Doesn’t it seem like a matter of time before the car “cigarette lighter” power socket is replaced by — say — a USB hub? Does anyone smoke in their car anymore? Better question: does ANYONE use the car’s cigarette lighter to light up?

Answer: No. Your GPS is already plugged into the cigarette slot. Or your phone charger. Or your iPod charger. Or something besides a cigarette lighter.

That’s where the Kensington PowerBolt comes in. It fills the slot snuggly — sheesh that sounds dirty — and replaces the cigarette lighter function with a 2.1 amp powered USB port that you can plug any device into.

The device is specifically marketed at the iPod/iPhone/iPad market, with the 2.1 amp capability meant to deliver quick charging to the Apple devices. It also comes with a detachable Apple cable. But you can plug in anything you want, even another smartphone or audio device.

By the way, there are about 6 billion USB devices out there. The electronics standard has been popular since its mainstream introduction in 1996.

The device works. It plugs in, fits perfectly, and has an LED indicator to let you know that you’re in business.

It’s 10 bucks and available at Amazon or most electronics stores. Tell your car “welcome to 1996.”

LaCie recently announced a brand new product to its portable flash drive lineup called the XtremKey. This new drive offers industrial strength and guaranteed protection of your files in some of the most extreme environments.

Featuring a military tested Zamac enclosure; composed of zinc, aluminum, magnesium and copper, the device is practically indestructible and is tested to withstand drops up to 10 feet, endure 10 tons of truck resistance and can tolerate temperatures ranging all the way up to 392 degrees to as low as -122 degrees.

The list continues, with a fully waterproof design of up to 333ft, wear-resistant screw threads as well as a rubber O-ring to keep water and other materials out and if speed is the only thing your worried about, you will be pleased to hear that the XtremKey offers maximum read speeds of up to 40MB/s and 30MB/s write speeds, which is very good.

So even if you find yourself to be biggest klutz, you should never have to worry about dropping or somehow destroying an XtremKey flash drive and having it bust into a million pieces like a regular flash drive might.

With all these cool stats and claims LaCie throws out at us, I decided to actually go outside myself and put the product to the test. I witnessed some pretty impressive results from this product. First off, I threw it up a few feet and let it drop onto the concrete a few times. No physical damage was present and when I plugged the drive into my laptop, I was able to access my files no problem. Finally, I took a five-gallon bucket, filled it up to the top with water and submerged the product. When I unscrewed the metal casing, there was not a single drop of water inside.

Aside from the rugged design and strong build quality, the product performed no different than a regular 16GB flash drive. Files loaded on and off the device very quickly and I really like how when plugged into a Mac computer, the product displays an image of the device on the desktop instead of the regular drive icon. This makes the XtremKey really easy to find on a cluttered desktop. Another nice plus is that the company includes a two-year subscription of four gigabytes of online storage through Wuala.com as well as a two-year product warranty.

One thing I found that I wasn’t happy about is when the drive is plugged into the computer, it generates a lot of heat and since the drive is metal, naturally it acts as a conductor and retains the heat. As soon as I went to disconnect the drive out from the USB port, I noticed the product was almost burning hot and I wasn’t able to hold it for more than a few seconds without burning my fingers. I would have also like to have seen an LED light or something on the drive to show activity and that it is plugged in correctly. My final gripe is I wish LaCie had scaled down the end of the product since it sometimes can block access to other USB ports. Other than those few things, it’s a very solid product.

So is the XtremKey for you? If you are in the construction field or outdoors and need to carry your files, the XtremKey is a must. It is also great for people that misplace things often since chances are if you do happen to leave it outside in the rain, the product shouldn’t be affected. I found the XtremKey to work as advertized and I don’t consider it a bad value for the money. The XtremKey is available in eight, 16, 32 and 64 GB capacities ranging from $49.99 to $249.99.

As promised, Microsoft today unleashed an Xbox 360 system update allowing gamers to use removable USB drives to store precious data.

Next month Microsoft will release their own Microsoft-branded USB drives, but they’re a shade on the expensive side (believed to be $39.99 for 8GB and $69 for 16GB), and it’s important to remember any and all USB drives will work. The cap is at 16GB, but you can actually connect two of that capacity for a very healthy additional 32GB of space for Rock Band tunes, Call of Duty Maps or anything else your digital heart desires.

Confused? Read Microsoft’s FAQ right here.

