Option, a global leader in wireless connectivity, security and experience, establishes its credentials as an LTE provider with the launch of Beemo, its new, ultrafast, quad-band 4G LTE USB modem.

Beemo brings best-in-class 4G. It sets itself apart through its stylish design, high quality and great performance. It has proven superior heat dissipation and delivers exceptionally fast quad-band (800/900/1800/2600 MHz) connectivity. Beemo comes with an external antenna connector that enables users to improve the signal in areas with low signal strength.

Cooler Master, an industry leading chassis, thermal solution, peripheral, and accessory manufacturer, today announces the next incarnation of the extremely popular QuickFire Rapid Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, the QuickFire Pro.

Precision, Comfort, & Durability

Featuring a smooth and clean aesthetic, QuickFire Pro includes laser-marked keycaps and a non-glossy matte finish. This is complemented by a set of extra keycaps (includes a key puller) that give the keyboard an extra appeal that draws other gamers in. A response time of 1 ms, in USB mode, offers gamers a necessary consistency to navigate the ever changing landscapes of their video game libraries.

Western Digital today introduced the first 2 TB capacity portable drive dedicated for Mac customers, My Passport Studio. This new standard in high storage capacity, along with Apple Time Machine compatibility for quick and easy automatic backup of Mac hard drives, allows Mac users to use one drive for the protection and transport of virtually all their digital content, everywhere they go.

The new My Passport Studio portable drive maintains its elegant and protective all-metal casing to complement the MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, providing the beautiful aesthetic that Mac users expect while increasing storage capacity to 2 TB, enough space for approximately 400,000 photos, 240 hours of video or 500,000 songs.

Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. continues to offer better audio solutions for laptop computers with the release of the S-MM201 USB-powered computer speakers. The speakers deliver better performance and a much fuller sound experience than built-in laptop speakers, all from a compact package that is easily transportable and can be quickly connected via USB and without the need for AC power. The S-MM201 offers a built-in audio DAC and bass-reflex enclosure designed to enhance bass frequencies.

Japanese PC peripherals webstore Kuroutoshikou unveiled a new 2-bay HDD dock, the KURO-DACHI/CLONE/U3. Built in the top-loading "toaster-dock" form-factor, it measures 108 x 62 x 149 mm (LxHxW). The dock takes in two SATA hard drives and solid-state drives in the 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch form-factors. It can connect the two drives to a PC over fast USB 3.0 interface, as USB mass-storage volumes, and can also clone drives 1:1, without needing a PC. Windows 7, Vista, and XP; 32-bit and 64-bit, are supported. Slated for early-April, the dock is priced at 4,000 JPY (US $48.7).

ZOTAC is flexing its engineering muscle. First, it was talk of a 2 GHz GeForce GTX 680 by one of its senior executives, and now this, ZOTAC GeForce GTX 680 Extreme Edition. Pictured below, the card's design is reminiscent of the crazy engineering endeavors ZOTAC China undertakes, to come up with some extremely powerful designs, which seldom get out of the APAC region (to EMEAI and NA regions).

ZOTAC took a top-tier binned GK104 GPU, 2 GB of high-grade Hynix GDDR5 memory chips, and paired them with a 12-phase VRM power supply. Apart from bleeding-edge International Rectifier GaNpowIR driver-MOSFETs, the VRM uses server-grade tantalum capacitors, and FPCAP multi-phase capacitors. To drive it all, ZOTAC used CHiL CHL8318 VRM controller.

inXtron showed off its newest small-business NAS server at Intel Storage Forum, the Akitio MyCloud Pro. As the venue might suggest, this 2-bay desktop NAS is powered by Intel x86 architecture. inXtron even put is logic board for display, which revealed it to be driven by an Intel Atom D425 single-core (HTT-enabled) processor, with its usual NM10 chipset. The board also revealed several interesting components, such as two 2-port USB 3.0 controllers, giving out two ports on the rear panel and two for the front-panel, via a standard header.

The primary storage controller is the Intel NM10 chipset itself, the NAS uses a USB DOM (disk-on-module) it boots from, to hold its operating system. The primary network interface is a 1 GbE, driven by a Realtek-made PHY. Interestingly, the board has a vacant mini-PCIe slot, on which WLAN cards can be installed. The MyCloud Pro supports two SATA 3 Gb/s hard drives in the 3.5" form-factor. It supports all modern NAS features, such as UPnP-AV, NFS, FTP, Samba, but DLNA wasn't mentioned. The OS also includes a Bit-torrent client, and Apple iTunes-compatible music server. inXtron has apps for Android and iOS smartphones, with which you can use the phone to control the NAS. inXtron is targeting a sweet price-point under US $200, with the Akitio MyCloud Pro NAS.

