May 7 - 5:35pm EDT   Tivoli on Wednesday announced that the NetWorks – the company's mono digital music player – will ship within a few weeks. The unit is capable of streaming internet radio over WiFi or Ethernet, and also includes a USB port and audio input port for connecting to a number of different portable music devices. The player is expandable, with options for stereo output, CDs, a subwoofer, or surround sound setup. The Tivoli NetWorks starts at $600 for the monaural unit. [full story]

May 5 - 2:05pm EDT   Peripheral maker EVGA says it has begun shipping a new line of graphics adapters, the UV Plus+ series. The two current units connect various displays to a computer through USB; both DVI and VGA monitor inputs are supported, thanks in part to a bundled DVI-to-VGA adapter. Through DisplayLink technology, people can use up to four monitors simultaneously, in primary, mirrored or extended modes. This does, however, require a separate adapter for each screen. [full story]

April 23 - 12:45am EDT   Other World Computing today announced lower pricing for its Mercury Elite-AL Pro quad interface drive line, offering sizes up to 1TB, which the company claims are among the best values on the market. The drives feature Firewire 400 and 800, as well as USB 2.0 and eSATA, allowing the drives to be connected to almost any computer system. Pricing for the drive line starts at $160, and offers up to 150MB per second over eSATA. [full story]

April 21 - 12:45pm EDT   California-based Iogear on Monday announced a new connectivity solution, the USB 2.0 External DVI Video Card. The product allows users to quickly and painlessly add up to six monitors to their existing Windows desktop or laptop for multitasking. The external device supports resolutions up to 1600x1200 pixels and 32-bit color. The DVI port allows a DVI monitor to be integrated via a computer's USB 2.0 port, or a VGA screen thanks to an adapter. [full story]

April 17 - 6:55pm EDT   Other World Computing on Thursday announced its highest capacity portable, bus-powered storage drive: a 500GB, 5400RPM portable storage drive that offers FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and USB 2.0 connections. Immediately available and priced at $360, the Mercury On-The-Go 500GB portable drive is a palm-sized performer with huge capacity that fits in a shirt pocket. It is built with OWC's custom bridge solution featuring the Oxford924 chipset. In addition to the Mercury On-The-Go 500GB drive with 5400RPM performance, OWC also offers a full line of On-The-Go models with USB 2.0, USB 2.0+eSATA, FireWire 400+USB2, as well as additional FireWire 800/400+USB2 models in capacities ... [full story]

April 15 - 12:50am EDT   Blackmagic Design recently unveiled several new video interfaces at the NAB 2008 conference, the USB-based Video Recorder – available in consumer and professional versions – and a large scale 8U rack-mount SDI router. The Blackmagic Video Recorder offers consumers the ability to capture video directly to H.264 through component or S-Video onto their computer. The consumer USB Video Recorder sells for $120. [full story]

April 14 - 9:55pm EDT   FirmTek on Monday announced the SeriTek/SpyderHUB, which provides USB and FireWire host connection options plus hardware RAID, eSATA Mac OS boot capability and FireWire daisy chaining capability in an ultra-small external design. The ultra small, four-ounce device offers the ability to connect to external hard drives using any eSATA enclosure such as the SeriTek/2EN2, allowing users to attach and boot from up to two eSATA hard drives at a remote location. Supporting both desktop and notebook computers, it allows professionals to utilize eSATA enclosures from computers that do not support a Serial ATA host adapter. [full story]

April 14 - 10:40am EDT   Sans Digital has introduced its newly designed MobileSTOR Plus direct-attached compact hard drive storage series, which includes the MS2U+ and MS2T+ two-bay subsystems. Designed for home and small office environments, the MobileSTOR Series MS2U+ / MS2T+ is an economical yet feature-rich two-bay external JBOD solution that provides the access to two hard drives instantly via USB 2.0 (MS2U+) or eSATA (MS2T+) interfaces; it is also equipped with two swappable 3.5-inch lockable hard drive trays that are also compatible with other Mobile series products. [full story]

April 4 - 7:05pm EDT   MacSpeech today announced that MacSpeech Dictate is now available for purchase directly from the company's website. In addition, potential customers can choose from a variety of specialized microphones, including desktop mounted ones or wireless versions. When purchased inside the United States, MacSpeech Dictate starts at $200 when purchased with a basic USB headset, while users can opt to pay $30 to $150 for a microphone more suitable to their needs. [full story]

April 1 - 12:00am EDT   Sans Digital today unveiled a new line of MobileSTOR Plus storage systems, including the MS2UT+ and MS2UTN+, offering users two 3.5-inch hard drive bays, connectable over USB 2.0 and eSATA. The line supports several different RAID levels, including JBOD, Spanning, 0, and 1, and makes use of the Silicon Image 5744 chipset, which supports both SAFE33 and SAFE55 transfer methods. Pricing for the two models was not readily available. [full story]

March 31 - 4:35pm EDT   DisplayLink recently announced beta drivers for the Mac for its DisplayLink USB line of monitor extension products, but said the drivers do not yet enable 2D or 3D acceleration on the platform. The USB device allows users to connect up to another four DVI or VGA displays to a computer, ideal for computers that do not have many monitor extension capabilities such as the Mac mini. DisplayLink notes that the devices require Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger or Leopard 10.5.2. [full story]

March 28 - 8:05pm EDT   Hawking Technologies today unveiled the HWUN1A Hi-Gain USB Wireless-300N Adapter for Mac, featuring two removable antennas, which can be changed for the company's Hi-Gain antenna. The adapter communicates over USB 2.0, and when combined with the Hi-Gain antennas, can boost wireless range by over 600-percent. Hawking is shipping the HWUN1A through several online and commercial retailers for $100. [full story]

March 25 - 9:05am EDT   Hard drive maker Western Digital has announced a new line of external USB drives, the My Passport Elites. The drives weigh less than 5oz, and are in theory small enough to fit in a pocket; they are nevertheless entirely USB powered, and are available in 250 and 320GB capacities. Like some other WD drives an external gauge shows how much space is left, and files are safeguarded using 128-bit encryption. Automatic backup software is included. [full story]

March 19 - 2:25pm EDT   Gefen has introduced a new USB to DVI Graphics Adapter that allows users to connect additional displays Mac OS X systems. This tiny adapter allows a plug and play connection of a DVI or VGA display to any USB 2.0 port so you can add digital video displays or projectors to your laptop and personal computer for simultaneous video delivery without needing a DVI port. Output video is delivered in the DVI-I format, allowing for either VGA or DVI display compatibility. [full story]

March 12 - 6:30pm EDT   M-Audio today unveiled two new portable digital pianos, as well as a rack-mountable 8 x 8 audio MIDI interface. The Fast Track Ultra 8R features an MX Core DSP mixer and eight Octane-enabled preamps, and delivers connectivity through a single USB 2.0 connector. M-Audio advertises that the Ultra 8R low-noise, high-gain preamplification, and near-zero latency. M-Audio is selling the Fast Track Ultra 8R for $650, and will be available during the second quarter. [full story]