IBM's New USBKey Device

John Brown writes: "[T]oday I called 1-888-Shop-IBM and talked to a representive about the possibility of buying a Thinkpad X20; I wasn't too happy with the fact that it lacks an internal floppy drive, so the guy told me that during the next week IBM will be releasing a storage device called 'USBKey' which basically looks like a (guess what...) key (it is even meant to be kept in your key-ring), but fits into a USB port, allowing you to store up to 8MB of data in it. Amazing! You may very well live in a world in which 100Mbits/s is a common thing, but for the rest of us a highly portable and universally accepted data medium which allows you to store 5 times more than 1.44MB is good news." I would also like to see AOL start sending out (rewriteable) 8MB USB keychains. Note: no reason that such things should be limited to 8MB, either -- we featured a similar toy a while ago; I wonder if IBM is licensing it. Update: 02/06 04:39 AM by T : Thanks to PongoX11, who writes: "It looks like the drive you heard about already exists. I work in a computer retailer and remember seeing these on the shelves."

Comments

It has been around and is called a Thumbdrive

[SirFlakey]

I have seen that tech around for a little while. Trek I think are the original manufacturers and offer 8Mb to 512Mb versions as well as Encrypted drives up to 128Mb [product link].

From the specification page at the above site:
(Secure version of product)
Password Protection Max 15 Characters
Operating Temperature 0C ~ +50C
Storage Temperature -20C ~ +80C
Relative Humidity under operating 20% ~ 80%
Relative Humidity under storage 5% ~ 95%
Insertion 5000 cycles
Data Reading Speed(ThumbDrive Secure to Host) 750Kbytes/Sec(Depending on PC system)
Data Writing Speed(Host to ThumbDrive Secure) 350Kbytes/Sec(Depending on PC system)
Safety Compliance FCC class B, CE

--

Security

[sl3xd]

This would make a WONDERFUL way to secure a notebook - an 8 MB key!!! More than gratuitous, but it could hold keys for other computers as well.

www.unnecessarytoys.com

[SubtleNuance]

Its really sad that the hardware industry cant get together long enough to build a successor to the venerable 3.5" 1.44MB floppy. Many have tried: Zip, Jazz, Sony SuperDisk but none will succeed as long as bean-counter types prevent the IP from being a non-licensed public technology.

Here we are raving about a USB flash memory unit -while i agree it is cool tech- doesnt anyone else see it as a little bit silly for us to have to take advantage of the ubiquity of USB in order to get portable media w/ >1.44MB storage?

Why cant we simply get a cheap replacement to the floppy?

The Key Analogy is for Real

[nathanh]

I've played with one of these devices which looked like a key, plugged in the USB port, and had a private encryption key on it (in addition to the storage space). The device came with Windows 2000 software that encrypted your files and you needed to insert the key and type a passcode to decrypt the files.

A company I know is experimenting with these devices to see if they can modify PAM to use the USB keys. The concept is in many ways similar to the Java ring that McNealy demonstrated in 1999, but the key shape is (I think) more convenient to store, carry, and definitely more convenient to plugin to your computer.

Four problems I noted while playing with one of these devices.

First, the model I was using was made out of cheap plastic. It felt flimsy and lightweight. I keep my key chain in my jeans pocket, and I was concerned the flimsy plastic would break (which would be an absolute disaster).

Second, when the USB key is on your keychain it is REALLY inconvenient to plug it into the USB port on a laptop. Your keys get in the way and the weight of the keys dangles down and puts huge stress on the USB key. If the USB key becomes at all popular, I can see a strong market for those little retractable cords that some people use with their ID cards.

Third, the USB key is actually quite thick. On my laptop - which has two USB ports close to each other - you couldn't use the second port while the key was plugged in. The company had thought of this and supplied a small extension cord, but this wasn't at all convenient to carry around.

Fourth, a thought experiment rather than an actual experience. When you lose your house keys you curse a lot, then you hire a locksmith to bust into your house and change your locks. If you lose your USB key then there's no recourse. If I had highly precious data, I'd be storing it all on backup tape UNENCRYPTED, or I'd be making sure there were copies of the USB key stored in multiple (safe) deposit boxes.

Here is a link

[jjr]

Here is a link to the the USB Key at ibm it cost 49 dollars

Guess what?!

[FzyLogic]

It sounds like nothing more than an iButton with extra memory. iButton has been selling these things for a while, but with java and less memory. Check it out here.

We have one.

[oGMo]

Except it's not removeable media. It's much more reliable than magnetic media, and pretty ubiquitous these days.

It's called (and I'm serious here) the Internet. Even if you have a slow connection (slow being your typical 56k modem) it's really worth it. It's easy to get ftp or http space these days on 24/7 servers with high bandwidth, even if it's 10-20M, it's enough that:

• Everyone's got access to it
• Many people with varying hardware can access it
• Multiple people can simultaneously access it
• If they've got decent bandwidth, it's much faster than a floppy

For instance, every month I create documents locally that are printed and copied at Kinko's or similar facilities (word of warning: avoid Kinko's. Their service sucks, and they've screwed us over more times than I can remember). Instead of taking a Zip disk, or 3.5", I just upload the Postscript over my pathetic 33.6 to public webspace, and grab it again with Netscape at the printer's. No worrying about whether they support this media format. No worrying about corrupt disks (which is the reason I don't use portable magnetic media anymore).

The two main concerns I can see are that the server may go down, or the location you're heading to might not have internet access. The former is fairly easy to eliminate (find multiple servers, or get something more reliable). The latter is becoming less and less of an issue, and already may be less of an issue for you than finding a box with a 3.5" floppy or Zip/Jazz/SuperDisk/etc.

The real danger is that we get stuck in a rut of thinking portable non-archival media (i.e. not CDROMs, etc.) is necessary for every day life, when other solutions (such as using the network) are already there. You're right: we don't need unnecessary toys. The solution is already in place, people just need to use it.