As some of you know, I’ve recently moved across town (why did I want my own yard again?) and flipped my commute from northwest to east-northeast by way of joining Cisco Systems. I will still be blogging here, and possibly more on other sites (like the Perspectives Blog at Cisco) but it’s been a period of resettling lately.

I do want to bring a couple of promotions to your attention… things I like and want to share (see disclosure below).

Packt Publishing $10 for 10th Anniversary

First, if you’re heading into the holiday weekend and looking for some development reading, Packt Publishing is celebrating their 10th anniversary with a $10 deal on all of their eBooks and videos through July 5 (Saturday).

Packt is a smaller publisher of tech materials… they engage writers from the community and bring out books on new and updated topics a bit (or sometimes a lot) faster than the larger and more official tech presses. They cover a broad range of topics and most likely have something you’ll enjoy reading. And if you have unique expertise on your social media or LinkedIn profile, you may hear from them about writing and reviewing opportunities as well.

One of the books they released recently that I’ve been looking forward to is Implementing Cisco UCS Solutions. There is a reliable rumor that Cisco Press is coming out with an updated official UCS tome in the next year (the previous version is about 4 years old now), but in the meantime, you may find this book useful for learning in more detail about Cisco UCS.

So check out this link and see if they have anything you like. The deal goes through Saturday, and their eBooks are DRM-free so you can read them almost anywhere (maybe not your 90s Nokia phone, but hey) and even print from them if you like.

PowerQube Mini portable power strip and charger

Second, for those of you who travel, or like unique outlet strips… take a look at the PowerQube Mini that’s on Kickstarter for the next week.

About a year ago, these folks from Indianapolis came out with the original PowerQube. This is a stylish power cube (in the 2d sense, it’s an inch or so tall) with six regular AC outlets and three full power USB charging ports. The PowerQube has integrated electronics letting it send the right power to your devices, whether a little rechargeable speaker that needs 300mA or your iPad or Transformer T100 that wants the heat of a thousand suns. Or 2A. Whichever seems more practical.

I backed the project and got one of the white PowerQubes for $30. It’s a little bit big for solo travel, although I’d bring it with me if I were spending a weekend or a week in a vacation home. And as far as home use, well, it powers my home office desk, and I’m going to get another to power the home network from.

You can find the original PowerQube at Fry’s for $69.95, or order one from Amazon for $59.95. But if you compare what I paid for my Kickstarter model, with the retail price, you may be thinking “how can I get in on this kind of deal?”

Well, that’s where the PowerQube Mini Kickstarter comes in. The Mini is a lot smaller, with two AC outlets and three full-power smart USB ports. It also has a detachable IEC power cord, so you could hang this off an underused datacenter PDU or just replace the cord if you need shorter or longer drops.

If you pledge, and if they make the goal, you can get one Mini for $35 (estimated shipment is September 2014). I went for the silver bundle to get 3 of the Minis at $100 total. But they’d appreciate the support at any level, and I think a lot of my readers would benefit from something like this.

But wait, you’ll get a charge out of this…

Ever wonder what you’re plugging into when you use a public charger? Feel a little paranoid at trade shows or airports but your phone is at 5% and you can’t put it in B&W mode like the new Samsungs?

It turns out there are some unique cables out there that don’t have data connectivity at all. They bridge the lines so you get as much power as your phone or tablet can handle, which means pretty much no risk of having your data accessed surreptitiously, and your phone or tablet may charge in half the time to boot.

I’ve recently stocked up on PortaPow cables from Amazon. PortaPow is a UK company that uses what they call the “Dumb USB specification” to provide charge-only cables in various lengths for MicroUSB devices.

Got an iDevice? Get the MicroUSB to Lightning (or 30pin) adapter from Apple and use it with this. Alternately, PortaPow has a Fast Charge USB Adapter (some people call it a USB Condom) that you put between the source and your existing USB charge cable. Apparently you need the Apple version to get 2A charge through the adapter; I would expect either to work with Android and other standard USB devices.

There are other brands, including Mediabridge (I have three of their cables to test with as well), and if you look for “fast charge usb” you should find others as well. But most of my experience, since buying an ASUS Transformer T100TA with its quirky USB charge requirements, has been with PortaPow, so that’s what I recommend.

So where do we go from here?

I recommend a safe and relaxing weekend of course. That’s my goal as well. Happy Fourth of July to all of you who observe a calendar, whether it’s a holiday or not.

But check out the links above and see if any of this can help with your brain power and device power needs.

Disclosures:

I’ve bought some PacktPub books on my own, and received others on promotion. I will be getting a promo copy or two of their books for this post and related social media excursions.

My PowerQube was purchased through generally available channels (Kickstarter) with my own money, and my pledge for the Mini is out of my own pocket as well, although they may provide promotional consideration in the future.

And the fast-charging USB cables are not a promotion of any sort; I’ve paid out of my own pocket for the dozen or so I have from PortaPow and MediaBridge and others, and I’ll probably buy more since (like scissors and tape) they tend to disappear.