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The Top 10 Weirdest USB Drives Ever

Posted by Zonk on from the mmmm-dimsum dept.

Ant writes "Fosfor Gadgets lists the top weirdest USB drives ever, including photographs. Sushi and shrimps look yummy." From the article: "We start off with the least weird USB drive, and it's the iDuck from the Japanese company Solid Alliance. They are available in six different colors and the version on the picture even lights up when it's plugged in. It's cute so it's not that hard to understand why it's popular, right?"

36 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. twisted? by caffeinemessiah · · Score: 5, Funny
    at first, i thought "oh what's the big deal? you can stick a little flash drive ANYWHERE these days"

    but then ...

    Rip the head of the cute Barbie doll, and plug it into your PC.

    can you say TWISTED???

    --
    An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
    1. Re:twisted? by Jeng · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh C'mon, like who hasn't ripped off Barbies head?

      Though I think they have it backwards, the head should be the drive, pluggin the body in is just absurd.

      --
      Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
    2. Re:twisted? by IvanTheViking · · Score: 3, Informative

      Barbie USB

      That was the link under the blurb. I don't think that is a photoshop...
      Fear not the power of power tools (i.e. Dremel and drill press) and some 5 minute epoxy on making one.

    3. Re:twisted? by Romancer · · Score: 3, Funny

      I literally laughed out loud. Not many things online have been able to actually do that, maybe a smile or a chuckle. But to actually scare the cat across the room, that was hilarious. scrolling down and seeing the Barbie with a male usb port for a head. damn. that's just too much.

      --


      ) Human Kind Vs Human Creation
      ) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
    4. Re:twisted? by kfg · · Score: 3, Funny

      can you say TWISTED???

      My analyst told me
      That I was right out of my head
      The way he described it
      He said I'd be better dead than live
      I didn't listen to his jive
      I knew all along
      That he was all wrong
      And I knew that he thought
      I was crazy but I'm not
      Oh no

      KFG

    5. Re:twisted? by xquark · · Score: 2, Funny

      Can you imagine where the USB plug will be for the Ken doll? ;)

      --
      Arash Partow's Philosophy: Be a person who knows what they don't know, and not a person who doesn't know.
    6. Re:twisted? by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

      Shouldn't the memory be stored in the head?

      Of a Barbie!?

      KFG

    7. Re:twisted? by Mr2cents · · Score: 3, Funny

      Rip the head of the cute Barbie doll, and plug it into your PC.

      It has excellent Debian Sid support, I've heard.

      --
      "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
    8. Re:twisted? by Mehtuus · · Score: 4, Funny

      Speaking of body, what about these?

      USB Dildo ?
      USB Dildo with Bluetooth...

      Theres more than one... lol

      --
      http://mehtuus.googlepages.com
    9. Re:twisted? by tehshen · · Score: 2, Funny

      Metadata journaling is hard. Let's go shopping!

      --
      Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
  2. Before you post on how vapid this story is... by Quirk · · Score: 5, Funny
    remember it's friday night and you're reading /.

    Anything, even the weirdest USB drives ever, could only improve on the sad, shallow life you now lead.

    except for me, uhmmm... I'm doing research... drawing statistical relevance from the /. polls.

    --
    "Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
    Cohen
  3. If this is the weirdest they've got, then by Council · · Score: 4, Funny

    I never thought I'd find myself saying this, but I just don't think the internet is weird enough.

    --
    xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
  4. Easy to lose flash by IvanTheViking · · Score: 3, Interesting

    4. idisk ..... How on earth should can you avoid not misplacing this really tiny (and very weird) product?

    Obviously whoever wrote this forgot about TransFlash cards in cell phones such as my i870. Try keeping a spare one of those out of the vacuum cleaner.

  5. USB Elmo knows your name... by Chris+Bradshaw · · Score: 5, Funny
    I'm suprised the "My Personalized Elmo (Special Spyware Edition)" hasn't made the list... Check this out.

    http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000100066100/

    --
    Get your Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool Here for FREE! - http://fedora.redhat.com
    1. Re:USB Elmo knows your name... by bmgoau · · Score: 2, Funny

      With toys like that becomeing avaliable, even if slightly unrefined, its only a matter of time before we have toys for children alot like the Bear from the movie A.I.

      Who said artificially intelligent, nuclear powered, tonka-tough toys bend on makeing sre your children eat their breakfast and do their homework?

  6. iDisk by The+Amazing+Fish+Boy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They're all pretty weird, except the iDisk. That product seems pretty useful to me. I might actually be tempted to keep that little thing on me, unlike clunker "keychains". I could put it in my wallet, for instance. Who cares about the likelihood of losing it? That doesn't make it "weird." When I buy it I know it's small.* Small is useful. It's not weird at all.

    * There's a joke in there, somewhere. Go nuts.**
    ** Yeah, I know.

    1. Re:iDisk by wdd1040 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      After looking into it a little more....

      I noticed that SolidAlliance makes almost all of these products, and they can be purchased from SA-Store.

      --
      wdd
    2. Re:iDisk by SaguratuS · · Score: 5, Informative
      To be specific, you can buy the IDisk here:
      http://sa-store.com/shop.php?category_id=52&item01 _id=78

      Price: 4,980 Yen ($41.50 USD)

    3. Re:iDisk by neurojab · · Score: 5, Funny

      Has anyone out there ever used a usb drive this small, and was it effective?

      It's convenient, but the bits are so small.

      I concur. I used it to store a Word document (a research paper). When I read it off the disk, the average font size had gone from 12 to 6. That's some serious bit shrinkage. The shrinkage seems to occur in all the critical places.

