USB Toys are toys or fun cool gadgets that use the electrical power from the USB ports of computers. There are many forms of USB Toys. For example, a USB Toy can be an “Office Toy” and be used in the office since that is where many USB ports can be found. Another example would be the USB Panic Button Toy which can be used by office workers to create a temporary screen-saver when the boss is nearby, so that the office worker would not be caught playing games on the computer instead of working on his project. Other types of USB Toys can be just for fun. For example there are many USB Missle Launcher Toys out there, one of which is the Spiderman Dream Cheeky USB Missile Launcher Toy. These USB missile launchers can really pack a punch and serves to pass some time!
So what does USB stand for?
I have talked so much about the USB as well as introduced you to some cool USB Toys but I have yet to tell you exactly what USB actually is. USB stands for ‘Universal Serial Bus’ and has been touted as the solution for a computer interface that can work universally. The USB Port boasts cross-platform compatibility for Macintosh, Linux and UNIX, and all versions of Windows since Windows 98SE. The USB connector ports are available on every computing device built in the past few years. The USB specification provides a 5V (volts) supply on a single wire to allow connected USB devices and USB Toys to draw power. The specification provides for no more than 5.25V and no less than 4.35V between the positive and negative bus power lines. (If you do not understand this it is perfectly alright because I do not understand this either!).
Why use the USB port for Toys?
The USB connector was originally designed to replace the serial and parallel ports on computers. If you can remember, the parallel ports were very commonly used to connect printers in the past, while the serial ports were used to connect the computer mice. With the invention of the USB Port, it was hoped that eventually a number of devices would be able to connect using just one type of port on the computer, that is the USB port. Soon, devices such as printers and mice and even the keyboard, could be connected via USB. The use of USB ports to power toys was never intended to be so. I must thank the smart computer technician who came up with this idea, without him there would be no USB Port Toys.
Furthermore, USB Toys are usually very cheap because of their small size and also because they can be easily powered by the USB Port instead of requiring batteries or other forms of power sources. USB Toys are thus a very good form of cheap toys and can serve as very good and fun gifts.