Parco HUB-001SR is IBM’s Motorized USB Hub Radio With a Sliding Door That You Probably Never Knew Existed

IBM never sold this as a catalog item, yet the logo sits on the case all the same. Parco Pacified Limited of Hong Kong built the HUB-001SR as a compact speaker dock that also works as a three-port USB 1.1 hub and an FM radio, then someone stamped IBM branding on a batch and handed units out as corporate gifts or show swag. The same plastic shell later turned up with a Bisty mark tied to Japanese pachinko prizes. You end up with a desk object that looks official until you notice the generic Chinese tooling and the motor that slides a cover open when you press it.

Parco describes the product as a Windows and Mac-friendly speaker with a three-port hub and radio that requires no additional drivers to run with Windows 98 through XP or Mac OS 8.6 through OS X. Three USB-A sockets are included; these operate at the comparatively sluggish speed of USB 1.1, 12 Mbps, and are fitted with over-current protection to ensure safety. An AUX jack can be utilized to connect a music player with a 3.5 mm cable; any music player from that era would suffice. Each speaker can output 500 mW. The gadget may be operated using either a USB connection or four basic AAA batteries. FM reception is standard, with frequencies ranging from 88 to 108 MHz.

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A light press on the device’s front activates a small motor, causing a panel to glide open, exposing the ports and controls. When we examined LGR’s duplicate of the item, we discovered that the motor glided smoothly, as one would expect from a quality piece of equipment. Inside the machine, there are USB ports, an AUX jack, volume controls, and a radio button, as well as two drivers that aren’t particularly noteworthy. The radio is a basic scan tuner. It quickly searches the band, locks onto a station as soon as it detects a clean signal, and stays with it, but no useful options such as manual tuning are available. The device failed to pick up a signal inside a metal building, as expected, but the signal increased when we stepped outside, as you’d expect from a low-cost radio. Plugging it into a modern PC running Windows results in a generic USB hub with no extra sound card or software, so don’t expect to connect it to your PC and get a nice USB sound card. The audio remains on the speakers unless you connect it to the AUX input instead.

Parco still lists the item as an iPod USB speaker with auto-sliding cover on their website, which would explain the bulky appearance, even though later units never included an iPod port. However, the company’s catalog is a little amusing, with items like power banks shaped like old cassette tapes and milk-carton boomboxes. The lineup says it all, as the HUB-001SR was never intended for the IBM ThinkPad accessory drawer. It was only a freebie that happened to carry the Big Blue brand for a short while. The scan radio and motorized lid are an upgrade above a standard four-port brick, but the USB port is still the same old 12 Mbps hardware from the late 1990s. When the PC is turned off, four AAA batteries power the radio and speakers. On the other hand, connecting it to a computer via USB cable powers the entire device.