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SanDisk Spins SD/USB Flash Combo
An anonymous reader writes "Flash memory pioneer SanDisk has created an innovative memory card packaging technology that enables memory cards to plug into both SD card slots and USB ports. The new approach eliminates the need to use SD-to-USB adapters when accessing the contents of an SD card on a laptop, PC, or other system that lacks an integrated SD card slot."
http://www.sandisk.com/pressrelease/20050106a.htm
"Cheap with questionable performance"
What are you referring to? I really haven't had problems with Sandisk.
This would be an option when you're not too concerned about having a compact camera. You could keep the drive and power supply in a backback, for example. Or, if you're taking pictures from your car, you just plug in to the 12 VDC.
Like this? http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/102/C3497/
Final Table Team - Poker Disc
This is what PQI tried with the Intelligent Stick - theirs wasn't SD or MS etc but some new format that they were pushing to camera/mp3 player manufacturers. Didn't really take off but It's gotta be the smallest flash drive on the market.
Because until this year, nobody realized that you could make a thin plastic USB connector. If you think about a normal USB connector, it is actually much thicker than your average memory card, with its (relatively) giant metal rectangle. This year, a company called PQI realized that the metal part isn't actually necessary for the plug, and removed it. The result was this. Suddenly USB drives are actually smaller than and just as thin as regular memory cards! It's one of those great ideas that is obvious in retrospect. PQI has patented this design, and I imagine SanDisk has had to license it to create this super-awesome combined card.
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
Its been done before.
= 77 39
http://www.pdalive.com/showarticle.php?threadid
Are you sure you are using their "Ultra" version? They are about $5-$10 more per card, but well worth the dramatic speed improvement...
And their standard speed cards are a heck of a pricepoint, no matter what way you look, you can't expect the cheapest/most compatible card on the market to whizz by at flaming speeds... I think you are expecting too much out of them. You should be glad that the SanDisk SD cards are actually compatible with just about anything out there. And their availability is.. just about everywhere locally and online.
Your ignorance is infinitely greater than you realize.
Use a cheap ass USB extension cord. Problem solved.
The SDA is a cartel, plain and simple. The Host/Anciliary License Agreement (pdf) is truely draconian. In addition to paying the annual extortion fee, you have to agree to license any new developments back into the cartel. You're also prohibited from disclosing any details about SD cards. So once you're a member of the cartel, you pretty much can't work on any open-source SD-related projects. There are even "antitrust guidelines" published by SDA because they're dangerously close to crossing the line.
Ridiculous statement. 99% of all card readers can not even access the secure area of the SD card. There are less than a handfull of products out there which are even using the secure area of an SD card. One of which is for mobile phones, the other I know if was for some RealAudio product.
:) reject the subscription services, not the SD cards.
A generic SD card can typically have a much higher throughput than a CF card.
If you want to reject DRM
Very nice design.
They were about 2 years late to market. I don't know of any consumer devices that use iStick flash. Not one. I guess they weren't too good at marketing this to consumer electronics designers either.
It's too bad, because I have several of those little cards - they are very handy as a flash disk. They are so small I can keep one or two in my wallet. They are smaller than any other USB flash disk because they don't have the shield part of the connector - the whole thing is <3mm thick.
Good design, bad marketing. Sandisk might do better, since their's works in existing cameras.
[Then try MMC]
I'm a sci-fi vegan: I don't want the aliens to think we have as much right to live as the fried chickens we eat.
Erm... this works with EXISTING cameras...
Nowadays, lots of devices use Secure Digital cards, but mostly because of the "cool" factor: they're a lot smaller than Compact Flash cards, and the capacity of SD cards isn't that far behind that of CF cards. I was looking at a couple of MP3 players that use SD cards, and none of them had DRM at all. Just copy your MP3 files to your SD card, whack it in your player, and hit Play.
Hence, the schism that Secure Digital really means DRM does have a historical basis, but it has little relevance today. The idea that using SD cards in modern devices will smite your with a plague of DRM is just rubbish. For the purposes of keeping digital photos or music, SD is storage, and nothing more.
Attack its weak point for massive damage!