Summary
Falling prices, flexibility and increased memory capacity have resulted in a greater market for flash drives, as well as new alliances formed between software and flashdrive manufacturers that promise greater access for consumers.
Original source:
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=AP&Date=20051007&ID=5175024
Details
Students at Eastside Preparatory School in Kirkland, Wash., are getting class materials in a new way this year: on a tiny flash-memory drive that plugs into a computer's USB port.
Falling prices in computer memory have made these little flash drives -- also called pen, thumb or key drives -- into enormously powerful tools that are on the verge of changing the concept of "personal" computing.
A few years ago Jay Elliot was looking for a way to help doctors move medical information securely and decided that flash memory -- which has no moving parts, unlike hard-disk storage -- was the perfect solution.
But as memory prices kept falling, he realized there was room for more than just data.
So he invented Migo, software that lets removable storage devices such as USB drives and iPods essentially function as portable computers.
Plug a Migo-enabled device into a computer and enter your password, and a secure session launches in which you can send and receive e-mail and work on documents, with the background desktop and icons from your own PC rather than the ones on the host computer.
Skype Technologies SA's Internet phone software is also available, meaning almost any computer can be used to make free calls over Skype, even if the computer owner never bothered to download Skype.
"It becomes very, very malleable, and very creative on the part of the teacher, because the teacher can go beyond textbooks," he said.
For the business world, startup Realm Systems Inc. soon plans to roll out its own USB-based "mobile personal servers," with several gigabytes of
memory for a few hundred dollars a pop, that could be plugged into any PC to let mobile employees do their computer-related work.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams created TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also the CEO of a highly successful email newsletter software company that develops software used to send permission email campaigns to subscribers. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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Tuesday, November 08, 2005
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