Duality indeed exists in me. Just the other day I complained about membership cards and the hassle of having to carry them. Now I am about to rave about something that takes the shape of a card just so that you can carry it around easily.
(Credit:
TopTech Products)
It is a USB thumb (or I should say "card") drive from TopTech Products called a Slim Data USB Card. This is a really slim USB drive housed in a case that has the same physical shape as a regular credit card, but is just a tad thicker. When you want to use the drive, you just fold the card in half to reveal the USB connector.
Though original and with obvious practical intention, the device's design, I think, fails to optimize its purpose. As the actual USB drive is so much smaller than the whole device, it would make more sense to put more than one in a package and link them together to increase the storage capacity. Or just make the package smaller; there's no need to make the device with the exact shape and size of a regular credit card just so that you can call it a USB card.
Speaking of which, it would be nice if some credit company took this technology and embedded it onto their actual credit cards as a promotion for signing up. I would probably buy into this more than the junk mail they send.
Other than that, the Slim Data USB Card comes in a variety of colors, including clear, gray, orange, red, and blue. It comes in a 4GB capacity on the Web site, but you can also custom order devices of smaller capacities down to 1GB, and choose different colors. You can even have text printed on its surface.
The Slim Data USB Card weighs merely 0.3 ounce, is compatible with both USB 2.0 and USB 1.1, and is available for purchase now. The 4GB card costs $25.
Maybe it makes sense to have this one extra card in your wallet, now that you have replaced all other membership cards with the CardStar iPhone application.
Poor little cell phones
(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)It's always a good day at our house when the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly arrives in the mailbox. And when last week's summer double issue arrived, an already good day was made even better. I love top 10 lists, but Entertainment Weekly managed to maximize my pleasure with an entire issue dedicated to "Celebrating the new classics: The 1,000 best movies, TV shows, albums, books, and more of the past 25 years."
Though it started out as a good read the last article forced me to put down the magazine in disgust--I even made it past Die Hard earning ninth place in the top 100 best films from 1983 to 2008. In the list of "The 25 gadgets and innovations with the biggest effect on pop culture since 1983" I was aghast to find the cell phone nowhere on the list. How could a gadget that revolutionized Hollywood business deals, spawned a celebrity accessory culture and served as the main plot device in such cinematic achievements as Cellular get beaten out by the likes of the Amazon Kindle and stadium multiplex seating? To me, it's completely unfathomable. Of course, the iPod and TiVo landed in the top five (how could TiVo not make it?) but satellite radio hardly deserves its ninth-place ranking. Here's the tech that made the top ten.
- The DVD player
- Napster
- TiVo
- iPod
- YouTube
- Realistic CG characters
- Digital video cameras for consumers
- Flat panel TVs
- Satellite radio stations
- Stadium multiplex seating
The iPod's 2001 introduction also earned top honors in a readers' poll on the top pop culture moment of the last 25 years. It managed to knock out Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, Kurt Cobain's suicide and Ellen DeGeneres' "Coming Out" episode. Both Cobain and Jackson made it to the semifinals before a "late surge by Apple fans edged them out." Never underestimate the power of fanboys.
So what do you think? Do you agree that the cell phone was robbed of its deserved place on the list? And tell me about any other tech that you think Entertainment Weekly overlooked.
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