Crapgadget: revolving USB hub, revolting MP4 watch, lavish amounts of lameness

Consider yourselves fortunate. You've had well over two whole months without an episode of Crapgadget, but today, that grace period ends. The most recent laughable load includes an absolutely vile wristwatch that supposedly plays MP3s / MP4s if you can manage to glance away from the bezel and band. Furthermore, we've got a TV tuner and webcam -- in one -- alongside a way-too-expensive WiFi sniffing pen that doesn't do 802.11n. Bringing up the rear is Connectland's 180° X2 Revolving USB Hub, which clearly raises the bar in USB hub design stupidity. Per usual, we're begging for your vote on the crappiest below, but we'll understand if you just can't bear the thought of spending another moment thinking about these pitiful creations.

Crapgadget Crapdown, MC Hammer Watch Edition

Gilded multimedia watchWiFi sniffing penTV tuner - webcam hybrid deviceRevolving USB hubVote

Read - Golden MP3 / MP4 watch
Read - Plustek TVcam VD100
Read - Revolving USB hub
Read - WiFi sniffing pen

[SneAKz @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:19PM]

That watch is horrendous.

[Dave @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:54PM]

Just you wait that watch will be the most popular accessory in the "hood" next month, next to bluetooth earpieces and fake air force ones.

[riggs @ Jun 23rd 2008 9:10AM]

stfu dave

[Anthony H. @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:22PM]

Definitely the watch..

[reuvypoo @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:24PM]

They're all incredibly stupid, but what does the pen actually do? Anything? Blowing money on these things is like giving cash to a heroin addict.

[agroupofletters @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:24PM]

I don't know about everyone else but the only really crappy thing i see here is the watch, everything else is at least fairly useful...

[derX @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:37PM]

Yeah, I saw the TV tuner/ webcam and I thought genius.

[computer.dude.28 @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:06AM]

Yeah if you think about it, the TV tuner webcam makes sense, I mean, they're both imaging devices essentially. The question is, can you use both at the same time?

[Taylor @ Jun 23rd 2008 4:14AM]

Perhaps the TV tuner can actually be used as a transmitter in combination with the webcam, to make your own pirate TV station.

[kal326 @ Jun 23rd 2008 10:13AM]

Slap a Apple logo on any of this shit and Engadget would have been eating it up, well maybe not the watch.

[LOL @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:24PM]

Crapgadget = Chinesegadget = Shenzhengadget = Taiwangadget

LOL....

[Haikibutsu @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:25PM]

Hey, Ill take the revolving USB hub! It comes in hand when, say, you have a fat SD card reader, and it doesn't fit with the other ports. Ive had that happen. Same if you put 2 fat USB drives adjacent to each other, say like the ever-so-popular Sandisk Micro BattleCruisers, they don't fit

[computer.dude.28 @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:10AM]

Yeah, I used to have a lexar JumpDrive a couple years back, chances of finding a port that thing would fit in were lower than finding a Wii and Wii fit in the same store.

http://www.macdevcenter.com/mac/2004/08/20/graphics/jumpdrive.jpg

[Leo Qin @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:25PM]

I could use a tv tuner/webcam or a wifi pen or more usb slots. sometimes crapgadget isn't that bad

but not that watch

[happy_penguin @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:41PM]

The ugly ass watch. Ick.

[Mr. Fax Sender @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:46PM]

I don't know man, that watch is pretty badass.

[r3n @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:46PM]

We all have our own taste.

My question is, will the pen write?

[BratPAQ @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:53PM]

"Revolving USB Hub, which clearly raises the bar in USB hub design stupidity"

jeez, dont call it stupid just because you cant understand its use, the 180 degree rotation is supposed to be for those fat usb devices that cant fit when plugged next to another plug.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Jun 23rd 2008 6:40AM]

i THINK designers may have had the Mac Book Air in mind.

[gabe @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:55PM]

Gilded multimedia watch - simple yet elegant. a watch only a mother could love.
WiFi sniffing pen - no 802.11n ? what are we nerds now? who cares - its a pen that writes and sniffs!

TV tuner - webcam hybrid device - is there a god? there must be because they integrated the best of both worlds. Now for that Usb fan / memory reader hybrid.

Revolving USB hub - Transformers anyone? love transformers - except for the live action movie - that was absolute garbage

[Ignatius @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:56PM]

Am I the only one who thinks the pen is kinda cool? I mean, if it could detect secure networks and display them as such (with a red LED or something), it'd be cool to find open WiFi networks with something you can easily pocket and use on a daily basis.

[reuvypoo @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:06AM]

Wonderful. You can detect Wi-Fi. Can't do anything with the access of course, but you can know if it is there. I mean...what is the point? You're going to use a computer or a MID anyways to use said Wi-Fi which will alert you of the Wi-Fi anyways. Why do you need a pen to tell you it's there and safe.

[Abuzar @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:38AM]

So you don't have to take your laptop out of our bag, turn it on, and then search for WiFi?

[w4rh34rt @ Jun 23rd 2008 6:03AM]

Lol! There's Wi-Fi nearly everywhere... It's just the fact that most of the networks have WEP/WAP encryption- So what's the point?

"Great, there's a Wi-Fi network"
-Struggles getting laptop out of bag
"Oh shit, there's encryption"
-Struggles putting laptop in bad.