Chinese company SAMA introduced Nighthawk 2, a value ATX mid-tower case, priced at just 299 RMB (US $47.4). Despite its low cost, it offers a host of new features, aesthetic touches, and a good load-out of fans. Measuring 450 x 200 x 420 mm (WxDxH), the case is made of ABS and SECC/steel. It features an all-black interior and exterior, with a red acrylic side panel window, which slightly protrudes. Most of its front-panel is perforated.

The case is spacious enough to hold 300 mm-long graphics cards. Drive bays include four 5.25" and six 3.5", all of which are tool-free. Its ventilation system includes one 120 mm red LED-lit front intake, one 120 mm exhaust between the 3.5" drive cage and the motherboard tray, one 120 mm rear exhaust, and two 120 mm top exhausts. The front utility panel includes four USB 2.0 ports, and audio.

Taiwan-based Edimax, which is known more for its low-cost networking hardware, took a big leap, by unveiling its first 802.11ac wireless networking hardware. These include a static router, and a USB adapter. The router uses a Broadcom-made 600 MHz Intensi-fi MIPS32 central processor. This chip has two PCI-Express interfaces, a built-in USB 2.0 host controller, and DDR2 memory controller. It has two WLAN modules, the Broadcom BCM4331 handles 802.11 b/g/n in the 2.40 GHz band, while a Broadcom BCM4360 handles 802.11ac in the 5 GHz band. This module supports network bandwidths up to 1.35 Gbps. Then you have a wired LAN interface, with one gigabit uplink port, and four gigabit downstream ports.

Moving on, Edimax showed off one of the industry's first USB 802.11ac adapters. This dongle uses Broadcom BCM43526 chip, and offers dual-band operation. In the 5 GHz band, it offers bandwidths of up to 900 Mbps, while in the 2.4 GHz band, it offers 300 Mbps. Sadly for this adapter, the USB interface is USB 2.0 HiSpeed, which poses a host bandwidth bottleneck of 480 Mbps. When you factor in things such as the various protocol overheads, the actual bandwidth yield could be much lower. Edimax is yet to name its products, so quite some development is left.

Taiwan -based Genius is an international leading company in computer peripherals presents a new set of portable stereo gaming speakers, SP-i250G for the GX Gaming line. SP-i250G has two omni directional stereo speakers that provide vivid and rich audio. The advanced 40mm neodymium speakers provide deep low notes in a small portable cabinet. Also one can just use one speaker with any audio device.

SP-i250G uses a special mechanical to turn the power on/off and adjust the volume by twisting the middle cover. As an added feature an LED ring in the middle of the speaker will change different colors when music is playing. The Gold plated plug makes sound signal transmission smoother and decreases noise.

PNY introduce one of its USB flash drive collection, a product for business people. The PNY Cube Attaché boasts of a simple and no-nonsense cube design with solid colors of red and black symbolizing professional coherence. The small and ultra-light drive easily lets you carry your presentations from your work PC to the conference room with no hassle. Don't let the classic appearance fool you as this drive comes in a strong and rugged polymer body that can endure rough usage.

The Cube Attaché has a cap that snugly fits onto and seals off the USB plug, protecting it against dust and water. We must mention here that it is based on COB packaging technology using A+ grade memory chip that allows it to be packaged in such tiny dimensions and yet ensure good performance. The small size of 7 mm x 16 mm x 31 mm and weight of just 4.2g makes it very easy to carry it in the pocket. Additionally, it also has a hole to attach it to a lanyard or to a keychain, belt, wallet, etc.

Finally the high-end CM Storm Trigger keyboard will be launched in Europe! The CM Storm Trigger Keyboard is the first keyboard produced by CM Storm for the extreme gamers.

The Trigger keyboard offers you the ability to press up to 6 keys simultaneously and utilize five programmable macro keys with profile management. These features give you the possibility to reduce transport and redeployment times by storing profiles and key assignments with 64 KB of onboard memory. Next to this, the multi-media controls allow you to quickly adjust for example audio options to make working with the Trigger even easier.

