It's just past the middle of winter, but if you're a respectable prankster you should know that April is closing in... and you don't want the first day of April to catch you empty-handed and with no monumental prank idea, do you? Well, in this case you should take a closer look at the USB Phantom Keystroker, one of the most evil and unmerciful prank-oriented gadgets you could think of using in an office. The Annoy-a-tron was cool, but this one is awesome!
The greatest thing about offices is that they're usually loaded with computers, and your colleagues are working hard on them. The USB Phantom Keystroker is one of the elite tools to mess up with someone's work when a computer is involved.
The gadget looks like pretty much any other USB thumb drive out there, save for the very fancy ones. With a black and discrete plastic casing, it will pass unnoticed by most people, and if you're smart enough to have it plugged in a free USB port at the back of a computer, it could remain concealed for a long time... definitely longer than the most patient colleague of yours could ever endure its tormenting habits.
Once you've plugged the USB Phantom Keystroker in a computer it will plague typing by toggling the Caps Lock key, striking various random keys and making the mouse jiggle across your screen, as if it wereon the brink of dying for good. A very smart feature of the USB Phantom Keystroker is its rotary control allowing you to set up the timing delay of the device, so it appears as natural as it gets.
Building on the evilness of the initial Phantom Keystroker, the new generation of extremely-annoying office prank gadgets comes with three switches allowing you to combine the Caps, keyboard and mouse actions. This USB drive comes at a low price, which makes it an instant winning option for pranksters – you can get it for $13, but, like in other similar cases, make sure you're messing with the right guy... or be out of the office when the Keystroker is discovered.

Advanced Media, Inc., manufacturer and marketer of the popular Ridata brand of recordable DVD, flash media, electronic storage products, and digital accessories, has introduced its eSATA external flash drive. The product, one of the first of its kind to hit the market, will be on display at the upcoming 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center in South Hall 3, booth #31761.

“Our new dual-end eSATA or USB flash drive is at home in either business or general-use applications,” stated Harvey Liu, president of Advanced Media, Inc. “It is the perfect answer for anywhere a large capacity, ultra-fast portable storage device is desired. Offering true plug-and-play connectivity and fast boot up, it provides the best of both of these popular storage technologies.”The new Ridata storage device will be especially popular with users of the latest generation of notebooks that feature an eSATA and USB combination port. No external power or battery is needed, as it is powered by either the eSATA or USB bus. As a result, there is very low power consumption.

Data transfer rates while using the eSATA connector of up to 79MB/s reading and up to 45MB/s writing are assured. When using the USB connector, a read data transfer rate of up to 24MB/s and write speed up to 12MB/s can be achieved. The unit is in full compliancewith USB spec. 2.0.

The Ridata eSATA SSD flash drive supports multiple operating systems. No driver is needed in Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows VISTA, Mac 9.x or later, Linux Kernel 2.4 or later. It also supports 1-port 1.5/3.0Gbps SATA I/II interface. It is shock resistant and noise-free, and offers long-time data retention. It may also be used as a bootable device while in Fix mode.

Cost and Availability
The portable Ridata eSATA + USB flash drive will be available in 16GB and 32GB capacities in mid-January 2009. It measures 3.5”x1”x0.3” (lwd) and weighs 0.6 ounces. As with all Ridata products it is competitively street priced.

The unit is available through selected retailers, Ridata distributors, and at various online outlets. A complete listing of locations may be found on the Advanced Media/Ridata website. It carries a two-year warranty.

Transcend introduces two new 8 GB ultra-compact USB flash drives, namely JetFlash V90C and JetFlash V90P, in India. The latest versions of the JetFlash V90P and V90C combine distinctive faceplate designs and ultra-portable convenience for people who need an elegant way to carry data while on the move.Transcend's V90C flash drive features distinctive spectral lines that appear to move when light catches it at differentangles, with rotating high-strength USB connectors for long-term reliability. The V90P flash drive boasts an extremely slim and stylish metal body with a genuine black mother-of-pearl faceplate. As is the property of the the material, each mother of pearl piece has a unique pattern on it.

With a 3 year warranty, the drives are priced at Rs.1,600 each.

eSATA ports are starting to become more mainstream in mid to low end motherboards, and OCZ thinks the time is right to start adding on non hard drive based peripherals. Its new lineup of memory sticks will do just that and come in 8, 16, and 32GB capacities. The new drives will both communicate and receive their power from the eSATA port. To ensure backwards compatibility they have also included a rear mounted mini USB connection which will allow users to plug the device into laptops or other USB only machines.

No official benchmarks are have been taken by us, but the company is reportedly boasting read speeds of up to 90MB/s, and writes speeds as fast as 30MB/s. No comment has yet been madeon pricing, but it will likely be in the same ballpark as its USB brethren.

It certainly is an interesting idea, but I can’t help but wonder if this type of device is really necessary with USB 3.0 right around the corner. USB 3.0 has a maximum theoretical throughput of 4.8Gbps which would easily max out most flash memory keys several times over.

Would you be interested in an eSATA flash drive? Hit the jump and let us know.

This is a stylish and elegant USB drive called Sky Lux from Korea Axxen. Sporting in pearl gold and shining silver colors, it looks stunning.

Apart from its attractive attire, it packs in a massive storage capacity of up to 16 GB. It features 22MB/s of reading speed and 12MB/s of writing speed.

Sky Lux memory stick is compatible with USB 2.0/1.1 and several operating systems including Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Linuxnd Macintosh. Depending upon your storage needs, you can choose among 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB.

There is no word on the pricing and availability.

The global release was a few weeks back, now it's officially here. Swissbit and Victorinox together introduce Swiss Memory USB Victorinox in India, which is basically the good old swiss army knife along with a USB pen drive. It also has a laser pointer, plus the regular knife and scissors, and of course the bottle opener.
Now I don't think you can get into airports with it - an army knife is a weapon even though it hasa little bit of geekiness attached to it. But fret not, there is a flight version too without the sharp and dangerous weaponry. The 1 GB and 2 GB models are priced at Rs. 4950 and Rs. 8190 respectively.

SanDisk has announced that the SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise is the first secure USB flash drive to fully support Apple Mac OS X computers. Available now, SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise helps IT professionals more effectively protect information on company-issued secure USB drives in Macintosh environments.
"SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise is ideal for the millions of business users who use Macs at home or in the office," said Yariv Fishman, senior manager, product marketing management, enterprise division, SanDisk. "It combines a simple, user-friendly interfacewith the addition of SanDisk's tough security and ultra-fast transfer speeds. It's the first secure USB flash drive that provides full Mac support by allowing initialization of the drive directly on a Mac platform."

Cruzer Enterprise in Mac OS X and Windows PC environments has the same features and data security- even if used in both environments. The device can be initialized from either a Macintosh or Windows computer, where users can:

* Log in and shut down access to the encrypted storage area
* Change and manage passwords
* Change contact information, language and other preferences
* Launch online support, view current firmware and drive information

Available in 1-, 2-, 4- and 8GB configurations, Cruzer Enterprise supports Apple Macintosh computers running Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" and Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard." Cruzer Enterprise safeguards all files stored on the drive with advanced hardware-based 256-bit AES USB encryption, which combined with advanced password protection will make it extremely difficult for unauthorized users to access data if the drive is lost or stolen. Existing Cruzer Enterprise users can download a firmware update at http://www.sandisk-enterprise.com/macupdater.No official pricing or time of availability has been released yet.