. It’s a device that acts as a hardware conduit between two USB enabled devices. By plugging in, say, a camera and an iPod, you can transfer the photos directly to the iPod’s HD. Use the built-in LCD to select the images you want, pick a destination and then presto (not to be confused with Presto, the computer-free printing device for senior citizens).</p>
<p>It can also be used to copy from iPod-to-iPod, from camera-to-phone, or from pretty much any-USB-device-to-any-other-USB device, provided the file structure is compatible. Just try to keep it legal, kids.</p>
<p>$129 from Herrington.</p>
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Matt Hickey
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December 19, 2006
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Lets see, (putting my pants up for observation)
Front Left Pocket: Ipod
Front Right Pocket: cell phone
Back Left Pocket: digital camera
Back Right Pocket: Rapid Transit
Backpack: Laptop, Nintendo DS, various AC jacks and backup power supply
This is starting to become silly, each one of these things sort of does what the other does but half assed… I miss the old walkman days, flick in a tape and you had music and in the other pocket you had the first generation black and white gameboy… life was sweat!
Jon
My guess is the RIAA is going to cry until this thing is taken off the market, but who cares. Jon, I agree, there was nothing like sitting on the bus listening the Wayne’s World soundtrack while playing Metroid.
I also think this would be great for end of the night sharing pictures. I can give Matt the pictures I took of him and he can give me the pictures he took of me! Brilliant!
Well…given that I don’t put pics onto my iPod at full res (I’d rather save that disc space for movies and other video), I’d rather have full control over the iPod interface via iTunes. However, I’d rather see this as a pocket hard drive PLUS a transfer interface. I’ve seen devices that allow you to offload your digital pics so you don’t have to tote your ‘puter on vacation. Now if you’d like to pick the best and have them handy on your iPod, cool. Or if you’d like to plug it into a rental computer at a Internet cafe and be the envy of your friends, cool. If you could somehow figure out how to plug that into your phone and send hi-res pictures over high speed cellular broadband…well way cool! :-) I just don’t see the point of this device on an every-day basis.
M
I agree with Margaret, transferring full-res photos from your camera to your iPod doesn’t seem like the likeliest scenario. Also, they didn’t by any chance slap a 6-in-1 card reader on that transit device so that you can also plug in your (mini/micro)SD, CompactFlash etc. into it in case you don’t run around with your camera USB cable in your pocket? And then add a nice harddrive to it so that you don’t even need a second USB device. And then give it an LED to show how much empty space it has and add encryption and other security features.. okay now I’m just dreaming..
Chances are you won’t be carrying this anywhere but a laptop case – in which case, why bother when the laptop’s inches away? If you’re looking for something really portable to transfer photos to an ipod, the iPod camera adapter has been out for ages… for everything else, just use a laptop.
I suppose it’s really good for when you want to copy one external hard drive to another, but even then it looks like it doesn’t create a 1-1 clone, so no use in criminology scenarios.
I suppose it’s for the 0.1% of the population that relies on digital media but doesn’t have a laptop
Yes, I agree the RIAA is gonna cry. Whoever thought this up is AWESOME!!
What happens if you plug the USB pole dancer into one side and your USB slippers into the other side?
It looks spiffy, but I don’t exactly have a use for it just yet (barring winning the grand prize this week). I have two iPods, but one is dead – however, if I happened to have it with me on public transit and I saw someone with an iPod, then it would be useful…except I could just get whatever that person had when I got home.
There are uses for the device, but none of them are practical to warrant me purchasing it just yet.
Whoops… I didn’t notice the iPod-iPod transfer
All of a sudden I want one :)
Someday, we’ll be able to actually skip this thing and plug our camera straight into the iPod….
NOT!
I wish that consumer electronic companies someday figure out how to make things easier. This is one step closer…
That’s really cool, though $129 price is a little bit high.
Tech tutorials: http://www.hotcoding.com
if it only was wireless…
“Totally Not Gay” – are you serious? Who’s the CrunchGear editor, Fred Phelps?
Hey, I have an idea, rewrite your article, Matt, but this time, use the headline: “USB to USB: Totally Not Negro,” or “Totally Not Jewish.” Do you think that would be OK?