      I used one to store my bank account information, and found that my money was convered from dollars to cents.

      However, that doesn't compare to the horrors that will befall the user that attempts to use this drive to store their pr0n collection, and views the result.

    4. Re:iDisk by cmason · · Score: 2, Informative
      I agree that a tiny (keychain) USB drive would be useful, but I'm a bit worried about that product's lack of metal shield and case: does it stay in? Does it get crudded up?

      Not quite as minimalist, but more ergonomic, and probably more durable are these products (which may be simply wrappers around the iDisk.):

      --
      "If you are an idealist it doesn't matter what you do or what goes on around you, because it isn't real anyway."-R.P.W.
    5. Re:iDisk by Spoing · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Has anyone out there ever used a usb drive this small, and was it effective?

      Yep. I have 2 of these. They both fit in my wallet, much of the time just like a credit card w/o any special case.

      What makes no sense to me is why are the thick drives selling so well, when the slim ones can't get shelf space? There are no benifits to the thick ones over the thin ones -- and I consider the Iomega Micro Mini to be one of the thick ones.

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
  7. What would be stranger by mattydont · · Score: 2, Funny

    if you could actualy eat the usb drive (the shrimp not the thumb) ones.

    1. Re:What would be stranger by xstonedogx · · Score: 4, Funny

      if you could actualy eat the usb drive (the shrimp not the thumb) ones.

      You're responding to The Amazing Fishboy, you insensitive clod!

    2. Re:What would be stranger by zippthorne · · Score: 3, Funny

      You want to build robots that can eat people?

      I certainly can't envision something like THAT coming around to bite us in the ass.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  8. Easy to lose flash-Presto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Obviously whoever wrote this forgot about TransFlash cards in cell phones such as my i870. Try keeping a spare one of those out of the vacuum cleaner."

    Disappeared in a flash, did it?

  9. More wierd stuff from SolidAlliance... by pario · · Score: 5, Informative

    sushi disks
    http://sa-store.com/shop.php?category_id=25&item01 _id=37

    more food
    http://sa-store.com/shop.php?category_id=40&item01 _id=60

    shinto amulet
    http://sa-store.com/shop.php?category_id=50

    USB camera (from the old Gegege-no-kitaro cartoon)
    http://sa-store.com/shop.php?category_id=48

    mice
    http://sa-store.com/shop.php?category_id=46

    These things make me very proud of being a Japanese, hehe...
    (Yes, we do have a sense of humor, albeit a rather wacky one.)

  10. Forget the thumb drive! by Khyber · · Score: 4, Funny

    They need a middle-finger USB drive. At least that way I know what my computer's trying to tell me everytime windows crashes!

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  11. Weird? Weird! by paul248 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think that guy definitely needs a thesaurus.

  12. I'm still waiting by AutopsyReport · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm still waiting for a USB penis so I can finally shut everyone up by showing that my e-penis is as big as I've been claiming for years.

    --

    For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.

  13. Before you post on how shallow this story is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Anything, even the weirdest USB drives ever, could only improve on the sad, shallow life you now lead."

    Of course my life is shallow. I'm the lifeguard for the kiddie pool.

  14. This is a read-only one but... by teletype · · Score: 3, Funny

    I learned of the existence of this in a SkyMall catalog on a particularly awful Delta flight today:

    USB Bible

    Pray tell, (ok, pun not intended), what is the point of this thing? Is this for when you really need that Jesus fix, and are at a computer with no net access? I don't get it...

    1. Re:This is a read-only one but... by ebuck · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, if it's in the SkyMall magazine, I guess you could use it as a backup guidance system.

      Delivery would be a pain though. I would suggest DHL, as they have those nifty flying vans that could probably pull alongside the plane. Pay for the "ship it right now" shipping, as the 2-day delivery option isn't very useful when you really need a guidance system.

  15. Don't forget the penknives! by amarc · · Score: 2, Informative

    VICTORINOX SWISS MEMORY USB http://www.swissknifeshop.co.uk/swissmemory_standa rd.html 64mb - 1gb It's even penguin friendly!

  16. iDisk + something nefarious? by AgentPhunk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The only drive on the list that I thought would have any value (other than, aww heck I'll say it, the "Wierd"-ness factor) was the iDisk, and only then for its small footprint. Specifically, I thought its size would allow it to be easily inserted into a system, left there for a few days to collect data, and then recovered without anyone being the wiser. You'd need some time of AutoRun / rootkit to install a keystroke logger onto the host system, or perhaps a version of DSniff to capture interesting passwords going across the NICs. I see PCs in big retail stores dedicated employee-use that would be perfect candidates for this type of hack.

    Now, of course I'm NOT advocating this at all. Heck I'm a Security/Network admin, but these are the types of backdoors that bite you in the ass if you don't properly plan for them. My guess is that systems like this that have some type of management access but are not physically secure should have USB disabled via default (i.e. Group Policy), but that would be in bigger shops with a large-ish IT staff and at least some sembelence of a security policy. My bet is that your doctor's office DOESN'T, and that with a device like this you'd be able to accomplish a suprising amount of data collection without anyone knowing. Anyone out there in the SecAdmin side (or even BlackHat side) like to chime in?

  17. Weird? Not weird enough! by Kusunose · · Score: 2, Funny

    See these wearable USB memories!

  18. This is just an ad by rubberpaw · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is just an ad for Dynamism's USB products.

    Compare the items in the article to:
    http://www.dynamism.com/solidalliance/pricing.shtm l

    Having said that, I will say that the barbie USB port is just freaky. Wow.