Product: USB Rota-Rota Hub by Brando
You've probably noticed that several of the gadgets in our "Geek Your Cube" series are powered via USB. And if you want to use all of them at once, you're most likely going to run out of USB ports on your computer. That's why owning the USB Rota-Rota Hub will come in handy!
Description: The USB Rota-Rota Hub contains four USB 2.0 ports in which each can be angled up to 180 degrees so that you don't get that messy look when all of your cables are coming out of your computer.
How It Works: Connect any USB device to the hub, and then connect the included cable from the hub to your computer's USB port. You'll know the hub is working when the LED indicator lights up red. The hub is also backwards compatible with USB 1.1. Works with Mac and Windows.
Performance: I connected the USB Aroma Oil Burner, USB Heating Gloves, USB Beverage Chiller, and the iSharpener to the hub. All of them operated well.
Overall: The USB Rota-Rota Hub is one of my favorite gadgets in the Geek Your Cube series. It's so useful, considering my computer only supports USB 1.0.
Buy the USB Rota-Rota Hub for $16.
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October 2, 2006 3:26 PM
Gee, Jennifer, I don't think that just because the super cool Rota Rota hub support USB 2.0 that it somehow makes your USB 1.0 port on your PC faster. If the port on the computer has a certain speed limitation (USB 1.0), just because devices you connect to it would ALLOW a faster speed doesn't have any effect on your PCs limited capability. Maybe it's time for an up to date computer - the USB 2.0 standard was finalized in 2001!
October 2, 2006 5:58 PM
If this hub can increase the speed of your computer's USB 1.0 ports to 2.0 speeds, maybe this thing should called the Roto Rooter! I wish I had a USB 1.0 computer so I could see this speed transformation. Did you see much of a performance increase in the devices you tested? (SB Aroma Oil Burner, USB Heating Gloves, USB Beverage Chiller, and the iSharpener - non of them send data!) Seriously, given that this device is more of a port expander, as opposed to a powered hub, anything you plug into the Roto "hub" will have to share the power that it robs from the USB port on your computer. If you plugged in all 4 of the devices you tested, I doubt that any of them would do much, as they would draw more power than the computer's USB port can provide. And finally, if you are still using a computer that came with 1.0 USB ports, aren't you are seriously overdue for a new computer? Brent
October 2, 2006 8:57 PM
Personally, I'm all about a flexible USB hub that I can move the ports around with-that's what really matters to me. And as long as the hub is powered, I should be all set with my toasty USB fingerless gloves. :) But yeah, the other posters are right I believe, because something supports USB 2.0 doesn't increase the throughput of a USB 1.0 device, I'm afraid. Although maybe it's one of those things you can use as justification for a new computer at your desk, Jen! You need it for "extensive device testing!" :)
October 3, 2006 10:33 PM
Uh, yeah... Your computer "only supports USB 1.0"? And you write reviews about nifty new gadgets for a major online (and print) publisher? Dang... Something's not right there. The last time I was "stuck" with USB 1.x was back in 1998-2001 when I had a Cyrex PR233 processor and board. When I upgraded to an AMD XP 1000+ (2001-2005) I made sure it had USB 2.0, so I can only guess what a POS your computer has to be. Does it even run XP? ZiffDavis isn't so cheap that they'd force you to use hardware THAT antiquated, are they?