ARCTIC launches its new gaming accessory - The USB Wireless Gamepad. In order to completely fulfill the need of every gamer to extend his/her play time, this gamepad is designed with a high-capacity rechargeable 1000 mAH lithium-ion battery. You can also recharge your gamepad while you play.

Thanks to its 2.4 GHz wireless technology, this wireless gamepad gives you quicker responses and the freedom to move up to 10 m away from your PC. Its dual vibration motors let you feel every hit, every explosion and every crash right in your very own hands - offering you a much more realistic and interactive gaming experience.

AREA introduced the SD-DSCV, a VGA down-scan converter device, that lets you convert your PC's VGA output to legacy/TV-compatible outputs such as Composite and S-Video. The converter supports output resolutions up to 1024x768 pixels, with TV formats such as PAL and NTSC. What's more, the VGA connection isn't interrupted, and VGA output can run simultaneously with the other analog outputs. Measuring 91 x 66 x 24 mm, the device requires an external DC power input, but instead of a bulky AC adapter, AREA included a USB-DC cable, that lets you plug the device to a USB port, and draw power from it. Slated for April 09, the SD-DSCV from AREA is priced as low as 4,980 JPY (US $59.4).

Japanese company Green House introduced the PicoDrive Micro line of compact USB 2.0 flash drives. When inserted, the drives stick out just 9 mm from the port. These are available in capacities of 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB. Measuring 22.6 x 14.9 x 8.5 mm, weighing 3.1 g. Green House emphasized the term "Ultrabook" in its press-release, indicating that it's the Ultrabook crowd it's trying to woo, although flash drives of this size (or even smaller) aren't entirely new. The 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB variants are priced at 1,480 JPY (US $17.7), 2,980 JPY (US $35.6), and 4,980 JPY (US $59.5), respectively.

Biwin today announced the opening of Biwin America, Inc., in San Jose, California to develop and market new flash based SSD storage solutions for enterprise, embedded and client applications.

Biwin is already an established leader in OEM and ODM USB flash drives. The company boasts impressive manufacturing strength that includes die sorting and packaging, over 20 SMT lines, and sophisticated test and QC processes. The founding of Biwin America, Inc., in the heart of Silicon Valley, marks the company's expansion into the USA market with a focus on expanding their existing SSD product portfolio. The company will sell its products directly to OEMs as well as through distribution.

iKey, a world leader in manufacturing rugged keyboards, pointing devices, and displays for military applications, introduces the SLK-880-FSR-USB-H. The SLK-880-FSR-USB-H offers many of the standard features our customers have to come to rely on in the rugged mobile keyboard line with the addition of a USB hub. Integrated directly in the case, the USB 2.0 hub makes this keyboard ideal for military applications where outlets and space are at a premium.

Available in a night vision (NVIS) compliant configuration, the SLK-800-FSR-USB-H features adjustable LED green backlighting with two brightness control keys. An integrated Black Out key allows users to quickly extinguish all LEDs and retain the same brightness settings when turned back on.

XMOS, developer of the industry's first event-driven 32-bit embedded processor, announces the release of its third generation family. The XS1-S Family delivers up to 700 MIPS of real-time performance per core combined with integrated analog functionality, enabling the highest quality, multi-channel USB audio applications. Combined with XMOS industry standard USB audio IP, the XS1-S Family of devices deliver the lowest latency digital audio interfaces. The first two products available in the XS1-S Family are the single core device: XS1-SU1 and the dual core device: XS1-SU2.

"The XS1-S Family builds upon the predictable real-time performance of the XS1 architecture, offering increased I/O and processing capabilities together with the convenience of integrated analog peripherals," said Tom Lee, XMOS vice president of sales and marketing. "Our customers have shipped more than half a million USB audio products using XS1 devices. The higher performance, integrated XS1-S Family and its accompanying software and tools deliver the ideal solution to an even broader range of audio applications."

AMD plans to sell bundles of its FX-8120 eight-core processors in the AM3+ package, along with AMD FX-branded self-contained liquid-cooling kits. The SKU is up for pre-order on Amazon, for US $383.5 (incl. shipping). The part-number for this chip+liquid-cooling bundle is "FD8120FRGUWOX". The liquid cooler is originally made by Asetek, combined with the unlocked base clock multiplier of the FX-8120, it facilitates high overclocking. The cooler is not just a dumb closed-loop, but also packs sensors that connect to the system over USB (internal USB 2.0 header), that let you monitor it via Chill Control software.

