This is an edited version of my weekly column for Loose Wire Service, a service providing print publications with technology writing designed for the general reader. Email me if you’re interested in learning more. Sometimes it takes something like an earthquake to realize that you’re vulnerable. Once the ground stops shaking and you’ve begun to… Read More »
It’s finally arrived: the USB flash drive that thinks it’s a floppy disk. It was like this: For years stuff — data, programs — was moved around via a floppy disk. First they were big 5” things, then they shrank to 3”. Iomega tried to win people over with ZIP drives but they never really penetrated… Read More »
Update Nov 6 2006: To avoid confusion I’ve moved all this back to the original page. Here’s a directory of applications designed to run on USB drives, a subject I wrote about in the AWSJ and WSJ.com (subscription required; sorry). This list includes those suggestions kindly sent in by readers from the last posting. Please… Read More »
I had an interesting conversation the other day with Trek 2000’s chief financial officer, Gurcharan Singh. Trek, a Singapore company, claim to be the originators of the USB drive, or thumb drive as they call it, and are currently sueing a company called M-Systems in a test case over who owns the patent for putting flash… Read More »
The Brits have succeeded in squeezing a terabyte onto a DVD disk, 10 times what the BluRay disks can currently hold and 50 times the capacity of a double-sided, double-layed DVD. Nature reports that the disk is called MODS, for Multiplexed Optical Data Storage, and could potentially contain 472 hours of video footage – equivalent… Read More »