The portability on portable external hard drives is questionable. I’ve already gone through three 500GB drives in a little under a year. The backup drives are failing faster than the main internal drives.

That’s when this Other World Computing Mercury On-The-Go crossed the desk of the Blast Newsroom. It’s a 500GB Seagate Momentus 7200RPM drive paired with a casing designed to displace heat.

Still don’t recommend throwing it against a brick wall.

The Mercury On-The-Go’s first characteristic is that it’s dead silent. It makes almost no noise whatsoever.

Read/write time is compartable to most USB 2.0 drives.

Second, there’s an aluminum heatsink running through the length of the drive with vents allowing hot air to pass through. There are no fans, but this passive cooling outfit does keep things running smoothly. Even after a half hour of benchmarking over and over, the heatsink was lukewarm and the hard drive was running steadily fast.

How steadily fast? About 32MB/s. in USB mode, which is comparable to other drives we’ve tested. It’s not even half as fast as a good internal desktop hard drive, but it’s fast enough for bulk storage, backup, music, non HD movies and all your photos.

The triple interface — FireWire 400/800 and USB 2.0 — is a nice touch. USB is still the easiest way to go for most people, however, so that’s what we benchmark at. FireWire can be much faster, however, and the manufacturer boasts about 150MB/s speeds that we don’t think you’ll ever see unless you strip down your computer and don’t run any other applications while accessing your hard drive.

The drive is also OSX Leopard Time Machine ready, so you have that bell or whistle.

Overall, the Mercury is an excellent drive that’s fast and durable. It’s an ideal storage upgrade situation.

The only x-factor is the cost, which will run you upwards of $200, when you can buy a 500GB drive for much less nowadays.

By the way: Because of incorrect information provided to Blast, we reported that an eSATA version was available, but that product has been canceled and is not available.

We probably have something like seventeen flash drives sitting around our desk and office, but most of them were vendor freebies and ones we’ve stolen from other coworkers (sorry about that Fred! We’ll give it back, promise). But now, Active Media Products is releasing a series of flash drives that actually benefit the world around you when you purchase them “" and they look like penguins!

Every time you purchase yourself a little tuxedoed flash drive, Active Media Products will donate 5% of your purchase to the World Wildlife Fund. They’ve also promised to make a minimum $25,000 donation no matter what; pretty solid, if we say so ourselves.

The materials that make the flash drive are PCV, lead, and mercury free, so they’re eco-friendly, too. The drives range in size from 2GB to 16GB for $12.95 to $42.95, which means it won’t break your bank to help your conscience. The drives are available now at most retailers and online.

Because every portable device we carry around with you says something about who you are — you know you judge every iPhone user — Iomega believes that your portable hard drive should as well, and from what we see, they seem to have delivered. The Iomega eGo portable hard drives are sleek devices, covered in anodized aluminum in multiple colors along with little shiny bits to further raise the eye-catching factor.

The eGo series comes in a range of sizes expected for a portable hard drive, between 250GB and 500GB. Iomega promises that the devices can survive falls of over four feet, which is quite decent, though I wouldn’t decide to test these limits on purpose. The devices are USB 2.0 powered, meaning you don’t have to carry around another power brick.

Iomega also included some nifty extras; the device comes with download instructions for McAfee VirusScan Plus to guard against viruses and malware (obviously useless to OS X users), a few backup utilities (slightly redundant for OS X users who know what Time Machine is), and a 2BG cloud storage with MozyHome. An extra all users can appreciate is a Y-shaped USB splitter that frees up the USB port that the hard drive is plugged into.

These are certainly great dad and grad gift ideas; they’re neat looking tools in a neat package.

Docking stations are nice if you use the laptop primarily at one location or have lots of things to plug into it that don’t move — input devices, webcam, monitor. This leaves the BookEndz with a good chance to market third party docking stations. This is a hard thing for the company to manufacture since the laptops don’t just have a docking port like most laptops that have first party docking stations. They are left with plugging into the external ports and then just moving them to the outside their device.

BookEndz still have some options that users can work with, though. With their MacBook docking station, they have a USB hub inside, so you can have 6 devices plugged in, while the MacBook only has two USB ports on the side.

The docking station has all the original laptop ports plus the mini DVI is converted to either a DVI or a VGA. You can only use one at a time. If you plug in both only the VGA is recognized.

