gives hospital more money, when patient’s are kept longer. There are things though which have little in common with money and more to do with people. Things like food. It is possible to prepare something eatable with the same ingredients.

The worst part of my hospital complain is the history of my roommate, who almost died there. He thought he was perfectly healthy when he arrived. Test confirmed that he has Hepatitis, and a heart problem. Another thing was total lack of professionalism of one nurse, who told him about his illness in such a rude and impolite way, that he panicked. He cried whole night. Day after that he had his operation planned and he was so stressed, that he almost died there. Of course no operation was performed and doctors had to rescue him. I think that problem of our health service is far more complicated and difficult than funding problems. What’s Your opinion? What are Your experiences with our health service? 

BODIES-humanity or not?

Bodies the exibition, as organisators says, showcases meticulously dissected real human body specimens that are preserved through an innovative process and respectfully presented, giving visitors the opportunity to view the beauty and complexity of their own organs and systems.

It is true? Some says that bodies are from China where human rights are broken. It comes from public execution and dead convicted. Legend or not, i think that this kind of exibition is't ethical. It's some kind of violation. Humiliation of human bodies. Like exibition from concentration camp.



I don't have nothing against teaching from human bodies by students of anatomy. But looking for it only for fun? Disgusting!

And what is your opinion about this exhibition? Are you going to visit it? Or maybe you just visit?

Unknown models of PF 126

I'm going to write some about the "most exciting" polish car in PRL. Fiat 126p. Exactly about unknown prototypes of this small car. It is amazing how many creative idea has polish engineers from OBR (Osrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy) in Bielsko-Biała.

Lets start with Fiat 126p "BOMBEL". This prototype were built in 1974. There weren't rear part of roof. Instead of were small box from laminate to carry a package. It's called "BOMBEL" becouse of rounded shape this box.



Fiat 126p COMBI was built in 1976. It has newer engine which could works in level. Thanks to this technology, it could carry more luggage. It has also third doors opened to upward. Max capacity was 500 dm3 and after assembled rear row of seat, was 1000dm3. Max speed of this model was 105 km/h.



FIAT 126p LONG: was build in 1975 and was longer than classic one by 100 mm. Thanks to this, especially on full of holes road of PRL, it was more comfortable. It has stronger engine and his top speed was 110 km/h.



FIAT 126p "RYJEK": It has longer front hood becouse it was first Fiat 126p with front drive. Engine has 650 cm3 cubic capacity and was cooled by air. It has also disc brake and McPerson column in front sunspension.



FIAT 126p CABRIO: Fiat 126p without roof. It Was newest one and has the best chance to move into mass production. The only barrier was intensify regulations about noise in cars in UE.



Which of this prototypes would you buy if any? Why?

"Moscow Eye"-strange or not?

Radar system near Chernobyl in Ukraine called "Moscow Eye" was probably the main Soviet part of anti-ballistic missile systems. Two gigantic aerials 185m, 86 m. height and over half kilometers long is visible even from deep space. The bigger one was a receiving aerial which have 3000 km monitoring area. Uunofficially called Zahoryzontnyj Radiolokatsyjnyj Kompleks, in short way "Moscow Eye".




Station "Chornobyl - 2" have started to build in 1970. Eyewitnesses recollect the unique crane which used for installation of antennas. The especial detail that was amazing for everybody - the lift on which the crane operator rose in the booth. Elements of an antenna lattice have been made on factory "Gomselmash" in Belorussia, from high-alloy steels and are covered by a thick layer of zinc, they even today, more than thirty years later, looks as new. It's strange.



Aerials emitted strange, notorius singals all over the World. It could be heard by amateur radio operators on shortwave radio bands between July 1976 and December 1989. In U.S.A, this signals called "Russian Woodpeker". It sounded like a sharp, repetitive tapping noise, at 10 Hz, giving rise to the "Woodpecker" name.

