World's Smallest

Just when you think that USB Flash storage can't possibly get any smaller, a company pops up with something so tiny that you're going to need the corded fob to make sure you don't lose it. Dutch promotional product manufacturer Deonet - maker of a diamond-studded Golden USB memory stick and an FSC-certified, maple-enclosed Eco Wood drive - has announced just such a portable storage solution, and is the latest to claim the title of the world's smallest USB stick. Read More

Although owners of the iPod Shuffle might have something to say about it, Singapore’s Bluetree Electronics has announced the launch of what it claims is “the smallest touch MP3 player in the world,” theKube2. The diminutive device has an aluminum body, runs for six hours on a one-hour charge of its lithium-polymer battery, and can store approximately 1,000 songs on its included 4GB microSD card. You can also buy replaceable skins for it, should shiny silver not be your thing. Read More

Anyone who appreciates the precision art of engine design ought to get a kick out of this offering from a Spanish engineer named Patelo. Starting with hunks of aluminum, bronze and stainless steel, he spent over 1200 hours designing, milling, turning and drilling what he claims is "probably" the world's smallest V12 engine. Powered by compressed air injection (0.1kg/sq cm), this little marvel boasts a total displacement of 12 cubic centimeters from its twelve 11.3 mm diameter pistons and works like a charm. Best of all, you can see it come together in the detailed video that follows. Read More

Medigus has developed the world's smallest video camera at just 0.039-inches (0.99 mm) in diameter. The Israeli company's second-gen model (a 0.047-inch diameter camera was unveiled in 2009) has a dedicated 0.66x0.66 mm CMOS sensor that captures images at 45K resolution and no, it's not destined for use in tiny mobile phones or covert surveillance devices, instead the camera is designed for medical endoscopic procedures in hard to reach regions of the human anatomy. Read More

Californian SSD manufacturer Foremay has announced a new addition to its OC177 storage family. Despite being smaller than a U.S. quarter coin, the company's first disk-on-chip (DOC) solution will be available in capacities up to 64GB, supporting both standard IDE or SATA host interface, in addition to complying with ATA-7 specifications. The new DOC drive is mounted directly onto a motherboard which, the company says, negates the need for a separate storage drive while offering devices some rugged credentials. Read More

There are several options out there when it comes to taking a portable music player in the pool or to the beach. You could opt for a waterproofed iPod or a dedicated player like Speedo's Aquabeat, but if you really want to downsize then Fitness Technologies diminutive UWaterG2 might be worth a look – it's billed as the smallest fully waterproof MP3 player around. Read More

With cameras pretty much standard equipment on mobile phones nowadays, a lot of people don’t bother with the extra hassle of carrying around a separate one, even if it means sacrificing picture quality for convenience. While we can’t comment on the picture quality, the Poco PRO from Iain Sinclair certainly seems to tick the right boxes in the specs department and won’t be too much trouble to cart around thanks to its credit card-like dimensions. Read More

Because battery technology hasn’t developed as quickly as the electronic devices they power, a greater and greater percentage of the volume of these devices is taken up by the batteries needed to keep them running. Now a team of researchers working at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) is claiming to have created the world’s smallest battery, and although the tiny battery won’t be powering next year’s mobile phones, it has already provided insights into how batteries work and should enable the development of smaller and more efficient batteries in the future. Read More

Anyone who subscribes to the view that good things come in small packages would no doubt be impressed by the winners of this year’s design contest held at Sandia Labs for novel and educational microelectromechanical systems (MEMs). The big, or should I say exceedingly small, winners were the world’s smallest chessboard, which is about the diameter of four human hairs, and a pea-sized microbarbershop that is intended to service a single hair. Read More