D-Link DUB-H7: Not Recommended

This hub has 7 ports, and is quite compact. Those are all things I like. However, I have found it to be unreliable. From time to time, one device connected to the hub will stop working. You just disconnect and reconnect the device, and everything gets back to normal. The interval between two incidents can be of a few hours or a few days. I have a keyboard, mouse, headset, printer, and scanner connected to the hub, and never have any problem like this when they are connected directly to my laptop.

For a while I thought this was maybe a problem specific to my Windows machine. Lately I got a MacBook Pro, and was surprised to have exactly the same problem. So this is definitely some problem with the hub, or with the interaction between the hub and the devices I am using.

• Bottom line - I can't use this hub.
• Verdict - Not recommended.
• Question - Is there any USB hub with at least 5 ports that you would recommend?

Those Zunes Must Be Hard to Sell

The Zune 30 GB was on Woot at $150 a few days ago. Compare that to around $200 at Amazon, and $250 for a 30 GB iPod. Now $150 should be a good deal, shouldn't it? For sure, those Zune must be hard to sell, and I am not sure that lowering the price will help much.

It reminds me this Logitech USB speaker phone, which I saw "sold" for $0 after mail-in rebate at Fry's a few months ago. It looks good in picture, but the product is apparently flawed. Shoppers were not duped: even for free after mail-in rebate, a big stack of them were still waiting to be picked up at the store I went to. Of course, those who bought it and resold it on eBay might after all have done a good deal.