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The BCD-rockin' USB Smart Flash Drive
Sure, this flash drive isn't covertly disguised as a teddy bear or housing an exceedingly capacious 64GB of storage, but it does have one thing going for it: brains. The aptly-named USB Smart Flash Drive apparently does a little thinking of its own while holding tight to your precious data, and conveys that knowledge via the Bi-stable Cholesteric Display. Although it proudly touts itself as the "world's first smart flash drive," we (and Corsair) would certainly beg to differ. Nevertheless, a little BCD competition never hurt anyone, and this rendition boasts a sleek, black enclosure, 11 character customizable display, on-the-fly readouts of megabyte usage (both numerically and graphically), LCD read / write indicator, write protect switch, and USB 2.0 connectivity. Coming in 256MB (£27.99; $53), 512MB (£29.99; $57), 1GB (£64.99; $123) and 2GB (£74.99; $142) flavors, these bright (ahem) flash drives are available now to keep you posted on just how much (or little) info you're toting.[Via Red Ferret]
The USB, um, syringe
We kind of hoped Kiloo's crack cocaine business model wouldn't give way to further narcotization in the gadget industry, but it sounds like they really struck a chord with the easily addicted among us. Today's piece of paraphernalia is a rather, um, colorful USB drive ranging in sizes from 128MB to 1GB, which we're lovingly dubbing the Doherty Drive. Crack-rock n' roll dude.
Pasha De Cartier's luxurious USB flash drive
While there's a USB drive for just about every obsession or off-the-wall niche out there, we're glad to see that the same folks rocking the million dollar beds, musical showers, and D&G RAZRs can finally toss a USB memory stick on their keychain that expresses their style status. Pasha De Cartier, the world renowned French jeweler, has unveiled a 1GB flash drive that supposedly borrows styling cues from the eloquent line of Pasha watches. Surrounding the stainless steel bezel are numerical etchings that resemble the dial of a luxurious timepiece, a nice, if purposeless, touch. To cap it off, the device rocks a silk drawstring that's likely to be worth more than your entire stash of flash memory alone, and of course, the engraved "Cartier" is nothing short of priceless. While this just may be the most expensive way to carry around 1GB of data, its price is likely the least of your worries if you're even pondering picking this up.[Via Sybarites]
USB pendant magically locates lost objects
You are getting sleepy, very sleepy. You eyelids are slowly drooping, drooping down. You have seen your fair share of USB flash drives, but this 256MB USB pendant from Solid Alliance is certainly a first. In addition to acting like a plain old storage device, the pendant promises to help you find your lost items just by loading photos of them onto the drive -- which admittedly could prove a bit challenging since the object is, well, lost. You then simply hold out the pendant and let it lead the way. You will not question its dubious efficacy, and you can get one for ¥9,800 (that's $85 US). When we snap our fingers, you will wake up feeling refreshed,and unaware this occurred.[Via Engadget Japanese]
Venzero's "LifeSaver" USB drive
Venzero's trio of digital audio players still aren't even shipping yet but the company's already expanding its product line-up, now also taking pre-orders for its boldly-named LifeSaver USB drive. While not candy-colored, the 8GB Microdrive promises to live up to its name by including backup software and a "mobile desktop" on the drive, which'll let you access your files and run programs like Skype or Firefox on any Windows PC without having to install anything (ala U3). Unlike its other devices, Venzero's only providing the Euro price for the LifeSaver: €149, or about $190. Guess we'll just have to wait and see if it gets a price drop similar to Venzero's LilOne when it hits stateside next month.
Sony's Micro Vault Tiny now officially shipping in the US
Hey "fashion-forward consumers," yeah you. Sony's uh, "byte sized" Micro Vault Tiny USB drive is now shipping in the US. That's the official Sony poop although the Tiny, as Sony likes to call them, was spotted weeks ago giving some of you that 1.0 x 0.5-inch storage fix you obviously crave. About the thickness of a US quarter and weighing in at 1.5-grams, the drive ships in 5 capacity/color combinations: 256MB (orange), 512MB (violet), 1GB (blue), 2GB (green) on up to 4GB for the full-sized purple-nurple. Tiny comes preloaded with Virtual Expander built-in to automatically compress and decompress data albeit with a hit on access speed. All but the 4GB model are shipping now at an MSRP ranging from $30 to $200.
Modmen adds flash memory to the DMB tuner
USB DMB adapters are a dime a dozen these days (well, overseas at least), but how many of them can store their own drivers and a few videos to boot? A new model from Modmen can, as it packs in either 512MB or 1GB of storage space along with the digital TV tuner -- perfect for turning any Windows machine into a de facto entertainment center. Koreans can supposedly pick these up right away, though we have no idea what they'll be paying.
Sony's Microvault Tiny USB drive for the ladies
We're still not sure why you'd want to buy a USB thumb drive so small that you'll probably lose it within the first week, but that hasn't stopped companies like Pretec, Lexar, OCZ, and PQI -- and now Sony -- from battling it out until one of them finally achieves the holy grail of a completely invisible storage solution. Well even though they may not be the smallest drives around, Sony's new 1.5-gram Microvault Tiny line is looking to stand out from the crowd by sporting "fashionable" cases for appealing to the female demographic -- although it's not clear how many women will be into outdated designs that resemble 20th Century iMacs. Only available in South Korea for now, the drives range in capacity from 256MB ($30) to 2GB ($124), and in one of the strangest promotions we've ever seen, actually come with a bottle of matching nail polish as a free gift-- so even if you lose the drive, you can still look down at your hands and reminisce about all the good times you and your Tiny had reading and writing data together.Update: Some eagle-eyed readers have already spotted these devices Stateside at Target, so scratch that part about exclusive South Korean availability.[Via Shiny Shiny]
Buffalo drops 4GB USB drive
Having already joined the ranks of 8GB thumb drives, Buffalo has busted out a separate line of "entry-level" USB drives that top out at a mere 4GB. The RUF2-E series apparently don't have the same "UltraSpeed" transfer times of the higher-end RUF2-R series, and they've further differentiated them with a questionable clear bluish-purple casing. Prices start our reasonably at 2,000 Yen ($17 US) for the 128MB model, but you'll have to fork over a whopping 47,800 Yen (or $415 US) for the pleasure of being able to carry 4GB on a string.[Via Digital World Tokyo]
Sony to offer fast, high capacity Micro Vaults
Sony will soon be bulking up its line of Micro Vault USB thumb drives, so to speak, by adding several new models that offer either increased capacity, increased transfer speeds, or both. Though not reaching the 8GB plateau of the Micro Vault Pro, the upcoming units still manage to pack between 256MB and 4GB of data into a pocketable design, and all feature Sony's Virtual Expander software for automatically compressing your bits to store up to three times the drive's labeled capacity. Besides the storage boost, Sony will be offering the same size drives in a lineup called the Excellence range, which promise zippier read and write speeds of 29Mbps and 23Mbps, respectively. While all the new models are expected later this month, Sony is keeping pricing details...hold for terrible pun...locked up in the "vault."
