Backbone Magazine - Use Any Computer as Your Computer

The first music video broadcast by MTV 25 years ago was "Video Killed the Radio Star." Although we will likely never see a video celebrating USB flash drives, it would be a valid song, as these small storage devices have killed both floppy and Zip drives.
More importantly, though, a new generation of these small drives is moving beyond simple data storage. Called U3 or smart drives, these devices can also launch applications. That means you can take data and applications with you, work on another computer and then return to your home or office with all of your current files. And the next person who uses that computer cannot see your files because copies are not left behind.
If this is new information to you, don’t be surprised: the industry has done a poor job promoting these new flash drives. Eventually, all flash drives will be smart.

Going on a business trip? All you need to carry is a smart drive. You can find a computer in just about any office or home you visit, plus most hotels. Before leaving the office for the first time with your new U3 drive, you will need to configure it to your requirements. First, install any applications that aren’t already on the drive. For most users, this will mean an office suite, an e-mail application and a Web browser. There are a number of alternatives, all of which are compatible with Microsoft Office applications. Because applications are installed on the U3 drive, using applications on the borrowed computer is not required, although it is an option.
    All vendors of U3 drives, and that includes SanDisk, Verbatim, Kingston and other familiar names, bundle applications with their drives. Typically bundles include security software, synchronization and other utilities.
    Only U3-compatible applications can be installed on these drives. A complete list is at www.u3.com.
    There are dozens of good applications in most major business and personal categories, and many are free. In fact, none of the U3-compatible applications are expensive. Most range from $15 to $30, with only a few costing more than $30.
    Three solid applications available for free are Thunderbird, Firefox and OpenOffice. The U3 versions work just like the desktop versions and these applications match up well with Outlook Express, Internet

Thumb Phone Calls

Conventional flash drives
have life left in them, as
Vonage demonstrated recently with
its new V-Phone. The units cost as
little as $30; calling plans start at $20.
The 256MB flash drive has Vonage Talk
software pre-loaded, leaving 250MB of
free storage space.
The V-Phone comes with a detachable
stereo earpiece microphone that clips
into a jack on the side of the flash
drive and enables phone calls from
any computer (running Windows 98SE
or later) with a broadband Internet
connection. Vonage supplies a phone
number in the area code of your
choice and the usual amenities,
such as voice mail. The ear buds
and tiny speaker are a limiting
factor in the sound quality.
Better results can be had
with a good headphone
microphone or similar equipment,
but that would be less portable.

Explorer and Microsoft Office, respectively.
    When a U3 drive is plugged into the USB port of a computer running Windows (2000 with Service Pack 4 or newer), a U3 launch pad appears on screen. This is very much like the Windows Start menu, but simpler, and is used to launch applications installed on the smart drive. The same menu has utilities to manage both applications and the drive, as well as to install new applications.
    Working in a U3 environment is very similar to computing in a Windows environment, so there is little to learn. Wherever there are differences, the situation is simpler in the U3 case. A good example is downloading and installing applications, which is a single step from a menu in the U3 launch pad. There are no folders to choose for the download, no paths to create at installation; choose the application from a list and the drive’s software does the rest.
    Next, use the pre-installed synchronization software to choose the files you want to take. Most people choose the entire contents of their My Documents folder, plus e-mail messages and Internet favourites.
    It is important to choose a good password to protect your files on the smart drive. Each time you finish with the U3 drive, it will sync with your computer and you will walk away with the latest version of every file, encrypted and password protected. When you return to the office and plug in again, any changed or new files will be synchronized with the computer.

This is a new approach to ultra-portable computing and it works well for many. It won’t slow you down as you negotiate airport security, something that can’t be said for a laptop these days. Should you lose your drive, you’re only out about $50 in hardware. That’s easy to shrug off. Your data is encrypted and of no value to anyone but you, whereas losing a laptop is a major event, especially as the data is seldom encrypted.
Dr. Alexandra Tcheremenska, a physician who works in the Ottawa area and visits university campuses frequently to teach courses, is an avid user of flash drives.

"Last year…I suddenly had a glimpse of the future where data keys have transformed computers into desks. Only a year later, I am living in that future. A 4GB encrypted data key is all one needs to work from any desktop computer, so my laptop is so passé—I no longer travel with a computer."
Dr. Tcheremenska added that university students, especially those with limited funds for technology, are adopting the flash drive approach rather than buying notebook computers, and she said she has never been far from a computer on campus or on her trips to conferences, and has never regretted her decision to leave the notebook behind.

The USB flash drive doesn’t have a long history. It was invented in 1998 but the first drive to reach North America was the IBM 8MB Memory Key in 2001. Since then developments have occurred rapidly.
Drives keep getting faster, cheaper and larger in terms of storage space; 4GB drives are available now, with bigger ones on the horizon. The early drives supported USB 1.1 but the much faster USB 2.0 is the new norm. The price of a 1GB drive is well under $50 and plunging and the cost per megabyte of storage has dropped more than 90 per cent in the past two years alone.
The new U3 drives do everything conventional flash drives do, but they incorporate a processor and an operating system. That’s what makes them "smart" and gives them some of the characteristics of a computer. U3 drives look no different than older drives; they aren’t bigger, heavier or more expensive.