Michael Richards is now notorious for his explosive use of the word “nigger,” but had he screamed “he’s a faggot!” to a gay man, would there have been such an outcry? I seriously doubt it. Why? Because hypocrites like you, Matt, and everyone else didn’t cringe when reading your headline, think it’s OK to denigrate some minority groups, but not others. This is clearly evident when watching TV, for example; no one can casually say “nigger” or “kike,” but they can say “fag,” or “retard,” or even “Washington Redskins” (how quickly would the team names “New York Hooknoses,” or “Carolina Thick Lips,” or “Seattle Slanteyes” have been changed?)… I’m not an advocate for censorship–far from it, I’m advocating equity. No single minority group is any more deserving of respect & protection than another.
Matt, if you feel it’s OK to use the word “gay” to describe something you don’t like, then you don’t like “gay” people, and that makes you a homophobe, and a bigot.
you’re a fool. Is it only me that thinks this is an ingenious pun since the usb to usb transaction is ‘male’ to ‘male’, whilst referencing the popular use of the term ‘gay’ from the mythos in its ironic usage.
Now that’s P2P!
$129 to transfer iPod to iPod??? Betcha Apple jumps on that and adds this feature real soon.
Peter, I am sure such a wire is in production somewhere in this world as we speak… just waiting for enough demand to be unleashed, but it will involve a 50$ donation to an Apple accessories manufacturer whose real costs where but a few pence ;-)
Jacki, I am sure Apple has a wifi enabled version of their ipod working right now, they have to… otherwise according to M$, they are doomed to loose market share – my guess is the RIAA wants some additional money to “offset” the losses it will encounter because people will have yet another reason not to buy CDs ;-) M$ isn’t giving a portion of every Zune it sells to Universal for nothing you know… wifi must have been the stickler.
Jon
Scott… I am sure the guys at CrunchGear where not being bigots… this is simply an expression (as you are well aware) to mean something isn’t totally lame ;-) Using Jewish etc… simply wouldn’t convey the same message – rightly or not, this is the language of our shared culture.
I actually read it to mean “totally not fun” as “gay” loosely translates to “joy” in the French language. Maybe it’s time you convert to becoming a Frenchman to add a little more “joy” back into your life? ;-)
Jon
@ Scott:
Man, I really do appreciate where you’re coming from, and would be on your side 100%, if, that is, you weren’t jumping to knee-jerk conclusions.
Plugging an iPod into an iPod would be much like gay sex. This device negates the act. Hence, “not gay”.
I do not in every day usage refer to things I dismiss or do not like as “gay”. I haven’t since I was about 13. Neither do I do it in print (including on the Web). When I refer to something as “gay”, I refer explicitly to homosexuality, a humorous notion if two iPods were to “get it on”. I also use it to refer to my many, many gay friends, some of which are also black, some are asian.
I support your calling out of bigotry where you see it, but in this case you’re, sadly, mistaken. I don’t want to use the hackneyed “some of my best friends are gay”, but it’s a happy fact. I was with two of my gay friends when they read this post, and they both got the gag and thought it was funny. I’m sorry you weren’t in on the joke. (Meet my gay friends, and my straight ones, an my asian, black, jewish, handicapped, and female ones here.)
That being said, don’t knock on the Seattle Slanteyes, they’re having a pretty good season this year.
See that? It was a joke. Happy Holidays, Scott. Keep fighting the good fight, but make sure to steer away from friendly fire.
Jon… You just don’t get it.
Yes, of course I realize that had he said “Jewish” it wouldn’t have conveyed the same message, but that’s the whole point, which was lost on you, apparently. IT’S NOT OK TO USE THE WORDS “GAY” AND “LAME” INTERCHANGEABLY, just as it’s not OK to use the words “Jewish” and “cheap” interchangeably. Where’s the confusion coming from?
“He wanted 10 dollars for it, but I Jewed him down to 5.”
>”Jewed” is a well-known expression used to convey one’s cheapness, in “the language of our shared culture,” to use your phrase. Are you comfortable using that expression? You’re not? The why are you comfortable using the word “gay” to mean “lame?” Don’t you see the hypocrisy?
