Ask the Teaboy

Q: Dear Teaboy. My beloved German Schnauzer has just chewed the end off my USB cable. What can I do? Regards, Freddie Quicksnap

A: Hi Freddie

After the burial ceremony and appropriate grieving period has passed you may consider replacing this with one of the same from your local friendly retailer. Photo & Video stocks most of the common and many of the uncommon varieties of USB cable available. These can range anywhere from $15 to $75 for some of the more proprietary types.

If yours happens to fit into the latter category you may wish to consider a card reader instead. This is a little device which sits on your desktop and plugs into the USB port on your computer. You take the memory card card out of your camera and plug it into the reader which in turn allows you to copy the photos onto your computer. The advantages of using a card reader are:

1. If your camera batteries are flat you can still download.
2. If your camera batteries are close to flat then you don't run the risk of them going flat during the download process, losing images as a consequence.
3. A modern reader will often download much quicker than an earlier camera.
4. If you buy a multi-slot reader you can download from more than one type of card - your visiting friend's pictures included.

These range from a mere $20 through to $50 for a flash Multi slot one. For those lucky enough to have firewire, there are ultrafast multi slot readers available also.

Kind Regards
Teaboy