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USB Thumb Drives as ... Fashion Statement?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the not-just-for-data-any-more dept.

The Fun Guy writes "The New York Times has discovered USB thumb drives: "In some cases, flash drives have suddenly become so commonplace that, as with cellphones, their owners are adding fashion touches [DNA must be on file to read] to lend them a personal identity." Apparently, the most important thing about thumb drives is not that they are cheap, fast, durable, easy to use or hold a lot of data, but that wearing one around your neck identifies you as one of the techno-congniscenti, especially if you personalize it with stickers."

4 of 455 comments (clear)

  1. Depending on where you live... by garcia · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Depending on where you live it could be like hanging a clove of garlic around your neck or a piece of rare meat.

    Even though I'm a geek if I saw a blinged out geektoy I'd still point and laugh. Since when did we want to be mainstream?

  2. Girlie stickers by justkarl · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Somehow this reminds me of elementary school, when all the girls you knew had these real popular pink stickers with horses and unicorns and stars and hearts all over them, and they would put them all over EVERYTHING they owned. Maybe some of these people are regressing.

  3. What should they be called? by waynegoode · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I hear a lot of names for these things. What should it be? In a recently rejected poll submission to Slashdot, I asked

    What is it?

    • Flash drive
    • Thumb drive
    • USB drive
    • Keychain drive
    • Jump drive
    • Pen drive
    • Memory drive
    • Memory stick

    I use flash drive, like the NY Times article. The Fun Guy likes thumb drive. However, I think that is a trademark. Same for jump drive. A lot of people where I work call them a memory stick--that's very confusing and a Sony trademark. USB drive can refer to hard drives also. Hmmm.......

    Let's settle this (or maybe not). What do you think they should be called?

  4. Any ideas on security by twfry · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I've been thinking about getting one of these and putting most of my day to day working files on it. The problem is there is some sensitive data that I need to protect somehow.

    So far my best idea has been to encrypt all the files with AES or something similar and keep the encryption tool as the only non-encrypted file. This way I can access all my files anywhere but at the same time I won't worry if it's lost since the data is protected.

    After hunting around TrueCrypt seems like the best option.

    So, does anyone have any suggestions or experiences to share?

    Thanks