#1 TOP USB Device

USB was a wonderful invention! It allowed us to quickly hot plug in hard drives, keyboards, mice, cameras, and Kindles without shutting down and rebooting our computers.  Now there never seems to be enough USB ports to go around with the tablets, phones, and power hungry USB accessories that need daily charging. This year my top pick in USB goes to the KDLINKS UMF66B powered USB expansion dock.   This is a powered USB expansion box, which means it needs to plug into the wall.  This 9 port gem charge 2-iPads, 1-phone, provides 6-USB 3.0 expansion ports for your computer and has a bonus SD card reader. 

Note: the charging ports are just for charging and you can't use them to access the device from the computer.

This device also has an unpublished feature.  You can use it with Garageband on your iPhone or iPad to record or podcast    Normally when you plug a USB mic into the iPad you get the dreaded, "The device requires TOO MUCH POWER." Since the power is being provided by the wall socket instead of the battery inside the iPad or iPhone you can plug it into the hub podcast and record away.

The best part about this little box is that you don't have to install anything! You can switch it from PC to MAC to iPad and it just works.