...and here I have to come in and say something serious...
There was also a USB toothbrush spotted a few weeks back (link somewhere on TheInquirer) - but as amusing as these things are, they mesh in with something noted on Slashdot a while back, and by others previously.
Namely, the power bricks that come with most, if not all of today's gadgetry are fairly inefficient, as well as being heavy and inconveniently sized. While these items are amusing, they demonstrate the evolution of a personal power network ('digital hub,' anyone?
) - ideally, most of the junk on your desk could be powered off one big-but-efficient switching supply, and you'd only need to lug one battery while going mobile.
Of course, USB probably isn't the best way to do it, given the amperage limitations in the spec, and the reliance of the USB hubs I've met on bigger, heavier transformers, but it's a start to the thought-process, and points to one of the nifty paradoxes of our day- do you want your network over your powerlines, or your power over your network? :-P
Sort of an amusing endgame to the saga of Tesla vs. Edison. Personally, I'm not too concerned with the outcome, as long as I can charge up the winner with one of
these!
