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I've been thinking a lot about a good friend, Steve Amontis[1], who passed away nearly a decade ago. Many of our long-time readers knew him. He was an IT guy and avid gamer who wrote for some of the early online tech mags.
Steve used to glory in grilling up a feast for friends and setting off fireworks on the Fourth of apple imacJuly. As we approach Independence Day, I've been thinking about the sheer joy he used to have in the sometimes ill-advised bangs, booms, pops, and flairs of the holiday. One time, I remember, he lit a firework, stared thoughtfully at it, and suddenly dived into the nearby bushes, apparently convinced it was about to blow up. Good times. Good times.
Steve also used to love finding neat gadgets, tools, and solutions, and then sharing his discoveries with his friends. It didn't matter how big or small the product was that he found. What mattered was whether it could do something really well, was really cool, or could be really helpful.
He passed along that joy of shared gadget discovery to me. It's one of the reasons I love doing this column. I get to share cool stuff I find, learn, and discover with you. Often, we'll look at big things. But sometimes, like today, I get to share with you something that's not a headline maker: a simple USB hub.
We've all used countless USB hubs, so why is this one worthy of any virtual column ink? The answer is simple: it does a few things really well.
A very nice USB hub
Image: Cateck
I bought the Cateck USB 3.0 6-Port Aluminum Hub with 2-Slot Card