The BookEndz also use a sliding switch on the side to plug in the speaker/headphone port. This is important since the MacBook enables the port based on a sensor that detects something plugged into the port. When the headphones or speakers are plugged in the laptops speakers are disabled.

The switch on the Bookendz unit I was given was a very sticky. It is hard to move from plugged in and unplugged. This will loosen over time with usage. The company said that the one I was sent may be an early model and the new ones are looser and easier to switch to plugged in, or unplugged. They do make it easy enough to just plug everything in at once.

I like that when I use a BookEndz I can go from standard laptop to having a big monitor, and normal keyboard. Using a USB video card, it’s possible for a Macbook to now have two large monitors plugged in, and then it’s easy take it away when you need to go.

One part that makes it hard with the newer Apple laptops is the much toted power plug. Apple does not appear to let any third party companies make Mag-Safe adapters. BookEndz have a space for the original power bricks to be used. This could have been done better. They seemed to have decided to make it easy for the user to unplug the power brick to take with the laptop, instead of leaving the power brick in the docking station. This means every time you go to unplug the docking station, not only do you unplug the docking station, but also the power adapter. This also requires sitting the docking station on top of the wire so it will all sit flat. I think they should have made the docking station hold the power adapters more snugly. That way you can just plug everything in at once.

The design of the plastic casing is fairly smooth and flowing like the MacBooks, but the devices have touches here and there that look more hobbyist.

Overall I think it’s a very good and useful product for what it does. I think it beats just plugging in each port separately every time I get to work. For what they had to work with I think they did a great job. I just wish Apple thought of this sooner.

By the way: Because of a reporting error, we removed the line “Apple hasn’t ever produced a docking station for their laptops.” It was incorrect.

Nyko’s Media Hub+ adds three additional USB ports and a media card reader slot that supports SD cards and Memory Sticks to the PlayStation 3. Basically this item speaks for itself.

There are two questions you may ask yourself. First, does the product and all of its ports work? The answer is yes. Second, do you actually need this?

If you are a 20 GB or 40 GB PS3 owner, your console doesn’t have a media card reader or the additional USB ports that the 60GB and 80GB models have. At first this does not seem too important, but with the increasing trend of devices wanting to connect to your console through USB, this becomes a problem fairly quickly. This beautiful little Media Hub+ comes to the rescue with style!

The Media Hub+ is designed to go in first USB port of your console, snapping in easily. It is black and shaped so it fits flush with your PS3 in vertical or horizontal position. This is a nice design choice unlike any other media hub you may purchase, which would give your console odd looking extremities.

Nyko also did their homework, because the package comes with a small adapter that fits snug within the Media Hub+ to ensure it fits with all the different models of PS3s available to date.

Most importantly, the Media Hub+ is powered by the console so you do not have to look for an empty power socket just to make it work.

It does exactly what it is meant to do at and extremely reasonable price, $19.99.

What many present and future PS3 owners do not realize is how much use those USB ports on their console are going to get. The two USB ports on just the 40GB model are just not enough. The PlayStation Eye and charging one controller will fill up those two ports alone. Then there is the PSP connectivity taking a port. Not including if you wanted to add a full keyboard or mouse to make surfing the web and chatting easier. Let’s also not forget games like Rock Band that have multiple connecting instruments. And if you are trying to use a flash memory stick, it is a constant hassle to repeatedly unplug all the other devices just to have an open port to plug in your USB stick.

Sony has constantly mentioned its 10-year life cycle plan for the PS3. Who knows what other devices Sony will unveil that will connect to the PlayStation 3?

On the negative side, it is only possible to connect one Media Hub+ to your console. It is impossible to connect two on a 20 GB or 40 GB, and if you tried using two on the 60 GB or 80 GB model you would be covering over other USB ports rendering them useless in your attempts to get more. So do not get greedy and buy two.

Being the owner of a 40 GB model, my final verdict was that additional USB ports and a media card reader for $19.99 was a good deal. I make this a necessity to own even if you already have model with more USB ports. It never hurts to have more ports.

IOGEAR has put out a common sensical new USB hub with three full-size ports and a dangling built-in mini USB cable, which is very useful for digital cameras and cell phones and eliminates a cord from the mix.

The full ports are also upward-facing so that you can actually plug things into it without them getting in each other’s way.

