Gizmodo: Thumb drive

World's Cheapest 64GB USB Stick Costs Only $111

Jason Chen — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:40:00 EDT

For the world's cheapest man, we present the world's (supposedly) cheapest 64GB USB stick. It's assembled just for you out of the Netherlands, the place where quality (?) USB drives are made. You have the choice of brown or black, which makes perfect sense since this thing's made of leather, and nobody wants a purple leather USB drive. We're cheap, not animals. [Van Der Led]

Zip Zip LEGO USB Drives Get Updated to 4GB

Jason Chen — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:30:00 EDT

The previously 1GB Zip Zip LEGO USB drives are getting an update to 4GB. Unfortunately, Zip Zip still doesn't make these things out of real LEGO blocks—there's probably some legal reason preventing them from reselling it or something—but they're a good approximation. Things you shouldn't do with this: toss it into a huge bucket of regular LEGO. [Zipzip]

Asus MS71 Is a Wireless Mouse and a USB Thumb Drive

Jason Chen — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:00:35 EST

What do hardware engineers talk about when they're drunk? Merging two distinct gadgets into one gadget, as evidenced by this Asus MS71 mouse/storage device. It's a wireless laser mouse, but at the same time it's a USB thumb drive. The marriage of the two may sound good on paper—if you don't think about it for more than five seconds—but the actual execution gets you either something that's way too cramped to use comfortably as a mouse, or way too big to shove comfortably into a USB port. How about a Webcam/USB thumb drive next? Maybe we need to be more drunk to come up with these things. [Newlaunches]

Domino Flash Drive Great For Storage, Gambiling and Toppling Not So Much

Sean Fallon — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:40:57 EST

Unlike many of the flash drive designs these days, the Domino concept by Marcos Breder adds adds a little extra fun and functionality into the mix. Each domino can be split into two separate drives, with the white dots indicating the remaining storage capacity. The problem is that playing an actual game of dominoes with these drives would be damn near impossible (so gambling is out) —and putting enough of them together to form a proper toppling pattern would require countless drives. Not that it matters all that much given the fact that this product doesn't actually exist. [Yanko Design via Oh Gizmo]

USB Drive For Winos With Cash

Sean Fallon — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:40:38 EDT

This USB drive is more than its wine-shaped exterior would suggest. It's a tool for the hardcore wine enthusiast. Features include; 1GB of memory, wine related ringtones (eh?), desktop wallpaper, a screensaver, a wine tasting demo by Michel Rolland (who?), and privileged access to the BeWineConnected Club. The most interesting feature however, is the inclusion of the wine cellar management software "Open Cellar" that allows wine lovers to manage their collection from any computer. If you think that all of this may be a little excessive, I agree. Then again, I don't have the cash to buy and stock a cellar, and Miller Light gets me drunk just fine. Available for around $50 [BeWine via Apartment Therapy]

USB Dog Tag Chew Toy IDs Dogs, Children

Jason Chen — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:22:30 EDT

This USB drive holds 512MB of doggie data like pictures and its favorite diet, which is perfect for attaching to an actual dog so whenever it gets lost, people can use it to figure out exactly where to return the dog to. Of course, a slip of paper with your address and phone number would be the same, but since when did crazy ass Solid Alliance worry about practicality? The best part is that it's chewy and rubbery, so if it ever gets eaten it'll come out the other side relatively intact—unlike other USB drives. [Rakuten via Tokyo Mango]

Handcrafted Thalbach Design Thumb Drives (Anniversary Material)

Mark Wilson — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 11:36:03 EDT

If there's one piece of tech that's suffered from quick commodification, it's the USB flash drive—which is all the more reason that original products stick out in the market. We've seen wooden flash drives before, but these flash drives from Thalbach Design are heirloom material. Veneered in polished and oiled maple, ash and even a 150 year old burled wood (pictured above), a 4GB stick will run you $135, but you are a big important CEO who burns the midnight oil squeezed fresh from "used up" Benjamins anyway, so what is a little extra cash for some classy gear? [product via technabob]

Flash Padlock: For the Paranoid Delusional On the Go

blongo3 — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:30:13 EDT

The Flash Padlock, available in 1 or 2gb models, is made for people who think that their data is far too important to be kept on any ol' unsecured thumb drive. When you remove your thumb drive from the USB port it automatically goes into lock-down mode. However all you have to do is enter in your handy dandy PIN number and poof you've unrestricted access to all of your files. Now just don't go and do something stupid like make the PIN your birthday or 1-2-3-4, OK? [Product Page via Shiny Shiny]

USB Stone is 4GB of Rock Solid Storage

Jason Chen — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:00:53 EDT

Michael Leung, some designer, made this USB "Mass Storage Stone," which holds 4GB of flash memory inside a rock. It started as a prototype in 2005, and it's "in development" now to become a real product. Whether that will actually happen is anyone's guess, but who wouldn't want to carry around storage that you can kill someone with? [Studio Leung via Swiss Miss via Geek Sugar]

Super Tiny Micro SD Card Reader - Super, Tiny

Mark Wilson — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:35:53 EDT

The "Super Tiny Micro SD Card Reader" gets about as small as physically possible to read Micro SD and and T-Flash media, while still connecting to a normal USB 2.0 port. At a mere 25.5 x 12 x 4.5 mm, the reader is dwarfed by keys—I mean, just look at that picture—unless Brando is using the old "big key trick" again.

