Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

I seem to be fighting some manner of cold or flu today, not sure which it is, so we’ll keep these brief this morning. As cool as this USB Bomb flash drive might look, I’m afraid it isn’t actually for sale. It was designed by Joel Escalona Studio to serve as a “metaphoric and conceptual object designed to be show on a desk or a work place not so much to carry around.” But they are looking for someone to make it a reality, so if you happen to have a novelty USB flash drive factory at your disposal, why not drop them a line?

[ Bomb USB Memory ] VIA [ Likecool ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Instructables member ‘laxap‘ has posted a relatively painless tutorial on how to turn an actual cigar into a glowing, fully functional USB flash drive. The most involved part of the build is trimming, boring and then completely sealing the cigar inside and out using a wood primer, but there’s also a bit of wiring and soldering involved in order to replace the cannibalized flash drive’s read/write LED with one that will cause the tip of the cigar to light up while the drive is being accessed.

[ Instructables - USB Cigar Flash Memory ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Lets say that you purchased yourself a new netbook not long ago, and come this fall you decide to upgrade to Windows 7. How exactly are you planning on doing that without an optical drive? Sure, with you being the tech-savvy customer, you won’t have too much trouble doing this. Of course not every person is going to have such an easy time, which is why Microsoft is considering releasing the next version of Windows on a USB flash drive.

I’m glad to hear that Microsoft is considering this alternative installation method. Granted, users can  download their copy of Windows, but not everyone wants to mess with it. The USB drive would be simple and straight-forward. My biggest question is whether or not Microsoft would charge more for a flash drive, since they do cost a few bucks more than a disc.

[ Cnet ] VIA [ EverythingUSB ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I like this idea. Sanwa has taken your normal, everyday USB flash drive and simply added an eSata connector to the other end, allowing for transfer speeds of up to 75MB/sec if your PC happens to have an external eSata port. The flash drives, which not surprisingly are only available in Japan, will come in 16 & 32GB capacities and will hopefully not cost much more than a similarly equipped USB-only flash drive.

[ Akihabara News - Dual USB and eSATA 32 Memory Key from Sanwa ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Hey look, it’s more USB LEGO fun from Etsy seller 123smile! Last time we checked in they had crammed a 4 port USB hub into a LEGO DUPLO brick, and this time they’ve merged a 1GB USB flash drive with a transparent 1×2 LEGO plate. Made in West Germany with “professional equipment” the drives support pretty much every OS you’d need them to, have an LED busy light that’s visible through the transparent plastic and even include a protective cap and a keyring plate made from other LEGO pieces.

The drives are available in pretty much every color LEGO makes, and they can even be assembled with non-transparent pieces if you so desire. But $49.95 is a bit steep for just a 1GB flash drive, no matter how nostalgic it may seem.

[ Etsy – 1GB Nano USB Stick in a 1×2 Lego Plate ] VIA [ Digital Drops ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Since everyone started using that fancy ‘delete key’ the lowly eraser just isn’t in as much demand as it used to be. But the surefire way to make any product more useful these days is to somehow integrate it with a USB flash drive. And that’s exactly what Studioroom906 has done with their Eraser USB Memories Stick. Besides helping you correct paper-based mistakes and protecting the flash drive if it’s dropped, the eraser housing also provides a continually changing design and form factor for the drive as it’s worn away over time.

[ Studioroom906 - Eraser USB Memories Stick ] VIA [ ALBOTAS ]

By Luke Anderson

Most laptops today come with over 100GB of hard drive space, which is plenty for most people. Honestly, even with my entire music collection littering my MacBook Pro, I still have more room than I think I’ll really ever use. However, if you deal with large file sizes and don’t feel like lugging around a portable hard drive, then you may want to check out the latest flash drives from Kingston.

My very first flash drive had a whopping 64MB of storage, which seemed pretty cool back when they were first coming out. When compared to this new 64GB DataTraveler drive, it seems downright puny. The drive comes in both 32GB and 64GB varieties and will set you back $69 and $129 respectively.

[ Kingston ] VIA [ EverythingUSB ]

By Jonathan Kimak

There are tons of USB gadgets out there to amuse us while we work. And while the people who invent these things usually want to appeal to a large market, this USB Humping Bunny seems like a niche market gadget.

The Humping Bunny is a 1GB USB drive with a plastic bunny attached to it. When you plug it into a USB slot the Bunny begins to perform the tender act of love on your computer. This could be amusing for about 2 minutes, after which you’re stuck with this little plastic lothario that just won’t stop giving it to your laptop.

If for some reason this still appeals to you, you can get one for $15.

[ USB Humping Bunnies ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Luke Anderson

I’m very glad that I’m living in the age I do. Sure, part of my childhood was spent using floppy disks as a medium of storage, but thankfully CD’s and later USB flash drives became a much better alternative. I believe the last time I even used a floppy disk was to install SATA drivers on a Windows XP machine a year or two ago. Well if you’re into the retro thing and want to relive the “good ol’ days” then check out these USB Floppy Disks.

This concept calls for the use of actual recycled floppy disks to house some type of USB storage. If these could be created for a decent price, I think there would be a decent market for them. You’d definitely get some strange looks pulling out a floppy disk and hooking it up to your computer.

[ CoroFlot ] VIA [ Core77 ]