"USB" news and stories

I'll be back with the Slashfood Ate (8): Beer Edition later, but as soon as I saw this gizmo, I just had to drop everything to put you guys in the know...

Perpetual Kid is offering a USB Mini Fridge -- a single-serving can refrigerator that gets 100% of its power from your computer. Plug this fridge into any USB port and you'll be getting enough juice to keep your juice (or soda or -- my preference -- beer) at a respectably cool 45 degrees. How cool is that?!

Um, well, it's around 7 degrees Celsius... assuming your beverage is in a can or can-size cup, of course.

Though this product probably scores around a zero on the practicality scale, score it an 11 on the "must have gadget of all time if you don't want to see me crying on Christmas morning" scale!

[via Sybeeritic via BeerAdvocate Magazine]

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Food hacks can be simple or complex, and this miniature tabletop grill made with a USB hookup tends towards the complex end, however it is the perfect experiment for anyone who ever felt that their inability to have shabu shabu while typing was making their life less fulfilling. Found at the MAKEzine blog, the original device was documented on a Japanese website, so those of us who aren't fluent will have to trip through the translated instructions instead of the original version if we want to make our own. Apparently, the meat tasted of "just a little electronic part" but that seems like a small sacrifice for not having to get up to cook or eat.

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Fosfor gadgets has the top 10 weirdest USB drives, which include many food shaped entries. From sushi to shu mai dim sum to shrimp, you'll be able to express your favorite foods--USB style. A lot of this reminds me of the plastic food items usually seen on the window displays of Japanese restaurants. So plastic-y, yet so tasty. Mmm.

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