Can You Imagine A World Without The USB Stick?

USB Flash memory has become ubiquitous in the U.S the UK and all over the globe. Along with the many uses one can have for portable transport of digital information, capacity, speed, and compatibility are not the foremost worries.  Style, physical size, and shape can all be major factors when one is interested in purchasing flash memory.  I have come up with what I consider to be important things to know: regarding, the Flash Drive and USB storage.

A flash drive was used in the animated movie: Superman vs. The Elite, to pass on top secret information.

Flash drives with the capacity of a Terabyte are coming to an electronics store near you, with 2 Terabyte – capacity drives right on their heels, so to speak.  This information I gleaned from a C-Net Article a few weeks back – so you know what?  You may already have a Terabyte Flash Drive as we speak.  Or read.  But read on nonetheless – this could be interesting.

Image is licensed under CC Attribution

The first  USB Memory Sticks were first released commercially in 2000 by IBM and Trek Technology.  According to Wikipedia, the true inventor of the USB Flash Drive is a subject of controversy.

Use of USB memory sticks as promotional gifts with a company logo engraved will become a common practice.

A USB Flash Drive fashioned into the shape of an aerodynamic projectile, inserted into an appropriate mechanism and (this part is important) fired with proper aim, can be used to attach a porn-filled “poison pill” into a neighbors computer.  Or, it can be used in some other – similar fashion.

More practical uses of a custom USB stick would normally include carrying music and other media, data files such as spreadsheets or the current novel or novella being brought to life.
Evil, yet practical uses of a custom USB might include the “shotgun porn-stick” mentioned above but can also include making a bootable flash stick that has the ability to override or erase a users’ password in order to access an operating system, (this is very easy to do IMHO).

The same method would be used to insert a virus into a computer or a remote eavesdropping device as used in the cable series Breaking Bad (though I’m not sure as to how easily that particular type of programming would work, one would think that it is just matter of downloading an App).

An entire operating system can be run from a custom USB Flash drive, this is great for those who have older computers and wish to run a faster OS such as Linux without deleting the older slower OS currently on the computer. Along with that same vein, all sorts of Applications can be run from a custom USB drive.

USB storage drives have replaced Floppy drives and CD Drives and are in the process of replacing Hard Drives and DVD drives as well.   That’s a whole lot of E-Waste, but in the long run, things will get more interesting as this storage device will no doubt undergo more changes until we see today’s USB flash drives as barbaric as a ZIP Drive.

This post was written by Alan Dhillion a tech nerd and lover of all things shiny, he recommends http://www.usbtrader.com/ for safe not evil! USB sticks.

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