Flash of the titans

I never leave home without it. My sister, a college junior, attaches it to her ID so it’s never far from her. Some of my friends even chain it next to their car keys.

I’m talking about flash drives, those teensy little things that have replaced the diskette.

A good six months ago, I was online at about 6 a.m. when a friend of mine in New York sends me an instant message. “Tell me which is better,” she asks over IM — skipping the usual hello (as old friends often do) — and proceeds to send me links to various flash drives: cartoonish Mimobots with cute, printed exteriors that belie their power (these babies can carry up to four gig in memory), and gorgeously-rendered flash disks made to look like jewelry.

“Pick the Mimobot,” I type into the chat box. “It looks like something a kindergartener would own. No one who sees you using it will take you seriously.”

Two months later, said friend comes home and hands me a blue Mimobot with a smiling robot face. “Now no one will take you seriously, too,” she says with a smile.

Readers, here’s a confession: I loved it. My new USB drive looked like the kind of goofy toy those cute nerds in third grade would trot to school and show off.

Small and earnest with a cute smile that seemed to cheer me up every time I would exhaustedly plug it into my computer — after an entire night of studious procrastination — to load the 300 MB files I needed to complete my pages for YStyle every week, my Mimobot was the perfect electronic pick-me-up.

I lost it a few months later. I mourned its loss for a good two weeks before I went out and purchased a replacement.

A no-fuss Samsung flash drive has been my workhorse storage bin since the demise of my Mimobot. Small and sleek, boasting a gray cover with no flashy text or techie prints marring the exterior, it’s powerful and efficient. Fun? Not quite.

After my last flash disk, it seemed difficult for any of the run-of-the-mill USB drives to come up to snuff.

Designed by Mimoco, “a designer toy studio meets consumer electronics brand” as their bio states, the Mimobots look like something straight out of Japanese anime (though the company studio is actually located in Boston).

Two inches small and in a range of designs — Mimoco regularly commissions artists for ongoing collaborations and also scores licensed entertainment franchises like Star Wars for limited-edition USB drives — these babies make work more fun. The Tokidoki pirate Mimobot is especially cute. I’m a huge fan of Tokidoki and, thanks to Johnny Depp, I can add pirates to my list of “best things ever.” So this memory disk is a particular favorite (*cough* hint *cough*).

Flash Dance

Memory disks make for convincing accessories these days. Sci-fi films seemed to paint futuristic fashion as the look of tomorrow. Chic accessories doubled as micro-computers or some kind of fantastic super weapon. But reality has painted a gloomier picture: where fanny packs are the height of fashion and chunky plastic trim serves as embellishment. Ick. 

Not anymore. A quick scan of Disks on Key (diskonkey.blogspot.com), a blog devoted to all things novel in the world of USB drives, proves that fashion and technology can marry and bear wearable offspring. Soon-to-be-launched cufflink flash disks make a perfect gift for a super spy — or, like, your dad.

Necklace and bracelet memory disks are common — and most aren’t even that stylish. You’re better off just painting your old one with neon puff paint, hooking it to a handmade knit chain and calling it Lisa Frank-inspired than finding something suitably stylish. But a leather bracelet by München passes muster, while a Swarovski ring (just brilliant!) hides a flash card underneath its brilliant facets.

Waif Of The Future

The future of gadgets appears to be heading in a Lilliputian direction. Sony’s Micro Vault Tiny USB drive is small enough to be mistaken for a SIM card but can store a hell of a lot more than an address book. These byte-sized (heh, get it?) wonders can store up to 4 GB.

But there’s a downside to all this micro-tech business.

When will designers learn that micro-mini cellphones and gadgets tend to get lost in the jumble of crap that makes up my handbag? Memo to Silicon Valley: It should be small enough to fit comfortably in my palm but not so small I’ll need a magnifying glass and a search party to find it in my bag. Are you listening, Bill and Steve?

A patent-pending concept (read: not yet available) memory disk designed by Dima Komissarov is so mind-blowingly awesome, I feel like a retard for not thinking of it first. “The size of the device changes depending on the amount of data it holds,” reads the product’s mission statement. Sounds simple? Not quite. Designed like an inflatable balloon, the disk grows in size whenever you add more files to the drive.

“When the device is about to blow up you will see the familiar error message on your screen: ‘There is not enough free space,’” reads Flashbag’s product bio. “When switched off the Flashbag remains pumped up, so you can estimate with the naked eye how much more pictures, books and music albums can be transferred into it.”

Perhaps the niftiest memory disk I’ve come across is one attached to a Swiss army knife. I’m guessing today’s Wii/Playstation generation is more likely to find themselves in a tech-related emergency instead of the usual jungle/camp/outdoorsy problem that requires a screwdriver or bottle opener. The new Swiss Army knife boasts a flash drive (for those data emergencies, like transferring downloaded episodes of Gossip Girl from your work desktop to your own laptop before the clock strikes six), LED light (for when you need to apply eyeliner in the dark), Swiss Army knife (for those tricky container lids — wouldn’t want to break a manicured nail would we?) and pen (for listing your beauty must-buys on-the-fly).

Drive Buy

Today’s file storage gadgets are getting so cute most people won’t have to choose function over form any longer. (Although a dull old USB is plenty effective if you’re not in the mood for jazzier accessories. People who fall into the “don’t-care-how-it-looks-just-as-long-as-it-works” category probably won’t purchase a fun disk drive, but they’re a minority — a very stick-in-the-mud minority.)

Before you know it, flash disks will have designer collaborations like cell phones. Imagine a Prada USB (very utilitarian, black with small lettered font of the label discreetly spelled out in red) or Versace memory disk (flashy, shiny with the logo splashed all over in gaudy type) or Marc Jacobs flash drive (something with mouse ears, maybe?).

Until then, I’ll just have to be satisfied with those darling Mimobots.