I want to connect my shiny new Fugi M603 cradle to my pc for downloading pictures. Now all of my USB ports are taken up with various peripherals, ie. wireless mouse, keyboard, usb modem & printer. So to add the camera cradle i am thinking that I should perhaps buy a 2 or 4 port hub. Question is will this need to be powered or not?

[MarkE19]

For what you want to connect to the USB ports you would get away with an unpowered hub, but in the future you might need the power supply so I would recommend getting a powered hub now. When you can get a powered 4 port USB 1.1 hub for just over £10 there is no point in getting unpowered (IMHO).
Basically the rule is that if the device(s) you are connecting have their own poower supply then the hub does not (always) need to be powered. If any of the devices are taking their power from the USB port then the hub should be powered. Also if you daisey chain hubs together then you will need to have them powered.
Saying that though, I have a Psion Wavefinder DAB radio that has it own power supply and the instructions say it must be connected directly to the PC and not into a hub.

Mark.