Why doesn't anyone make small flash drives as replacements for floppies? How is it that CDs are the only cheap disposable media? They're way the hell too bulky.
Why doesn't anyone sell a box of 25 x 256MB flash drives for $20? That's cheap enough that I'd just give them away. At $10 and up per drive, f*ck if I'm just giving anyone MY drive.
Tim
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Deep Friar: a very philosophical monk.
Website: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms
One trick I've heard of spies using: load a trojan onto a bunch of usb flash sticks and leave them in parking lots at the CIA or whatever. People pick them up and plug them into their PCs...
There are the tiny, credit-card sized CDs and DVDs. I don't know if you can buy writable ones.
USB drives (small ones) can be cheaper than return postage. But not as cheap as DVDs. CDs are often more expensive than DVDs.
They work fine in most desktop computers, but they can't be used in the type of notebook drive that has just a slot (no tray).
It's a bit irritating to get a bunch of them loaded with catalogs at a trade show and not be able to use them right away. Sometimes they're used to hold drivers on physically small products (eg. Bluetooth USB) so the package size doesn't get bloated.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
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"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Floppy drive -> Small USB card reader Floppy disk -> small capacity microSD card
I get your point. (un)fortunately electronics moves forward every day so we see bigger and bigger flash chips on the market while the price remains constant. Good if you search for big capacity flash chips, but you also have no way to buy last years flash cards at much lower price because they aren't sold anymore. A partial solution could be to search for bulk sales of old media. 256 or
512 MB flash cards should be ultra cheap if bought in big lots.
I went to a recent power electronics show in Palm Spings recently, and came home with no less than four of them. Three of them were identlical, I think 2 gig, the fourth was a little, thin dohickey with
4 gig that the connector slid out from the sleeve to insert into the USB slot. I think there were others available at the show, but I stopped picking them up!
If you look at them, most of them are pre-loaded with either software or app notes, using about 30-50% of the capacity. You can just erase that if you want more space, but it is nicer than another CD to try and store!
Useful online, but only until links move and die. What if you wanted to include videos or sources with a formal document? Links don't work. In the old days you could send a floppy, and books are still being printed with CDs. But when a CD isn't suitable (>650MB, or physical size, or...), what then?
Interesting related subject: large quantity products could be programmed in mask ROM instead of flash. Equivalent to CD-ROM. Example: send out a book, plus its electronic (searchable, interactive, etc.?) form.
Chip manufacturers should make self contained flash, controller and ESD-protected dies, and create a package which is literally a USB plug with a die glued to it. Dab of epoxy and it's done, no more processing than a TQFP. Lugs could be provided to anchor/ground the plug into a larger device of familiar size.
Come on, this isn't rocket science. Someone must've thought of this before*. Why should IC manufacturers let the assembly houses get all the money? They could charge peanuts for these, factory direct, and make a killing. Just imagine how many would sell on DealExtreme.
*Copyright Tim Williams 2010, in this post, as prior art, where applicable
Tim
--
Deep Friar: a very philosophical monk.
Website: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms
I think time has already passed this era. Too many people are on the go now, with devices that do not have USB capability, or anything other than a charger connection and some docking station thingie.
Nowadays people download whole movies. Not that I like that, I find it a massive waste of resources.
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