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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."
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?" `":" #");}
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.