Nowadays aerials looks to be deserted but still have own security who keep away this strange monument of Soviet regime from unwanted eyes.

Some of conspiracy theory says that aerials still works. Do you believe it? What is your opinion about this strange aerials? Maybe you know things something like this?

Working in a corporation

Many of you think about: “how does working look like in Microsoft?” Maybe you are thinking that it is a simple job which is mainly based on reading emails and drinking cola. Below the film shows that employees in this big corporation have time for: themselves, are independence to choose, and they are satisfied with work. It sounds like marketing kitsch but please check yourself in the following film:



If you are not convinced I propose to watch another film. This time we may see how the company takes care of its employees. Everyone who has thought that the place where he works is friendly and favourable to develop himself should once again think over it after watching the next video. The next material shows an employee who tries to use every privilege which he obtains during one day. How dose he do that? Please watch it now:



At the end I want to show that work in big corporation may cause mental disturbances ;)







So what do you think about work in a corporation? I know that those films reveal in a funny way the reality and perhaps real work is totally different but maybe some information is true. What do you think?

Microsoft Education.

Microsoft corporation is a leader in the production of new technology.
Every year it surprises us by introducing something new. How do students or IT specialists acknowledge such innovations? How does Microsoft support people who want to learn their technology? Below I am writing some interesting educational programmes provided especially for students:


- MSDN Academic Alliance – A great student’s programme. Students have access to almost every Microsoft software (operation systems, integrated environments like Visual Studio, databases: SQL Server) in any language or version for free and they may use it also after graduation.



- Community – If you are a .net programmer you may enroll to .net community by portal codeguru.pl. Meetings where one person shows topics related to programmes in a net are organized every week in almost every University. For every meeting, people get points which are exchanged for a prize.
.net community exist in our Institute as well, PJWSTK.NET

- IT Academic Day – It is one day conference organized by students’ community and Microsoft about technology. It is a good occasion to meet with professional IT specialists and find out information about new products..

- E-learning – every technology like SQL Server, .NET, ASP has its own educational portal. For example: http://www.asp.net/ It’s really helpful because there are a lot of tutorial films, articles, practice and examples. You may learn this technology yourself “from zero level to expert level”.


- Training and Microsoft Certificates– It is very important for an IT specialist to attain some Certificates which prove his knowledge. Microsoft Certifications are the best recognized in global IT business. Also in our Institute we have a possibility to enroll to the training, pass the exam and get certificates.



- Imagine cup; is very a popular international technology competition. In 2008, 210,000 competitors representing over 100 countries competed in the nine Imagine Cup category: software design, embedded development, game development, robotic and algorithm, IT challenge, photography, short film, design. In 2010 Imagine Cup will be organized in Poland.

- BizSpark – Its innovative new program is designed to unite Startups and resources to support them into a single community. In practice it means that if you want to create your own IT business, Microsoft allows you to have access to their software for free for a period of up to 3 years. You may use this software for commercial goals without any restriction. After this time you have to pay only 100$. This program is also available in Poland! Isn’t it great?

- Conferences – Microsoft organizes international conferences “Microsoft Tech Submit” for IT specialists, analytics and administrators. After the conference, presentations are stored for free public use on the Internet. (Last conf: http://www.mts2008.pl/) In next weekend will be Code Camp conference:
http://ms-groups.pl/ccwawa09/Strony/Sesje.aspx
I will be there :)


- Books – Microsoft has its own publishing house “Microsoft Press”, whose book are also available in Polish language. They have really impressive collection of books.

- Practices – Every summer the best students have an occasion to get practical experience in the Centers of Microsoft in Europe and in the main headquarter in Redmond.

- Learning Snacks – This is a series of short films about Microsoft’s technology. The name “Learning Snacks” is because you can watch it between lunch and dinner ;)

- Worth mentioning are blogs, TV “Channel 9”, forums, special education program for the University, “Student to Business” program, non official page, and more and more! Even educational games like “Are you certificated:” http://www.microsoft.com/click/areyoucertifiable/

What do you think about it? Is it really helpful or is it good only for the very beginners? Why does only Microsoft promotes so much for us to learn? And what about Sun- now Oracle, IBM, Adobe…. They also have very powerful educational programmes ?

