dottocomu

Links International's bamboo PC keyboard

While we've seen a brief flurry of wooden peripherals appear on the market before, Links International are claiming a first with their bamboo keyboard, the Takechiyo. There is a ton of gumph on their site about the properties of bamboo (flexible, strong, won't warp, eaten by bears to kill their BO prior to hunting, etc.) that we won't bother you with; suffice it to say that what you're getting is a 104-key USB keyboard (+PS/2 adaptor) encased in some bamboo, that will set you back Y9,800 (about US$83) when it goes on sale in Japan on February 11.

For the trivia fans, Takechiyo (literally, bamboo + forever) was the childhood name of shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.

[Press release (Links International) (Japanese)]

[Via Japan.internet.com (Japanese)]

Han Solo in carbonite flash drive

We're sure someone pointed out the critical lack of a carbon-frozen Han Solo when IOData came out with their first lot of metallic Star Wars-themed USB drives, but it turns out they were just holding out on us. As of mid-August they're releasing a second Darth Vader design and a frozen Han Solo, both for an undemanding Y5,355; capacity is an equally undemanding 256MB, however. Size is 17.5 x 36 x 12.5 mm, weight is 28g.

We have to say we're not actually much impressed by their version of Han, though; this "stick a bit of cast metal onto the USB drive case" design ethic they have going doesn't do much for us.

[Via Impress PC Watch (Japanese)]

Solid Alliance loses it: The Cable ga Neapolitan

We're not the first to note this, but Solid Alliance (they of the food drives and Ghost Radar) have finally lost it. Their Cable ga Neapolitan is a USB extension cable concealed in a plastic plate of spaghetti, with a connector where the fork is. Pictured is an example shot that shows what happens when you connect their fried shrimp-shaped USB drive to it.

Can we suggest that, at Y24,800, we doubt they're going to shift many of these?

[Press release (Japanese)]

Quixun's PC remote/wireless mouse

Not being the remote-control experts that we should be, we're not sure if this is as groundbreaking as they'd have us believe, but Quixun's new Lipii PA-301 combines a conventional learning remote with a wireless mouse and cellphone-style keyboard that can be used to control your Windows/Linux/Mac OS box when used with the supplied USB receiver. Unless your thumbs are considerably more dexterous than ours we doubt you'll want to be entering too much text with this thing, but if you happen to like doing your web browsing from a 100-inch plasma screen then the mouse and browser shortcut keys could come in useful. Price is Y9,000; should be out early July in Japan.

[Via Impress AV Watch (Japanese)]

Logitec's drop-proof external hard disk

For road warriors who really like to brutalize their hard drives, Logitec's new and straightforwardly-named Shock Proof Body HD series of FireWire/USB2.0 external units may be just the ticket. They're Mac and Windows compatible and can apparently withstand being dropped 100X onto a hard surface from a height of 70cm. Sizes run from 40GB-100GB, with both USB2.0 and dual USB/FireWire models available. Prices start from Y15,330 and Y18,690 for the respective 40GB models, climbing to Y52,185 and Y55,125 for the 100-giggers.

[Via Impress PC Watch (Japanese)]