Back to Dick’s Gadget Warehouse

Ever buy a gadget just because you know friends will look at it and say: “Wow, where do you get that?” Back in 2006, the USB Doomsday Device Hub was one of those gadgets. Although it functions as a normal everyday 4 port USB hub, it has a key, toggle switches, a red light pilot light and the red “doomsday button”. The doomsday button is located under a plastic cap, which pictures a skull & crossbones! All those fun things are certainly not needed for a USB hub -- and that’s why this thing was an instant sell out, even though it cost $60! The case is black and the “doomsday” top panel is brushed aluminum. To operate the device you just plugged it into a computer with the attached USB cable. You now had a four port operating USB hub. But for the fun part of this device to start, you would flip switch 1 to on, then 2 to on, then you had to turn the key marked “3” to on. If you did steps in the proper order, the bright red warning light would go on. Then you lifted the plastic cover over the big red button and pressed it. A very short sound effect of a rocket launch is heard, followed by an explosion. Because the sound comes from a tiny speaker in the bottom of the small box, it’s not room-shaking. Actually, it’s a bit of a disappointment, but still fun! Think Geek sold the Doomsday USB Hub for $60, but I saw it on sale for as much $80! For a long time back in 2006, you could hardly find a place that had one is stock. Today, several websites still list it, but most say: “no longer in stock”. But there is one at Dick’s Gadget Warehouse!

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