Windows 7 - Touch me

“Over the past few years, you've asked us to make some changes to Windows. We listened closely. Now it's time to share an early look at how we've used your feedback. Windows 7 is faster, more reliable, and makes it easier to do what you want. Both the everyday things and the killer is that really possible?" – cited from site
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/


For years Microsoft has been investing in many forms of natural interaction with PC's and devices. Through times engineers from Microsoft have been working to improve graphical user interface to make work faster and more comfortable. I remember a film which Microsoft published some years ago about technology in the future. In this film people use voice to communicate with computer and instead of keyboards they use touch screen. Every device is connected to the Internet even if it is a small gadget. People use them in a natural way contemporarily in videoconferences, booking tickets and writing notes (by pen in the special electronic paper).
It was like this:





Now Windows 7 recognizes the writing text and multi-touch support for touch screen. Speech recognition, something which was once considered science fiction, is enabling many Windows users to see, hear, and use their computers for the very first time.
Today we expect this technology to get widespread use and see it in public places like; devices in hotels, hospitals, retail establishments, restaurants and entertainment venues. Not only that it will look like an exclusive place (“wowww this place is so modern….”), but it’s really helpful! Touch is quickly becoming a common way of a direct interaction with software and device. Touch-enabled surfaces are very popular. They are in laptop touch pads, mobile phones, mp3 players, remote controls, GPS devices, and so on.

In Windows 7 Microsoft improves windows management to a better behaviour for touch. Like I have mentioned above that is multi touch. It means that you may use more than one finger to do something. You may also use touch gestures which we know from many applications for example: Opera web browser. In the basic set there are gestures like tap and drag, as well as scroll, back, forward, right-click, zoom in, zoom out, and rotate. Windows 7 is improving high dpi support which is necessary to a precision ‘click’ in small elements of user interface like small buttons or positions in the menu.
Please see this video about gestures:




And as a summary of this article please see this video.




How do you think, about these new varieties of communication: speaking to PC, touching or natural writing? What will be next? Maybe we should once again attentively read Lem’s books to know something more about our future?

Russian “Ecranoplanes”

An “ekranoplan” literally “screen plane” is a vehicle resembling an aircraft, but operating solely on the principle of ground effect. Ground effect vehicles (GEV) fly above any flat surface, with the height above ground dependent upon the size of the vehicle.
During cold war, ekranoplans were sighted for years on the Caspian Sea as huge, fast-moving objects. The name Caspian Sea Monster was given by U.S. intelligence operatives who had discovered the huge vehicle, which looked like an airplane with the outer halves of the wings removed.After the end of the Cold War, the “monster” was revealed to be one of several Russian military designs meant to fly only a few meters above water, saving energy and staying below enemy radar.
The KM, as the Caspian Sea Monster was known in the top secret Sovietmilitary development program, was over 100 m long (330 ft), weighed 540 tonnes fully loaded, and could travel over 400 km/h (250 mi/h), mere meters above the surface of the water.
The important design principle is that wing lift is reduced as operating altitude of the ekranoplan is increased (see ground effect). Thus it is dynamically stable in the vertical dimension. Once moving at speed, the ekranoplan was no longer in contact with the water, and could move over ice, snow, or level land with equal ease.
These craft were originally developed by the Soviet Union as very high-speed (several hundred km/hour) military transports, and were mostly based on the shores of the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The largest could transport over 100 tonnes of cargo. The development of ekranoplans was supported by Dmitri Ustinov, Minister of Defence of USSR. About 120 ekranoplans (A-90 Orlyonok class) were initially planned to enter military service in the Soviet Navy. The figure was later reduced to less than thirty vehicles, planned to be deployed mainly for the Black and the Baltic Soviet navies. Marshal Ustinov died in 1985, and the new Minister of Defence Marshal Sokolov effectively ceased the funding for the program. The only three operational A-90 Orlyonok ekranoplans built (with renewed hull design) and one Lun-class ekranoplan remained at a naval base near Kaspiysk.



