Our favorite Italian expatriate living the geek’s life in Japan, Francesco Fondi of the Hobbymedia blog (all in Italian), sends along a gadget that might make any geeky circuit-bender excited. Yes, it’s a soldering iron that can be hooked up to USB ports for power.
Thanko’s Soldering Iron is powered by USB. You can use up to two ports in order to get a power supply of 5V / 1000mA. If it’s not enough, Thanko offers you the possibility to plug a 9V battery.
One wonders if this is what the Terminators will use for self-repair when they’re in the field. You can find it here for only 4,560 yen (a quick Google search turns up some U.S. sources for it as well).