As we have come to expect with Terratec products, opening the box reveals a collection of items.  Foremost, although rather small in size, is the USB tuner stick which is predominately white in colour with the letters "XXS" overlaid in orange.  Centrally positioned on the tuner is a small light which glows to indicate the device is receiving power and doubles as the infrared link for use with a remote control.

Space Station This is a laptop dock, USB hub, cable management system and a desk organiser. It is black, 65cm long, 11cm wide and 4cm tall at the rear and 3cm tall at the front. The top is covered with rubber while the sides and back are plastic. Turn it upside down to reveal a four port USB hub (power supply is supplied should it be required) and there are sixteen clips in two shapes and sizes to secure cords.

On a recent surfing expedition, I was checking out Belkin's various products and noted that the company currently had 29 different USB hubs as part of its product portfolio.  Admittedly in some cases the only difference was the colour of the hub but there was certainly enough choice to satisfy the discerning user.  Among the newer models were a clip-on hub and a flex hub which are the subjects of this review.

In the past I have looked at a number of television receiver products from various manufacturers.  These have ranged from cards that need to be inserted into an internal slot to USB devices covering analogue and digital channels.  However this is the first time that I have had the opportunity to look at a television receiver from a company based in .

Belkin Sling Bag Not being up in the latest wording I would call this a backpack or a rucksack but it only has a single strap and sits on your left shoulder. The wording on the bags label says 'slim and lightweight carry your laptop and gear in comfort'. Well it seems quite light - when empty - and it is stated to accept a 15.4inch notebook - it does - and it has a range of other pockets to accommodate all those extras.

Not a BoomBox but a BoomBag A simple device that is not that expensive. Simply connect your iPod or MP3 player to the 3.5mm plug inside the bag and hey presto the sound issues from the speakers. It is a fabric bag looking rather like a sponge bag with handles. The inside is plastic lined. It is 32x10x15cm, the pair of fabric handles add 20cm to the last figure the height.

Verbatim USB Drive 4GB This looks like a conventional USB stick drive, just for a moment think that not long ago a 4GB hard disc would be large. It is quite able to do the job of speeding up Vista and indeed does carry the ReadyBoost name. However apart from part or all of the available space being allocated to Vista it comes with a £16.

USB 2.0 hubs tend to differentiate themselves from the competition by a combination of three main features.  There are hubs with different numbers of ports (4 and 7 being the favoured choices); a range of shapes such as rectangular or domed varieties; and colours of varying hues.  This divergence has resulted in numerous hubs being available from which users can make a choice to suit their own preferences.

G Tech Microscope It is 11cm long and around 3cm round, white in colour apart from the bottom 2.5cm that is clear Perspex. It comes with an 8cm chromed stand enabling you to get really steady images of whatever you are studying, of course the main difference between this and a conventional microscope is that the image is shown on your monitor/panel and not to an eye bent to the microscope.

When is a flash drive not just a flash drive?  To answer my own question, it is when the main purpose of the device is to act as a TV tuner receiver which is the case with the product from the Pinnacle stable.  With this particular product, Pinnacle has combined the capabilities of a DVB-T tuner with 1GB of flash memory that can be used as storage space.

The product QX5 Computer Microscope has been specifically developed to allow children to explore a world of small creatures and other items without too much fuss or mess.  This kit consists of a cylindrical shaped microscope with a permanently attached USB lead; a stand with a moveable tray for holding specimens; and software for displaying and adding special effects to the images.

USB Portable Floppy Drive Nowadays the majority of new PC's are sold with an 'A' drive, the capacity is small and most situations can be handled with a pen/stick drive. There are occasions when these will not do and one of these could well the one that totally knackers you or me. Certainly if you have several PC's then if Windows will not boot then a USB floppy could be a 'lifesaver'.

Illuminated Keyboard According to the blurb they do several colours and I just happened to get the pink one. I have used it for some time and while the colour would perhaps suit a lady I am not keen on it however the things it does I do find interesting. First a button on the top right of the 109 key keyboard lets you turn the illumination on/off.

Over the last few months we have covered a number of memory card offerings and USB flash devices.  Now it is the turn of a product that combines a memory card with a USB stick device that takes over the functionality normally provided by a card reader.  As the world's largest independent manufacturer of memory products, it is not too surprising to know that this new approach to memory cards and USB connectivity should come from Kingston Technology.

It was not all that long ago, when buying various items of computer equipment, that your purchases would be restricted to the single colour of computer grey.  Whether it was a desktop or tower system, monitor, printer or whatever, the one constant was the ubiquitous grey.  Nowadays there has been a sea-change.

It is 8cm in length a maximum of 4cm wide at the top of the 'Y' and only 1.5cm wide. The one I saw was green and white and with a green LED in the shape of the 'Y' when connected. It has a small connecter in the trough of the 'Y' to allow attaching to a keyring. So a device only slightly larger than a pen/stick drive has a second use as a USB stick. Memory gets smaller and cheaper but here it has a second use.

So what is in the packaging? A 2.4metre USB cable with a clever dongle in the centre and a mini (8cm) CD as well as a few leaflets. Both the copy of the instructions on the CD and the paper version go to four small sides. My normal rant about Belkin packaging applies. You need a large strong pair of scissors and a strong pair of gloves if you are not going to suffer nasty cuts from the plastic as you try to detach the cable and CD from the packaging.

Unlike desktop system boxes, which generally have enough surface area to place numerous connectivity options, a laptop is often not so well equipped.  This lack of available sockets is not due to any parsimonious inclinations of the manufacturer but is down to the physical lack of space to place the necessary connections.  One method of increasing the connectivity features of a laptop is by using an expansion device such as the .

Count up the number of USB devices you own and then do the same for the number of USB ports on your system.  If the result of this counting activity reveals that first number is larger than the second number then there will probably be occasions when you need to switch connected devices as the situation demands.

Adding to its already extensive portfolio of television tuner products, Terratec has released its latest offering for those looking for digital and analogue viewing on a Windows XP system.  This product is the which consists of the tuner unit, a small aerial, software CD and slim User Guide. Cinergy HT USB XE As is becoming standard practice with add-on television tuners, this device slots into an available USB port.