“In an increasingly mobile age where laptops are more prevalent, consumers need comprehensive solutions to increase efficiency,” said Miranda Su, executive vice president of IOGEAR.

The 3-Port USB 2.0 Mobile Hub with Built in Mini USB Cable is $13 and well worth it if you need more plugs.

Who said they were all about cassette tapes?

Memorex just announced the Essential TravelDrive, a 2.5″ USB hard disk that maxes out at 320GB with several bright and shiny colors that fits right in your pocket, purse, laptop bag, etc.

The TravelDrive comes in 160, 250 and 320 gigabyte models, great for photos, video, audio and tons of files. They’re also powered by USB, so no additional power source is needed.

Starting at $89.99, they’re priced just right, too.

IOGEAR’s GearJuice is a nifty little product that’s perfectly handy for college students, glove compartments, suitcases and laptop bags.

It supplies emergency power to nearly any small, portable device, but not in that disposable, one use, drug store special kind of way. The rechargeable lithium polymer battery will fill up your cell phone’s gas tank three times before the GearJuice runs dry.

GearJuice will charge your Blackberry, iPod, iPhone, PDA, Bluetooth headset, cell phone and nearly any low-power device that takes a USB or mini-USB source. The device detects how much juice you gear needs and outputs the correct voltage.

The product can charge itself from any USB device — so you can just plug it into your laptop or desktop computer. It comes with six attachments, including iPod touch and iPhone and mini-USB connectors. Some models come with American and European wall plug adapters, but my model didn’t come with an AC adapter — which I didn’t mind because it’s actually much easier to charge the GearJuice right off my computer.

One small complaint: the GearJuice should have come with two full-size USB dongles. If you’re charging the device off USB, you aren’t left with a spare cable to go right ahead and charge up your cell phone or iPod at the same time. To this effect, GearJuice won’t turn your laptop into a power inverter.

The device itself charges up in a few hours from a dead, empty battery and IOGEAR says it will hold a charge for six months.

There are a variety of specialty adapters you can buy for GearJuice including the full-sized AC adapters and Samsung, LG and Motorola phone packs if — somehow — your phone doesn’t fit any of the included connectors. (When are all cell phones just going to charge and sync via mini-USB?)

Do yourself a favor, don’t throw out or lose the spare connectors. Put them somewhere where they won’t get lost or tossed. You’re probably going to break, lose or replace your cell phone within a year, and you’ll be crawling around trying to find the other connectors.

GearJuice is compact, comes in a soft, velvet carrying bag and priced right at under $30 on most websites. I approve.

Quick hits:

Developer: IOGEAR
Genre: Power
Launch Date: August 10, 2007

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Download facts and specs

The Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse is the most complicated consumer computer input device ever made. It’s also one of the best.

It’s a mouse, designed for gaming, that Microsoft says was inspired by the Master Chief from Halo and the Mazda Senku Concept Car, among other futuristic muses.

“Microsoft Hardware conducted research with hundreds of gamers all over the world to uncover what they want from their mouse,” Microsoft said of the Sidewinder. “Research revealed gamers’ desire to personalize their mouse to fit their needs, whether it’s tweaking the weight, dots per inch (DPI), glide of the feet or button actions.”

The result is a pointing device with a built in display, add-on weight bars and the best scrolling wheel ever made.

Some consumers may find the Sidewinder overwhelming — and with good reason. You expect to buy a mouse and find, well, a mouse in the package. The Sidewinder opens up with a cable anchor that doubles as an accessories box for all your weights, an opening compartment for said weights and more buttons than many joysticks. This isn’t an office product.

There are two features that really set the Sidewinder aside. First of all, the tiny LCD screen displays the mouse’s sensitivity setting, up to 2000 dpi. It displays this feature right on the mouse, meaning you don’t have to interrupt your full-screen gaming session. Also keeping your game in the foreground, the LCD also handles display prompts for recording in-game macros and assigning them to one of the buttons.

The Sidewinder Mouse comes with four weight cartridges, three of which can be stored at once. Three 10g and a 5g cartridge let you store from 0-30 grams of weight adding to the overall level of detail you can employ on the mouse.

At $60-$80, the Sidewinder Gaming Mouse is a decent-sized investment, but considering the $50 pricetag on most games, I think it’s well worth it.

Quick hits:

Producer: Microsoft
Platform: PC USB
Genre: Hardware/Input Device
Launch Date: August 22, 2007

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars