Keepin' it real... WTF?!
By Ryan Block 
posted Aug 11th 2006 1:16PM
posted Aug 11th 2006 1:16PM
[Via GameAxis]
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That isn't a usb thumb drive. It's a dlink 802.11g adapter. B1 is one of the 3 possible hardware versions. The hardware versions dictate what chipset is in it. That is all.
Hmm...recall seeing this picture several months ago.
HAhahaha.
OWNED!
Can't expect much for US $.50
Bootleg dvds, folexes, fake handbags are all fine
Real computer components have real costs
According to the article this was given out free with the purchase of a computer... and you can see why it's free...
WTF?!?! Damn, that's nasty.
haha thats awesome, im gonna do that to my mates stuff
hahahahaha
LOL, thats awesome. i guess it goes to show you should know your seller!
It's a hoax.
I wonder how many of these shorted out their customers "new computer" USB drives. Doesn't look like the end of that cord is isolated from the other wires in it; looks like it's just cut. Hmm...
Maybe that's what they wanted. Cool-points for giving something away for free, and job-security for all the "mysterious" shorted-out USB drives :D
Ha o crap, that a D-link. I have that one for my comp!
As for real computer components having real costs..that doesn't take into account "overuns" on someone elses raw materials.
You have a factory that produces whatever. Local management are (in this hypothetical example) corrupt.
Your contract is to produce 100,000 whatevers. You have your factory produce until it's out of material for that order. Deliver the 100,000 units and get paid. Then the remaining units go out the back door to your associates. They, in turn distribute/wholesale out to street vendors.
It's making money off the scraps, as it were.
Even our record industry had(or has) that problem with records/dvds.
It's clearly a hoax. Why else would they feel the need to redact the image and obscure the serial number and mac address of a fake device they bought on the street?
The reason for the redaction is that this is a picture of Microsoft's secret "Zune adapter" designed to connect a Zune to any Mac.
I like how the guy who whiped out the SN and all those other numbers, but didnt do it on the bar codes. you can print that out and scan to get the bar code
And if any of you click on the link, the numbers are not blocked out...
Bender: *gasp* It been transsexual!
Wow! Its truly amazing the way they can fit an entire wireless adapter into that tiny wire! I love technology!
Thats pretty hilarious though. Next time I'd try a real computer store =P.
You've got to be kidding me. No, I'm not referencing the obviously flawed wireless adapter. I'm referencing the post. When did "--" become a nearly reasonable punctuation?
I honestly don't think I've seen a run on statement that ended in a question "hyphenated" with "--" in my life -- how does that work -- is this how -- holy grammar batman.??! [RPN punctuation]
This image is old as dirt.. plus why is this even censored?
Matt W., well technically the double hypen is just a stand-in for a real dash. But yes, the sentence is gramatically...not optimal. However you'll notice that right before the "hmm?" there is a comma, which sort of makes it less horrifying lol.
We get that here at work with returns. USB device was open and they put a fake USB head and playdoh inside to make it heavy.
It came back from CompUSA. Since CompUSA didnt check it, we don't give them credit.
I'm not sure what you people mean when you say "hoax"...hoax as in, photoshopped pic, or hoax as in a fake USB drive?
Well from my POV, it's kinda obvious that this thing doesn't work at all.
"wireless" heh
Nice it has an internal antenna. :)
Hopefully the person didnt buy that crap in bulk qauntities ai!
haha i like the comments more
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.sina.com.cn%2Fu%2F53a2dcd6010004al&langpair=zh-CN%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools
they are saying its clever and might do it themselves LOL
Im having problems determining whether this is a good idea or not.
Dont get me wrong, I realize this device is non-functional, yet I still wonder...
Oh ok, I just figured it out. And Airlines should start banning these too now.
What is in this image is fraud, that is a case of misrepresentation and the cost is that people loose faith in the industry. Those of you who are thinking this is funny are likely thinking that no-one was harmed by the misrepresentation of a product.
The people who sell a similarly manufactured product are loosing business because this makes what could be an inexpensive product unusable and unsold, just because of it's notoriety.
"HW Version B1" --- That's what you get when you buy beta hardware...
Well I do think this would be a datasafe flash memory stick that could be used in high security areas...
this pic's been around for a while.
not sure if it's real though :P
100% sure this is not for real, I think this is some joke the reader did on the other site where the pic was first posted.
They don't have return policy over there...
it's all fun and games until it happens to you.
shen zhen, china.
vendors there are notorius for rebadging should we say "128MB" SD/MMC with a sticker that shows it as a 2GB.
just saying. You should test it out then and there when you buy it.
Embarassing i know, but it could happen to you.
notice near the end of the connector it kinda looks like a broken condom. now thats keeping it real. half the kids today are illegitmate.
People who think this is a hoax need to know "keeping it real" series did not start out of thin air. There has been articles written about public executions of people who made fake baby formula that caused many infant deaths, fake eggs so real in consistency and looks when cracked open, cars, cellphones, mp3 players... you name it and China has a fake counterpart. The situation there has been improving, only because many companies recently started to sue these guys and win then court battle.
It's not really all that different from the time the guy bought the paper Powerbook on the street in NYC, just in China. People seem to think the China part matters, though.
Check this out.
http://viralblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/thumb-usb-drive-bought-in-china.html
Chinese joke?? not funny.
"It's not really all that different from the time the guy bought the paper Powerbook on the street in NYC, just in China. People seem to think the China part matters, though."
I remember that, stupid stuff
I can believe this is true. I was in Beijing last year and bought an 8Gb USB key for $20. I did it more for a laugh since I didn't believe it was true. In the shop the owner took it out of the packet and plugged it into a PC to show it had 8Gb capacity (so it wasn't quite as bad as this). Windows duly showed 7.9-something Gb free space. Take it home and try writing to it and, low and behold, it stops working. From what I can figure there is a 1Gb chipset in there, but is no longer working. No idea how they managed to fudge it to make the PC think it was that big, unless it was the PC that was rigged...
Do you really think it is not real?? This is because you don`t know Argentina. This is very common here. My father bougth a deco for cable-tv and it was a real fake. Inside of the little box there was a broken piece of PCB circuit and the cables from outside were paste to the circuit with some kind of glue.... unless, they put a circuit inside....
Sorry for my english, it's no so good.
So , what functions this USB device have?
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electronic lovers
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