Belkin has begun shipping a networked USB hub ($130), that lets you connect any USB peripheral to your network like a USB hard drive or printer. From Belkin’s website:
- Share up to 5 devices: multi-function printers, media readers, digital cameras and scanner on your network
- Back up and access data from networked attached storage (NAS) devices
- Play music from an MP3 player connected to a USB dock (using USB speakers)
This USB hub could be a great way to share printers and hard drives with a media center in your living room. If you are going to buy a print server for a USB printer, you might as well get this device. This also seems like a great way to make a Drobo storage robot into a NAS.
Before you start loading up on external hard drives to record HD content, Belkin has the following ominous caveat on their site:
Data transfer rates do not support some high-speed/high-bandwidth USB devices such as HD streaming web cams or other video transfer applications.
Leave a Reply