The InSync twisting, turning hard drive

Is every external hard drive starting to look the same to you? Well, chances are you've never seen a one-touch, er, one-twist, storage device like this. The InSync external HD blends style with functionality by displaying the synchronization status via ambient visual cues. The drive initiates a sync with just a twist from the user, and the progress is represented by the degree of (mis)alignment of the cube's face with its base -- the less overlap between the two file structures, the more the hard drive morphs until the cube form is restored. So if watching numbers on a screen slowly tick by just doesn't provide the motivation you need to back-up your rig, the Insync HD might just provide the motivation necessary to get the job done. Too bad it's currently only Oren Horev's final project at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea -- any drive companies out there want to buy this design and put out a run?

[Via Infosthetics]

[r2 @ Jul 24th 2006 1:45PM]

I, for one, welcome our new....

sorry, I got carried away.

[blackfeather @ Jul 24th 2006 2:03PM]

worst interface ever.

[Rohit Kapur @ Jul 24th 2006 2:05PM]

Okay. Who the fuck started the whole "I, for one, welcome our overlords" thing anyway?

P.S.: Yes, I do believe it's funny. But I do wanna know who's the pioneer of it all.

[AllMadeInTaiwan @ Jul 24th 2006 2:17PM]

It's from an episode of the Simpsons when Homer goes into outerspace. The ants get out of their farm and fly through the air toward the camera. So Kent Brockman says something like, "I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords."

At least, that's where I think it came from...

[Gil @ Jul 24th 2006 2:31PM]

Rohit: Futurama or the Simpsons (I'm not entirely sure who was first)

[Rohit Kapur @ Jul 24th 2006 2:36PM]

Isn't it amazing though? These silly lines suddenly become part of daily conversation (or daily Engadget conversation, anyway). I love the Simpsons. Brilliantly funny stuff. Gotta hand it to Matt Groening...

[Crackpipe @ Jul 24th 2006 2:49PM]

if you google "I, for one, welcome our" in quotes, you find a plethora of entries. On Wikipedia, Slashdot supposedly was the first to use the quote (and change it) taken from the said Simpsons episode. They even gave the Simpson writers credit. The original phrase used by the Kent Brockman character was "I, for one, welcome our insect overlords" and slashdot used the phrase "I, for one, welcome our fungal overlords"

So I guess I need to say something about that cubey harddrive. it's $gimmicky$

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_subculture
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7988&cid=736976

[blackfeather @ Jul 24th 2006 3:23PM]

And Kent Brockman was actually snocloning the 1977 classic, "Empire of the Ants"... See for yourself:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075989/

[Ryan @ Jul 24th 2006 3:48PM]

It carried over from Slashdot, actually. It was (and still is) posted about 20 times to any story on Slashdot, but I guess the trolls decided to branch out a bit.

It's one of the stupid slashdot memes like hot grits and Natalie Portman, the underpants gnome business plan from South Park, and making fun of Microsoft.

[loquacious @ Jul 24th 2006 6:10PM]

I, for one, welcome our new Natalie hot ant grit Portman pants overlords.

Oh, twisty cube drive thingy. Neat, but meh. It'd end up walking itself off my desk or twisting itself in half with the way I handle files.

Hell, just a week ago someone was asking if I had some file or another. Some server crashed. I knew I had it, but I didn't know where; Which drive, which computer, much less which folder-path. It took a keyword string from a *third party* who has never even touched my computer, much less seen it, to find them. That was depressing. I need a Google appliance on my home LAN.

[blackfeather @ Jul 25th 2006 1:41PM]

I didn't understand anything you just said...

[rutsy5 @ Jul 26th 2006 10:23PM]

loquacious, maybe you should try google desktop, which i beleive can search multiple drives... very fast and easy... as for the drive, i think its butt-ugly :)