Reminiscent of something you might find in the workshop of a mad inventor, the latest in the equip-everything-with-USB craze, according to Akihabara News, is the USB hub Sellotape dispenser, made by a Hong Kong-based company called Earth-Trek.

According to the manufacturer's website a variety of different colours are available, and each version of the USB hub comes with three downstream ports (all of which can be rotated through 180 degrees) and data transfer rates of up to 480Mbps. No external power is required and they're compatible with Windows 98/ SE/ ME/ XP/ 2000, Mac OS 8.6 or higher.

Pricing details were difficult to find...but given the product detail run-down mentions "quantity in cartons", we suspect these are intended for bulk purchase.