The USB Store sells USB accessories. You can buy i-Ducks, GhostRadars, SushiDisks, and other USB peripherals such as disk drives, memory sticks, mice, keyboards, card readers, recorders, webcams, LED worklights, GPS, hubs, cables, and extensions. And get free technical support, 24 7 52: you don't have to register, log on, or remember a password.

The USB Store researched and tested a lot of products. We chose ones that were simple to use, practical, and elegant. Or as cute as the iDuck, as tasty as the Sushi Disk, as quirky as the Ghost Radar, or as useful as a GPS.

You can shop here: on line, by phone, or with a cheque: there's no delivery charge. Prices are on the shop page, and include UK VAT, a tax of . If your invoice address is outside the EU, you don't pay VAT.

Talking Technologies International Limited, through The USB Store, is the EU distributor for the i-Duck, GhostRadar, and SushiDisk, made by Solid Alliance in Japan.

Before the introduction of USB technologies, connecting up your computer system was simple. The monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, games joystick, and loudspeaker, each had a cable with a plug shaped to fit the appropriate socket.

The computer could control all the devices and, for the future, there were a few spare internal connectors for expansion interfaces to support extra devices, such as memory card readers, touch screens, and musical keyboards.

However, as more devices were added, the computer used up all its available resources, and avoiding conflicts became increasingly difficult or impossible.

The Universal Serial Bus, USB, is a plug-and-play digital connection between peripherals and the computer, designed to replace most of the old plugs, sockets, cables, and expansion interfaces. Up to 127 fast-access devices can be set up automatically and quickly, ready to use, and hot-swapped without turning the computer off.

The logo at the top shows the flat-ish USB A plug. There's also a square-ish USB B plug, and a smaller flat-ish USB Mini-B plug. They're all four-pin plugs: two pins provide the power and two carry the serial data stream.

The new standard, USB 2.0, is very fast and has a maximum data transfer rate of 480 Mb/s: 480 million bits a second. It's backwardly compatible with previous USB 1.0 and USB 1.1 devices.

All modern computers support USB accessories, simplifying the connection of peripherals such as i-Ducks, GhostRadars, SushiDisks, flash-memory sticks, back-up and archive storage drives, wireless mice, security keys, numeric keypads, card readers, voice recorders, digital cameras, webcams, LED lights, global positioning devices: even novelties like twinkling Christmas decorations. The system is easily extended, using a multi-port hub, cables, and extensions.

For schools, colleges, universities, resellers, retailers, and catalogues, there are lower prices. To order, you don't need to set up an account: just mail or call.

. The names Cherry Heaven, USB Store, Solid Alliance, i-Duck, Ghost Radar, and SushiDisk, are registered trademarks.