This is “Caspian Monster”.



They could fire missiles…



…and could go above the ground as well, coming on the shore from the sea without slowing down…





…as well as carrying some tanks…



…and act in cooperation with traditional fleet.




The all photos above were made during the Soviet Era, when the Soviet state had money and desire to experiment with this strange ekranoplanes. These days almost none of the left in working condition.



VIDEO



What do You think about those “Monsters”?
Do You think it could be a useful weapon?

The numbers of the pyramids.

The Great Pyramid of Giza

Everyone has heard about the Great Pyramid of Giza, also called the Khufu’s Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops. But only some of you may have heard about the mysterious dependencies between the structure of the building and, for instance, the astronomical unit.

First, a handful of facts concerning the Pyramid
It is the largest of three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis – located near Cairo in Egypt. The pyramid is 146m high and each side of its square base is 230m long. The pyramid is made of 2.5 million cubic meters of limestone in 2.3 million blocks. Each block is of a weight from 2.5 to 15 tons. The Great Pyramid is thought to have been erected around 2600 BC as a tomb for the Fourth Dynasty Egyptian king Khufu (Cheops in Greek).

The Great Pyramid of Giza had spoken.
In 1880, a Scottish astronomer – Piazzi Smyth – in his book Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid tells the world that Egyptians must have known the Pi number. Smyth had calculated that the perimeter of the base divided by a doubled height of the Great Pyramid equals 3.14159. Is that a coincidence or a proof of great knowledge of the constructors?
Smyth was convinced that it was not a coincidence. Furthermore, in 1867 in his book Life and Work at the Great Pyramid he states that the astronomical unit (the distance between the Earth and the Sun) is also enclosed in the construction of the pyramid. The height of the building measured by Smyth is 147,65m and the ratio between the width of the base and the height of the construction is 10:9. Now, the height multiplied by 109 is equal to the astronomical unit (with an error not bigger than 1%).

An English colonel – Weis – wanted to study the foundations of the pyramid. He did not find them, however he discovered some casing stones of white, polished limestone and measured the angle of slope – exactly 51°51’. Smyth calculated again and it turned out that at midday at march equinox the Sun’s rays strike at the same angle. As a result, once a year (at Egyptian New Year), at 12 pm, the shadow is not cast on the north slope of the Great Pyramid.
In 1900, M. Cotsword organized an expedition which cleaned the terrain around the north slope of the Great Pyramid. Stone plates of width 1,356m were found. Further calculations led them to the conclusion that it must have been a calendar, because every day the shadow of the pyramid was 1,356m shorter. The calendar measured the year time with a precision of 0.23219 day.
Some Egyptologists came to a conclusion that the pyramidal ell (653,66mm), used at the construction of pyramids, is 10 000 000 times shorter than the radius of the Earth measured to one of the Poles.
The perimeter of the base of the pyramid divided by the length of the pyramidal ell equals 365,23 – very close to the length of a year in days. In fact one year is equal to 365,242 days, but we may assume that the error is caused by inaccurate measurement. A 6mm longer perimeter would give the exact result.

Polish senior lecturer A. Wierciński claims that all pyramids on Earth were built using the same proportions, yet different metric units were used.

In XIX century, John Taylor claimed that the dimensions of the Great Pyramid were based on the English inch (2.54cm) and the volume of the sarcophagus was equal to 4 English quarts.

So, what do you think? Are the above-mentioned facts just coincidences or might there be something to it? If there was a chance would you like to explor pyramids?

