Crapgadget: USB embarrassments shame Intel's rock stars

Seriously, Ajay here would be downright ashamed. His Universal Serial Bus has found some seriously awesome uses over the years, sure, but the latest torrent of USB-equipped garbage is looking to do more harm than good to the venerable connector. In our latest roundup of crap found 'round the web, we see yet again that it's the USB-infused devices holding down the fort. From a flashlight-packin' USB SD card reader to a USB Parrot, our heads hurt from just imagining who among us is actually spending cold, hard credit on this rubbish. Feel free to inflict the same pain upon yourself by visiting the links below, and then cast your vote for the worst of the worst. Good luck, brave souls.

Read - USB SD card reader with flashlight
Read - Sparkling USB bracelet with no purpose or dreams
Read - USB Notebook Pocket Cooler puts 'Huffing' and 'Puffing' out of work
Read - Pepe, the USB Parrot
Read - 4-port USB hub gains a mirror... because it can
Read - Jewel Rose Pin USB Flash Drive: perfect for Great, Great, Great Grandmother's Day
Read - USB U-Shape i-Speaker just looks disturbing

Crapgadget: Which USB device wouldn't ever, ever touch your PC?

USB SD card reader with flashlight	321 (3.4%)
Sparkling USB bracelet	3336 (35.2%)
USB Notebook Pocket Cooler	483 (5.1%)
Pepe, the USB Parrot	2574 (27.2%)
4-port USB hub gains a mirror	401 (4.2%)
Jewel Rose Pin USB Flash Drive	1726 (18.2%)
USB U-Shape i-Speaker	636 (6.7%)

[kobioshi Posted May 24th 2009 8:26PM]

Seriously? The majority of you are shunning the bracelet but have no problem with a plastic parrot s(h)itting on you desk... What has geekdom come to?

[(Unverified) Posted May 24th 2009 9:40PM]

The fact that USB ports also deliver a small amount of power to devices should not be used to criticize the invention or the inventor. At least the flash drives can add functionality to the computer, and they actually use the Serial part of USB. We should all be thankful that there are now standard (low) power outlets on our PCs now, even if some of the things we can plug into them are less useful than others. Remember this you wise guy gadget geeks, thanks to USB we will no longer have umpteen incompatible wall warts, most phones, etc are now switching to USB based chargers.

[(Unverified) Posted May 28th 2009 9:33AM]

Poor Ajay: So much to be embarrassed about. http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/bios/abhatt.htm
He must go to bed in tears whenever someone says the words "fx5200"
Seriously, the guy who was the main contributor for USB, AGP and PCI-E is embarrassed because subpar devices use his spec? Its a spec, not a product for crying out loud. The fact that it is ubiquitous is the ultimate achievement, and the only real gauge of the success of a spec.

[barbtx Posted May 26th 2009 1:06PM]

Why is there no "All of the Above" choice? (although to be fair I think the Parrot would be cute for about 3 minutes). It's bad enough that one of the machines I work on here the person has a usb Lava Lamp hooked into it wasting a usb port.