Not having used one of those adapters, I don't know, but I assumed they'd be flexible enough to wrap the 180, making the ball-joint adapter unnecessary and (as it's longer than the original) even undesirable. Still, it does work, so you win. nevertheless.

As for the 770, http://tabletblog.com/2006/01/no-sol...st-method.html has an explanation on what's needed, and the comments discuss one hub that (by being built wrong) seems to work directly. I suspect a number of cheap hubs capable of being self- or bus-powered are this way; the +5V incoming on the USB is directly tied to the DC jack, rather than being diode-protected. If you can get a hub that works that way, one of these adapters, the hub, and an appropriate power supply (wall-wart or battery pack) should do it.