If you wish to find out some more secrets on your own you may try. Here is the website with measurements

http://www.gizapyramid.com/measurements.htm

USB Accessories

USB Beverage Cooler
This is -literally- the coolest one of all: a USB mini fridge for your drinks. Plug this USB LED Beverage Cooler ($29.99) to your PC's USB port and chill a can on your own desk. The LED Beverage Cooler is retro styled and has a small blue LED inside. The LED helps your drink stay cool by tricking it to think the air inside the cooler is from the Arctic, because everyone knows that blue lights make you feel cold. So add a little style to your desk and keep your drink cold at the same time. Chill, dude.



USB Missile Launcher
The workplace has become a dangerous place. Sonic grenades, catapults, lightsabers, ninjas... you need protection, and not just any. Defend your office with this awesome USB Missile Launcher ($32.49) and fire those missiles right from your desk. The Missile Launcher moves Left, Right, Up and Down, has got pre-recorded sound effects and shoots more than 10 feet at an extremely fast rate.



USB Pole Dancer
It sounds like the ultimate male fantasy - a Pole Dancer on your desk everyday In fact, it should be included as part of the standard workplace agreement, but well, it's finally within your grasp – so to speak. The USB Pole Dancer ($67.99) is the pole dancer you can admit to when everyone's watching. Just plug her into your USB port and start typing. As you type, she performs. The lights flash, the music plays and your bikini-clad blonde performs her routine. And there's no need to go tucking dollars anywhere (we read somewhere, they do that): the faster you type, the faster this cheeky minx dances.


USB Desk Vacuum
Messy desk? Well, this tiny retro-designed USB Desk Vacuum ($13.49) can’t help with the big stuff, but it can definitely help keep your workstation crumb-free! Just plug it into a free USB port and vacuum up those crumbs... and yes, the mini-vacuum handle tilts back, just like the real one. Cool, as in "clean."


USB Microscope
This USB Digital Microscope ($74.95) allows you to capture some incredibly high quality images and video (up to 200X) and display them on your PC using a simple USB connection. View specimens collected around the house, backyard, your desk, or the fridge. Look at the micro-printing on a dollar bill or examine the traces on your motherboard. This microscope provides you an easy way to zoom in on a wide variety of objects to satisfy your curiosity of the world around you. Ever wondered what lint looks like or the mold growing on your week-old bagels? Now you can find out.




USB Airplane Fan
The aviators out there can now keep cool during their flight simulator sessions in front of the computer, using this USB Airplane Fan ($17.95). Cool man, cool!



Star Wars Lightsaber USB Lamp
Fans of the Star Wars saga can now light up their workspace using the weapon of a Jedi: the Star Wars Lightsaber USB Lamp ($26.24). The lightsabre is 13 inches tall, and yes, it can be removed from its dock to be used as your weapon of choice.



USB Plasma Ball
Just the word plasma makes you think of going boldly where no-one has gone before. However, the beauty of this awesome USB Plasma Ball ($10.95) is that you don't have to wrestle Klingons in the outer regions of the Thark Quadrant to play with it; just plug this neat gizmo into your USB port, and streams of red and blue plasma light will flicker out from the core of the hand-blown glass sphere throwing mesmerising light trails across its surface. Touch the sphere with your fingers, and blue light will shoot out towards your fingertips.



Darth Vader USB 4-port Hub
Its that part of the dark side which has always beckoned to you in your dreams. Just to make your life the living nightmare that it really is, you could get this Darth Vader USB 4-port Hub ($59.99)and either continue with the torment even in your waking hours or simply give in and admit that you belong to that part of the force.




USB Portable Chess
This unique USB Portable Roll Up Chess Game ($107.99)allows you to track your moves on the board. You can play against a friend or the computer and even use it as a portable game board. The included software allows you to record, save and replay your games. Simply tap the board with your chess piece to signify a move and the software will keep track.


What is your favorite USB accessory?
Maybe You have one of these in Your home or company?
Do you have any propositions for a new USB accessories?

VIDEO