At $11 ($3 cheaper than this older model), the Super Tiny Micro SD Card Reader is a steal, considering it will both read you mini memory and double as a thumb drive. And for when the cops finally bust you for all those illegal MP3s/child porn, the small drive will be a blessing as it easily slides up your body's own hidden compartment.
[brando via ohgizmo]

SanDisk Cruzer Contour Looks Monolithically Sexy

Jason Chen — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:32:22 EDT

If you're in the market for a cool-looking flash drive and the SanDisk Ducati looks a little bit too much mid-life crisis to you, might we suggest their Cruzer Contour (which we saw back at CES). It's a glossy black drive with an extendable/retractable USB connector. Yeah, that means you won't have to keep track of a USB cap anymore. So not only is it convenient, the tapered end and black design make it pretty slick to look at as well. [SanDisk]

Hands-On With Lexar's JumpDrive Secure II Plus with Encryption and Capacity Meter

Jason Chen — Mon, 14 May 2007 14:30:27 EDT

Lexar's JumpDrive Secure II Plus brings the e-ink capacity meter previously seen in their other drives and the 256-bit AES encryption previously seen in the JumpDrive Secure II. The result? Something pretty convenient and secure, not to mention that it's the cheapest drive they have that has the e-ink capacity display.

The drive comes with the Lexar dashboard software for both Mac and Vista (although the OS X version required a driver install and a reboot) that was easy to use and easy to create mounted encrypted partitions on the drive. After setting aside 500MB of our 1GB drive on the partition—which was then mounted as a separate disk—we could drag and drop files onto it and it would be completely unreadable (it just looked like a file) when the drive was on another machine unless you knew the password.

What's also convenient is the ability to encrypt and decrypt files that are not on the drive, meaning you can use the drive to encrypt half the files on your hard drive if you wanted. Except if you lost the drive, well, you'd probably have to go buy another one. All in all, their claims of this being the cheapest drive with the e-ink and 256-bit AES encryption makes this drive worthwhile in sizes from 512MBs up to 4GBs. An 8GB version should be available soon. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Lexar]

Store All Your Stuff On This Little 4GB Pill

Charlie White — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 09:26:17 EDT

Want USB storage? Take a pill. You might have trouble swallowing this pill because it's 2 inches long, but hey, if you do end up ingesting this thing for whatever reason, you'll be happy to know you can store 4GB of your favorite data internally, until it comes out the other side.

It's not really meant for swallowing, though, and you might want to keep it hidden away unless you want to show your boss that you're a drug addict and can't think of much else than the moment when you can take that next pill.

Even so, it is a rather eye-catching design, and works just like any other USB drive, but considering you can get garden-variety 4GB flash drives for around 50 bucks, this drive's $70 price will clip you for a few bucks just because of its novelty. – Charlie White

Product Page [Valvalo, via Coolest Gadgets]

SoundDrive: The Talking USB Drive

Louis Ramirez — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 11:59:35 EST

I have a huge collection of thumb drives from every press event I've ever been to, but none of them is as talented as this one. The SoundDrive is the first thumb drive I've seen with speakers built into it, so the moment you plug it in, it starts yapping away. I can see this being helpful for the visually impaired maybe, but considering all of my thumb drives are from press events, the last thing I want is a talking press release. – Louis Ramirez

Product Page [via Everything USB]

Save That Flash Drive: Vista Speedup or Tax-Deductable Gift

Charlie White — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:25:09 EST

Are you accumulating flash drives in a bottom drawer somewhere? Don't throw them away just yet because you can use them with Microsoft Windows Vista. Plug any USB 2.0 flash memory drive that holds at least 256MB but no more than 4GB into your PC and Autoplay gives you a choice to invoke ReadyBoost, where Vista will use the drive's memory as an additional disk cache to speed things up. Just click Speed up My System and you're off and running.

If you're skipping Vista or you're a Mac user, why not just donate your old thumb drive to charity? But hey, what the fuck do kids in Africa need with thumbdrives? How about food, education, computers, stable government.... – Charlie White

Faster Vista [Shiny Shiny]
Thumb Drive Drive [Inveneo, via boingboing]

Ceedo Mobile Launcher Turns Any USB Stick Into a Smart One

Jason Chen — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 17:16:38 EDT

If you're in the market for a SanDisk Cruzer Titanium USB stick because of its U3 Launchpad, wait! Your old USB stick may still be of use yet, thanks to Ceedo.

