Technofile: Back in the mid-to-late 1980s I helped publish a student rag using one floppy disk and, at the time, a cutting-edge computer called an Apple Macintosh.
Our state-of-the-art device could, though achingly slowly, run a one megabyte (MB) disk containing the crucial desktop publishing software for the magazine. Today, I carry around something called a USB key drive, which effortlessly holds 128MB of data. That's a lot of magazines.
But the largely defunct floppy disk and the USB drive still have one thing in common; if lost, someone would still be able to access the data fairly easily. Something that was never a good prospect when our rival student rag was trying to find out our scoop about bar prices in the union, and it's an even worse prospect now that I actually have data "worth" keeping private.
So it was with some interest that I came across a product from a company called LittleBrother (www.little brother.net), which styles itself - in a somewhat James Bond fashion - as a Biometric security company.
They have come out with the BioDisk, which is basically a USB drive memory stick with a difference. A gold-coloured square on its side is actually a finger-print reader, which, when combined with software for the PC, will only unlock the content of the disk with the owner's fingerprint.
Costing around €100, the BioDisk uses what is known as flash memory - a solid state chip that holds data and which, unlike a hard drive, has no moving parts.
The BioDisk is the size of a thumb, plugs directly into a computer's USB port and will store up to 64MB - that's the equivalent of more than 40 floppy disks.
The Biodisk is also available in higher memory options including 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and soon a 1 gigabyte version. Oh, if I'd only had one of these in my student days!
Because of its security features and unlike other key drives, the BioDisk means that it's possible to move more sensitive data between, say, work and home, without the fear that it may fall into prying hands, and on a device which can fit in a pocket or on your belt.
Of interest to governments - and James Bond of course - is the fact that the BioDisk also protects you from falling foul of the latest data protection legislation, which covers the safe and secure storage of sensitive files.
Of course, you can get data storage in a number of varieties these days. A new Israeli firm, M-Systems, even proposes the common-or-garden SIM card, which ships with all GSM phones, could be made to hold as much as 1GB. Their card, dubbed MegaSIM, will be available in the second half of 2005, with flash storage capacities initially ranging from 16-256MB. They may be onto something: 800 million SIM cards will be sold in 2004.
And BioDisk is not the only new USB flash disk. The new I-stick from aigo (www.aigo. com.sg) is a mere 2.8mm thick and weighs approximately three grams.
And Imation (www.imationltd.co.uk) is now shipping a whopping 2GB USB 2.0 flash drive with a nifty swivel design that ensures the cap will never be lost.
It all adds up to a lot of choice for the businessperson who wants to carry around a filing cabinet of PowerPoint presentations and company data - or even several hundred student magazines - in their pocket.
Mike Butcher edits mbites.com
