Tag Archives: USB flash drive

A Directory Of Programs Designed For USB Drives

Update: Nov 28, 2006… Alan in the comments tells me of Pstart, “a simple tray tool to start user defined applications. Designed to run portable applications (like portable Firefox & Thunderbird), you can start anything runnable from USB key devices or removable disks.”   Please keep the suggestions coming, either via the comments or by… Read More »

Say Goodbye To The USB Flash Drive?

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 »

iPod, National Security Threat

Companies, governments, institutions: beware of the dude carrying an iPod. Bernhard Warner, Reuters’ excellent European Internet Correspondent, points out that the high-capacity iPod is getting banned from a lot of places as high-tech security risk. The UK’s Ministry of Defence “has become the latest organisation to add the iPod to its list of high-tech security… Read More »

This week’s column – Visualizing Tools

This week’s Loose Wire column takes a look at programs that visualize your hard disk. ONE OF THE CRAZY THINGS about computers is that the more we use them, the more of a mystery they become. Think of all the things you’ve done with your computer: reading and writing e-mail, browsing Web sites, downloading (and… Read More »

This week’s column – Flash Drives Aren’t Flash

This week’s Loose Wire column is about Flash drives:  I LEFT YOU last week in the capable hands of Ethel Girdle, the fictitious octogenarian who took her accusations of built-in obsolescence to the technology giants. One of her beefs was about so-called flash drives–small devices that store data, for example as memory cards for MP3… Read More »