Just like the word “gay,” “nigger” has multiple definitions, such as: “a victim of prejudice similar to that suffered by blacks; a person who is economically, politically, or socially disenfranchised.” Yet it’s not socially acceptable to call *anyone* a nigger, even though the word has a practical use. Would you use the word “nigger” to describe anyone? There are perfectly legitimate uses for this work, which are not offensive, but does that mean it’s OK to use it in a casual, off-hand way?
Your “…rightly or not…” comment suggests you think that popularity = propriety, and that, too, is part of the problem.
And unless you’re a septuagenarian, there’s no way you read the word “gay” and thought it meant “fun” or “joy,” as you suggest. In your first paragraph, you explain to me that Matt’s use of the phrase “not gay” was an innocent use of a modern expression meaning “isn’t totally lame,” but your second paragraph suggests you read the headline & thought it meant “not fun.” Well that’s a little confusing… Maybe it’s time you got a little less prozac in your life, and a little more clarity. ;-)
Scott, I respectfully disagree with you – and leave it at that… I am not here to turn this into a flame war. You are right… expressions whether they are right or not do cause harm and shouldn’t be used… but lets be honest… we are all sick of this political correctness – there are far more important things in this world then whether or not Matts article was full of bigotry (????) and a full frontal assault on the gay population. If it was, I would be right at your corner asking for his head but I just don’t see it.
To be honest, I don’t judge a person on their words but their actions… I am as open minded as they come and no matter orientation nor race… I want to help people achieve their goals in life.
Please ask any french guy what “gay” in french means… I know my languages ;-)
Jon
ps: prozac? why would I ever need prozac, I am just about the happiest guy you can ever meet… unless your a smoker hahahhaha
Actually, Matt, when I first read it, I did think of it as an attempt at humor, what with the whole USB+USB thing (even though it really doesn’t work as a joke, if you think about it). However, not having the pleasure of knowing who you really are, there was plenty reason for me to believe it wasn’t a joke, since the “totally not gay” statement, combined with your approval of the item, seemed to add up to exactly what I was talking about: if gay = bad, then not gay = good.
I wasn’t the only one who read it that way, so it’s not a knee-jerk reaction & an inability to recognize humor. I’d wager most of your readership drew the same conclusion–and that’s an important point to consider.
Your gay friends got the joke because they know you, Matt. We don’t. Until now, we didn’t know “some of your best friends are gay.” You may know your audience, but your audience doesn’t always know you… That was a sad mistake on your part, unfortunately.
So yes, this was a misunderstanding: I mistook your humor for ignorance, and you mistook your audience for your friends. I’m glad I was wrong about you, and I hope you learned that, when writing for publication, you should use your words, and your humor, more judiciously.
Now, I followed the link you included. Are you sure they’re not ALL gay? Except for the cripple, of course, because we all know they choose to be asexual.
Thanks for the heads-up about your friendly fire, but next time, “fire in the hole” is most effective when yelled *before* lobbing the grenade, not after it explodes… ;-)
Anyway, I’ll be visiting family in Seattle all next week, so if you see me, come say “hi.” I’m easy to spot: I’ll be the guy with his lips wrapped around a stout black butte. Oh, and go see my brother’s band, Supernauty, at El Corazon, on 12/30!
Merrykwanzaadreidel, Matt.
Yes, Jon, we’ll respectfully disagree on a few points, like my belief that one should expose injustice when they see it, rather than toss their hands palm-up, and say “Oh well.” (”…and when they came for me, there as no one left…”) You may think that standing up to the hypocrisy (real or perceived!) of someone’s words is an unimportant exercise in political correctness, but I think of it as someone standing up for his beliefs. (stand for nothing, fall for anything)
Mon ami, “gay” has many meanings in many languages (including the few that you don’t know), and when I went to “Paris Gai Village,” I did notice that it’s a happy place, but I’m pretty sure the gai/gay part in the name has more to do with the whole man-on-man thing… ;-)
PS: I am a smoker, and it’s “you’re,” not “your.” ;-)