Stealth.com Inc. (Stealth Computer) a leader in the industrial computer and peripherals market has released a new 21.5" Marine/All-Weather LCD monitor, featuring a high definition widescreen 16:9 format with 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080). The Stealth model SVM-2150W is environmentally sealed to NEMA 4/IP65 specifications providing maximum protection from dirty, wet and hostile operating environments.

According to Stealth CEO, Ed Boutilier; "Our SVM-2150W all weather LCD monitor is ideal for use in direct sunlight or high ambient light conditions. Typical applications would be for marine, industrial, security, kiosks, vehicles or outdoor displays."

Power-strips are common household appliances, in use wherever you need more AC sockets than your wall provides, and comes with various shapes but have you imagined of a USB strip? Californian company Satechi did, with its UH-12P 12-port USB hub, that's shaped like a strip. The UH-12P is a self-powered USB 2.0 hub, which takes in one upstream USB 2.0 connection, and gives out 12 downstream USB 2.0 ports (11 on the top of the strip, illuminated, and one on the end). The 12 ports are split into two sets, and power can be gated to each set using two switches. Measuring 20.3 x 3.1 x 2.5 cm (WxDxH), with a 1 meter long upstream USB cable, the UH-12P uses a small AC adapter to power the ports. It is priced at US $29.99.

AOC, a worldwide leader in monitor display technology, announces a limited time special promotion on the portable 16-inch USB Monitor (e1649fwu), the ultimate laptop accessory. From March 16 through March 31, 2012, the monitor will be available for $99, which is $40 off the MSRP.

The 16-inch USB Monitor features a convenient built-in USB port that receives both power and signal via a single USB cable for plug-and-play connection. The AOC e1649fwu also combines productivity and portability into an elegant and lightweight display, providing an ideal take-along monitor for business presentations, and for other multi-screen applications like social media monitoring, photo editing, expanded spreadsheets and more. The USB Monitor is available now at Best Buy, Walmart, Micro Center, Newegg, HHGregg, Amazon, Circuit City, CompUSA, TigerDirect, ABC Warehouse, Electronics Express, and other major retailers.

One of the biggest suppliers of LCD panels to notebook and PC monitor manufacturers, AUOptronics, has been convicted by a US court on Tuesday, of price-fixing, a serious anti-competitive practice that cripples innovation and is bad for consumers and progress of the industry. The company faces fines as high as US $1 billion, which could amount to a big blow to the company that already finds itself facing losses.

AUOptronics' conviction follows the December 2011 mega-settlement of LCD makers including Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi, HannStar, and Chimei Innolux. At the time, AUOptronics and LG Electronics were the only fence-sitters. LG Electronics agreed to pay a US $400 million fine, in 2008. AUOptronics' current position is that it finds the evidence presented against it, which led to the conviction as being "distorted and incomplete," and that it will appeal against the verdict. The quantum of fine levied against AUOptronics will surface in the months ahead.

Shanghai Donya unveiled DN-68852, a compact USB 2.0 hub. Measuring 36 x 62 x 24 mm, and weighing 65 g, the hub provides four USB 2.0 ports from a single upstream USB 2.0 connection. Its upstream USB connector is extended by a 200 cm cable. Since the downstream ports are oriented to be on "top" of the hub's main unit, it offers a level of protection against the downstream devices from being yanked/unplugged by accident. Most hubs designs that seek compact design have ports located on the sides. While you can notice a external DC input, it appears to be optional. Backed by a 6-month warranty, the DN-68852 is priced at 699 JPY (US $8.4).

Elecom also introduced the TK-FBS039E, a wireless keyboard that can be folded along a hinge, making it easier to carry. When opened up, the keyboard measures 260 x 91 x 11 mm (WxDxH), but when folded, it measures 133 x 91 x 23 mm, roughly as big as a portable HDD. The keyboard is both wireless and wired. When wireless, it uses Bluetooth, and Bluetooth HID interface to work with iOS, Android devices, and PCs; when wired, it uses USB with common USB HID driver. When wired, it also charges its battery. The keyboard features a simple 66-key QWERTY English+Japanese layout, with sufficient key travel to provide tactile feedback comparable to notebook keyboards. It is available in black (TK-FBS039EBK) and white (TK-FBS039EWH) color options. Slated for early~mid-April, the TK-FBS039E from Elecom is priced at 7,350 JPY (US $89).