] In recent months, these slender solid-state memory chips -
] known by many names, but officially U.S.B. flash drives -
] have increasingly been seen blinking from the ports of
] computers in classrooms and libraries, conference rooms
] and offices, coffee shops and airport lounges.
]
] And when the devices, which can cost less than a music
] CD, are not being used to store or retrieve data, they
] often dangle from key chains and backpacks - or even from
] the necks of users - as if pendants signifying a cult of
] convenient computing.

In the late nineties JLM wrote an essay on the death of the floppy disk. It was in response to a class assignment in which he was asked to design one.

What is the point, he asked, of having a floppy disk when you have the internet?

Well, the floppy disk is still here, and apparently its becoming somewhat of a fad.

I'm having a hard time with this. I want one. I'm not sure why. Basically, its a techno toy. I don't know what I would do with it, but its cheap, so who cares? Put it on my key ring... maybe it comes in handy some day.

Trouble is that everytime I think I might have a use for one, scp comes to the rescue. I can move whatever I want to the Memestreams webserver and grab it later. So what's the point? Why can't everyone use one of those web file storage services?

Part of this is the ease of use factor. People have trouble getting their computers to fileshare properly, but the USB drive is simple. Bandwidth issues sometimes matter. So do oppressive corporate firewalls.

But a fashion statement? What does it say? I'm enough of a computer geek to want to wear a computer peripheral around my neck, but I'm not enough of a computer geek to have figured out how to use the internet for this instead?

] And when the devices, which can cost less than a music
] CD, are not being used to store or retrieve data, they
] often dangle from key chains and backpacks - or even from
] the necks of users - as if pendants signifying a cult of
] convenient computing.

I'm having a hard time with this. I want one. I'm not sure why. Basically, its a techno toy. I don't know what I would do with it, but its cheap, so who cares? Put it on my key ring... maybe it comes in handy some day.

Trouble is that everytime I think I might have a use for one, scp comes to the rescue. I can move whatever I want to the Memestreams webserver and grab it later. So what's the point? Why can't everyone use one of those web file storage services?

But a fashion statement? What does it say? I'm enough of a computer geek to want to wear a computer peripheral around my neck, but I'm not enough of a computer geek to have figured out how to use the internet for this instead?

[ I have one. I use it as sort of a backup and persistent copy of things i might want handy without futzing with the computer. My resume, current project notes, desktop backgrounds, encrypted copy of my passwords, etc. It's also helpful for programs or utilities that you can't deal without but other people might not have. Putty, for example, and WinSCP. And yes, when the office IT staff is so draconian that you can't get shit across the network, or when they won't allow non-company equipment on the network, so there's no other way, the usb key is the answer.

I can't speak for it's chic appeal. I don't use the lanyard, and unless i was using the damn thing constantly, wouldn't ever. But I understand the technology fetishism enough not to be bothered by it. The next step is the Hello Kitty USB flash drive, or the GI Joe one, in camo. Anyway, my "keychain" is an aluminum ring that used to separate hard disk platters, so, who'm i to talk anyway. -k]