Very unusual ways for PC Card Slot

Heh!!! what do you think a PC card slot can do for you besides the boring port replicators and modems or 3G data card? Look at these innovations:

Stash
1) Hide Stuff

The StashCard is nothing more (and nothing less) than a little drawer for you to put things in. The StashCard website suggests it might be useful for stickers (huh?), stamps (what are those?), or “emergency hardware” (with a picture of a tongue piercing). If it was a little bigger, I’d put a Pop-Tart in there, and let my computer heat it up. Slightly overpriced at $10.

Storage Harddisk
2.) Extra Storage

This PC Card compatible hard drive (magnetic, not flash, sadly) from ASKA is available in either 20 or 40 gig configurations. Sure, it’s giant and ugly and you might as well just plug it in with a USB cable (which is, in fact, included), but to make up for all that, it comes with an integrated picture frame. Available for between $125 and $235 depending on capacity, made in Japan only. Ho…ho…:)

slim mouse
3.) Concealed Mice

Mice can be a pain to lug around when you’re traveling but not for this little mouse that lives inside your PC Card slot. The Slim G4, which cleverly expands into a mouse-y sort of shape. The cord is integrated into the body of the mouse, it’s got a touch-sensitive scroll area, and you can get it in lots of mildly exciting colors and skins. $53.

fingerprint
4.) Be Paranoid

Protect your precious computer from unauthorized access, and make sure that your friends and family really are who they say they are, with this PC Card fingerprint reader. The specs on this thing are pretty much nonexistent, but it looks like it reads fingerprints. And runs on Windows only. And is probably only available in Japan.

phone
5.) Make a phone call

I think the only PC Card slot accessory I’d actually consider buying for myself is this Kensington Vo200 BT Internet Phone. It’s bluetooth enabled (i.e. wireless, like a phone should be), and lets you make phone calls on pretty much any VoIP network, including Google and Skype. The folding bottom bit works either as a mouthpiece or as a stand, and it’s got a totally sweet blinking LED to warn you when the battery life (about 3 hours talk time) gets low. It’s sexy, functional, and only slightly ludicrous at $90.

slot take out
6.) Extra BONUS Uses

Also, consider just leaving your PC Card slot wide open. A slot protector is more or less useless unless your laptop lives in an environment infested with cold and skinny cockroaches, and if you’ve got a protector in there now, you’ll notice that it’s probably a bit warm when you pull it out. That means it’s obstructing airflow to some small degree, and you’re better off giving your laptop that extra breath of ventilation. On my laptop, the PC Card slot is directly above the heatsink, so it lowers my processor temp noticeably when there’s nothing in there.

Have you taken yours out? :P

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