I bought my Macbook Pro new this year in Jan 2012; it is the 13" Core i5 SKU. The USB port furthest from the screen on the left does not work with storage devices, though I have tested it with a USB Mouse and it seems to work. However on hard drives, USB keys, and an Arduino it doesn't work.
I cannot sync my iPod touch with it either.
Does anyone know what this may be?