Ceedo, which is licensed to Lexar under the name PowerToGo, is another mobile launcher that takes your non-portable applications and allows them to run off of only a USB stick.

Programs like Firefox, MS Word, Excel, Outlook and IE can all be placed onto Ceedo. Compared to U3, Ceedo has a larger range of programs to load onto the drive, and can be downloaded free for a trial before you buy. Overall, it's a pretty good idea but not all programs work as advertised. You may want to give it a whirl before you pay for it. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Ceedo via Everything USB]

USB Geek MP3 Player: So Cheap, It's Almost Disposable

Charlie White — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:23:01 EDT

Those of us who have kids nagging them for an iPod will be happy to see this $15 MP3 player, enough to keep those wee ones happy for hours on end. How many hours? Well, you'll get 10 hours of music playback on one AAA battery. This thing is so cheap, the SD/MMC memory card you insert inside will cost more than the player itself.

Looks like it's pretty easy to use too, with simple transport controls on the side. Pop the cap and it's a USB thumb drive. Although it's not the lowest-priced MP3 player we've seen, it's just about cheap enough to be disposable; might want to get a half-dozen, enough to give one to each of your kids (that you're aware of). – Charlie White

Product Page [USB Geek, via I4U News]

USBM8 Portable Flash Drive

Charlie White — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 14:55:22 EDT

This USBM8 Portable Flash Drive looks like an orange popsicle but can store your entire life inside, freeing you from those pesky earthbound PCs.

If you don't mind using oddball applications including a dictionary/thesaurus, an Outlook-ish e-mail client, an organizer and diary, you can run those applications and store your data on this drive as well.

Its tamper-proof virtual nametag reveals its owner whenever it's plugged in, so it would be great for school or other chaotic, sometimes larcenous environments. Available in capacities of 256 MB, 512 MB and 1GB, pricing starts at around $37. – Charlie White

Product page [Laptop Stuff, via Shiny Shiny]

Sweex Blue Bay Flash-Stick MP3 Player

Jason Chen — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 19:00:50 EDT

There are a few MP3 players in the thumb-drive form-factor out already, but very few of them have an LCD screen with a built in microphone. This Sweex Blue Bay (I typed "Blu" seven times out of Blu-ray muscle memory) has 256MB, 512MB, 1GB or 2GB of storage with MP3 and WMA support. You can use this as a standard thumb-drive for storing documents and bust out the tunes when you're commuting between community college and your parents' house. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Sweex]

Sweex Blue Bay MP3 Player [Tech Digest]

Apricorn Releases 8GB MicroKey

Charlie White — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 11:45:07 EDT

Apricorn has released a MicroKey USB 2.0 drive with even more capacity, this one holding 8GB. It stores all that data in a relatively small form factor of 3.4" x 2" x 0.5". Yes, there is a hard disk inside as opposed to more-durable flash memory, but Apricorn says it has built a tank around that disk, surrounding it with a hardened aluminum alloy casing that you can drop or sit on without worrying about your data going south.

The MicroKey has a swiveling USB plug that lets you fit it into tight spot, and if that doesn't work Apricorn includes an extension cord to fit the drive into even more-crowded USB port locations. It's $199, available now.

Product page [via Mobilemag]

2GB U3 Smart Drive Makes You a Happy Camper

Charlie White — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 14:17:28 EST

With a 2GB U3 Smart Drive, you actually can take it with you. Once you load all of your favorite Windows XP or 2000 settings, applications, and everything else, you can just plug it into any computer and suddenly you feel like you re home sweet home. Go on about your business, and everything you change, do, or save goes right on that thumb drive, ready for you to take with you.

This U3 take-it-with-you platform is available on a variety of drives from Verbatim, Sandisk, Memorex and others, and now is available in a 2GB size. The best part is, it leaves that host PC exactly as it found it. Seems like it's a lot easier to carry around a tiny drive with U3 on it than an entire laptop.

U3 Product Page [via Shiny Shiny]

Power User - The Best of Lifehacker

Gina Trapani — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 12:30:00 EST

This week at Lifehacker: That sound your computer's fan is making? It roughly translates to "Help! I'm being strangled by cat hair!" Get under your PC's hood and evacuate the dust bunnies partying on your video card.

Speaking of video, YouTube junkies can use a little Javascript voodoo and some free software encoding to save YouTube videos to your iPod or PSP.

So you're freaked out enough about co-workers getting into your bank account that you type in every password on the web every time, eh? Here's how to secure saved Firefox passwords - especially handy for the copy of portable Firefox you're toting around on that thumb drive. Be extra paranoid and encrypt all your thumb drive's data on the fly.

Remember when you were 15 and you bought that guitar because you wanted to be just like Van Halen? Well, Mom's still got that 6-stringer in the basement and a few free guitar tutorial vodcasts for your iPod can get you started down that road to rockstardom. Finally, iPod-lovin' runners, leave that stopwatch at home and get hoofin'. This useful Windows script generates interval running playlists set to start and end songs just when you're scheduled to switch gears.