No point.

[Chris Aubeck @ Jun 23rd 2008 7:35AM]

Yep, I'm waiting for the wifi-detecting gadget that lets you know where the unencrypted signals are. I've used keyrings that do the same thing as the pen and find them useful to choose the right seat in a park or bar to get the best good signal.

(What I would particularly like now, though, is a tiny bluetooth dongle for the iPod along the lines of the "smallest one in the world" I currently use on the laptop.)

[Spazzwan @ Jul 26th 2008 6:27AM]

Modded PSP with a homebrew app called Roaddog will scan for unsecure networks and call out the signal strength over the speakers.

[A.C.E.R. @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:14AM]

Now that we've gotten this out of the way we have another two months of crap free bliss, right?

[James Scott @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:22AM]

Everything is functional except for the pen. nuts to that pen!.

Gold TV watch? Great! be a nerd and pimp at the same time. Watch episodes of Cribs and various other BET shows.

Revolving USB hub? right on, spin that sh*t!

TV Tuner and Web Cam? Two great tastes that taste great together!.

WiFi Pen? It looks like its made by those people who make Christmas crackers. Junk.

[WITHOUT A NAME @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:44AM]

The revolving USB Hub???
What is the POINT???
Yet another reason why global warming is sneaking up on us...
They use gas and time to design stupid pointless things no one will actually use!!!
That watch COULD be black metal or sleek silver, BUT NO they had to use a weird alligator skin thing!!!
It would look good as the iriver T10, tiny yet cool and with a good interface.
Too bad they don't sell that in Canada:(

[cesium @ Jun 23rd 2008 1:21AM]

You're an idiot to link global warming and craptastic gadgets.

[Hafk @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:59AM]

It saves you the trouble of booting up your laptop and everything just to search for a signal, which could waste battery, as well as time.

Now, this pen is not perfect, as it doesn't detect if the network is encrypted. This would end up wasting time, to boot up your laptop to find out that you can't access the internet because it is encrypted. Therefore, this product is pretty useless.

[reuvypoo @ Jun 23rd 2008 1:01AM]

I do see the point of the pen sort of but I would rather take out my laptop than spend money on that pen. Sortnof lazy I suppose, that pen. But I do understand your point but the inconvenience isn't that big of a deal for me.

[RichardBronosky @ Jun 23rd 2008 1:30AM]

I say that anytime someone is selling a product that includes VD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venereal_Disease you should avoid all contact!

[A.C.E.R. @ Jun 23rd 2008 1:46AM]

I like how you explained the VD part.

[GadgetTamer @ Jun 23rd 2008 2:08AM]

The watch stole the GUI from one of SuperTalent's MP4 players. I can't remeber the exact moel and i would be glad to give a lin if it was still on Newegg. It was a peice of junk though. It lasted me 3 days then died. I got a Sandisk Sansa after that.

[Jean @ Jun 23rd 2008 2:27AM]

The watch IS horrendous... but it shouldn't win. As bad as it is, I can see having it for the hilarious factor -- none of the other items have that. They are truly crap.

[Schfelzerberg @ Jun 23rd 2008 2:38AM]

The watch is horrendous. The revolving USB port is useful. (Engadget writers are stupid. I'm sure everyone else has already figured that out) The TV tuner cum webcam that looks awfully like the camera on the Sony Ericsson P990i looks neat, but I'd rather have a more capable, stand-alone TV tuner. The pen is pretty crap. Wifi sniffing... LOL. But I guess it's useful for people (err... nerds?) looking for free Wifi.

[Schfelzerberg @ Jun 23rd 2008 2:38AM]

The watch is horrendous. The revolving USB port is useful. (Engadget writers are stup!d. I'm sure everyone else has already figured that out) The TV tuner cum webcam that looks awfully like the camera on the Sony Ericsson P990i looks neat, but I'd rather have a more capable, stand-alone TV tuner. The pen is pretty crap. Wifi sniffing... LOL. But I guess it's useful for people (err... nerds?) looking for free Wifi.

[Schfelzerberg @ Jun 23rd 2008 2:39AM]

The watch is horrendous. The revolving USB port is useful. (Engadget writers are dumb. I'm sure everyone else has already figured that out) The TV tuner cum webcam that looks awfully like the camera on the Sony Ericsson P990i looks neat, but I'd rather have a more capable, stand-alone TV tuner. The pen is pretty crap. Wifi sniffing... LOL. But I guess it's useful for people (err... nerds?) looking for free Wifi.

[Zot @ Jun 23rd 2008 2:46AM]

the watch sounds cool.. yeah, it's butt ugly, but thats nothing a little sandpaper and spraypaint can't fix

[demenzia @ Jun 23rd 2008 3:31AM]

If that watch wasn't gold or had that snakeskin strap, that watch would be cool actually.

[Tired_ @ Jun 23rd 2008 3:58AM]

I pity the foo who wears that watch...

[Garst @ Jun 23rd 2008 5:14AM]

Oh come on people, the watch does e-books. You know you want to squint and ruin your eyes on that tiny screen so you can read TXT e-books.

[Waverider @ Jun 23rd 2008 6:15AM]

Who needs the pen when you can show everyone where a WiFi connection is at.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/illuminated/991e/