5 Uncommon Uses For a Simple USB Thumb Drive
In Lifehacks, Your Digital Office by Skellie
It’s hard to believe, but I only this week bought my first USB thumb drive. I’ve been using it as a data-carrier between my Macbook and PC (which sit next to each-other on my desk, at the moment) but I can’t help but feel as if I’m not exploring the full capabilities of my versatile little titanium gadget.
If you have a spare or unused USB thumb drive, here are five uncommon ways you could use it:
1. Digital business card. Amazon sells metallic Cruzer Micro thumb drives for $9.95.
2. Travel journal. A travel journal can help crystallize your travel experiences and bring back some of the magic when you’re back at home. Rather than keeping everything on your laptop, why not use a USB thumb drive as a digital journal? You can keep it with your passport and other invaluable items. If something happens to your laptop, your memories will still be safe.
3. A gift (and one better). The drive itself would be a neat gift for a technology-literate spouse, friend or family member, but you can go one better by filling the drive with photos, memories and other sentimental stuff before you give it to them.
4. Paperless office. There’s something immensely satisfying involved in fitting piles and piles of paper into a gadget the size of your thumb. Keep extra copies of all your digital paperwork on a USB thumb drive and take very good care of it. You will, of course, need a drive with in-built security software so you can set password protect it (most good drives come with this, but check first — I can only vouch that mine
5. A personal journal. Avoid the embarrassment of having someone find and read your diary by keeping your personal thoughts on an encrypted USB thumb drive. (Here’s an article on how to keep your thumb drive secure).
January 17th, 2008
I love that first idea, Skellie! When you’re a web freelancer and take on projects that range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, a simple $10 investment for the right clients could go a long way.
January 17th, 2008
Very informative article,Skellie. I am really digging Anywired
Anyways, one more thing I would add to using USB drive is if you are a freelancer or have a business simply customize it with your business logo when handing them out. This will give you quite a bit of exposure if the person using it carries it around quite a bit or something.
Here is a site that customizes USB thumb drive for pretty cheap:-
http://www.usb007.com/services.htm
Keep up the great work Skellie. I am loving it
January 17th, 2008
Very interesting. I never thought about things like that. I think that would really impress a client. Shows you are up with the times, know your stuff, and really value them.
January 17th, 2008
Those are some cool ideas, although some people might be wary of viruses, malware, etc.
Perhaps sticking with pdf’s instead of MS Office docs…?
January 18th, 2008
In reality I think USB thumb drives are a bit “out” of fashion as a gift… I have a drawer full of them given to me by suppliers. The best ones are 2Gb, the rest is rubbish.
I usually copy the contents to a network partition, so if needed I can still find it. When I need one (bring a couple of pictures to the local print shop) I format one and then usually misplace it.
Once got a virus from one supplier who gave me a flash drive with a portfolio and in the back an autostarting CD-ROM look alike partition. (you never know where that flash drive was inserted earlier)
January 18th, 2008
The only problem I’d have with the thumb drive is that I would not likely attach it to my computer unless I knew you well. The reason was best illustrated by a security firm and bank (I forget which ones).
Basically what happened was the security firm was hired by the bank to test their systems to see how difficult it would be to hack them. The security firm bought about a 100 thumb drives, loaded them with cool applications and trojan horses. They took the thumb drives in the early morning and distributed them in the bank’s parking lot. The employees found them on the ground and plugged them into the computer.
Within 3 days they had full access to the bank’s computers and several customer’s computers. After reading that, I’ve VERY wary of any thumb drives.
January 18th, 2008
Great ideas, but with #3 “…gift for a technology-literate” I use one for just the opposite.
For years I emailed the grand parents pictures of my kids and it never failed I would get a phone call asking me questions on what to do with them.
2-years ago I bought them a digital picture frame. Now I just mail them a USB thumb drive which they can plug right into the frame. They just mail me back the old one to use for the next set of pictures. I just keep adding pictures to it and repeating the process.
I even crop and scale the pictures to the frame specifications before adding them. It’s plug and play enjoyment for them and keeps me from being tech support.
January 18th, 2008
Dude! Skellie.You forgot “amusement.” ;o)
January 18th, 2008
Interesting thoughts, though I’m not sure how about the business card. $10 per prospect? I’ll be fine emailing the documents or burning a $1 DVD-RW.
January 18th, 2008
I’m with Chad on this one, a really good collection of ideas but I’m not totally convinced about the digital business card.
I lean on cd business cards, basically fulfilling both rolls. This works out to be about 80p per card if you DIY it.
Maybe I’m being a bit stingy, but at this point in my career I don’t think that afford the extra cost.
Although its definately a unique gesture.
Loving the new site, keep up the good work!
January 18th, 2008
@ Ravi: Absolutely, though I think even investing in 5 or 10 to use for potentially lucrative clients could be wise (even if you stick to conventional business cards for most).
@ Ritu: That’s a cool find, Ritu — though I think the customized thumb drives would have to be reserved for the *extra* special clients ;-).
@ Warren: It’s cool to hear that you headn’t thought of them. I was a bit worried people would go: “Well, duh! I’ve been handing out USB business cards since 1946…”
@ Nez: Well, you’re right, you’d have to hope the person receiving the USB wasn’t one of those hyper-paranoid “Will I get a virus!?” types ;).
@ Martin: As someone considering bulk-buying about 30 USB drives for a ’secret’ project, I’m jealous of your USB wealth!
@ DJ: I haven’t heard that story… but wouldn’t you have to transfer/execute the virus files for that to work? Just plugging it in wouldn’t put you at risk, I don’t think.
@ Jay F.H.: Trying to maintain a certain level of respectability around here, that’s all ;).
@ Chad: Depends on your budget, but I think having a few for potentially *very* lucrative clients is a good idea. It really depends what kind of field you’re in.
@ Greg: Thanks! The USB business card idea definitely isn’t for everyone, but it’s one of those things you can take or leave… web workers who need to hook really big clients might have a need for it (I personally wouldn’t, because I never meet any of my clients, hehe).
January 18th, 2008
I actually really like the USB business card idea. I am at the stages of finishing up my phd and I will be job hunting soon. One of the things we’ve been advised to do by our professors is to put together an academic portfolio in which we can showcase our educational philosophy, teaching materials, publications, writing examples and conference papers. One of the ways that I’m trying to differentiate myself within the academic job market is by showcasing my technological literacy, which believe me is in short supply in most Eng Lit depts! If I could hand over an academic portfolio which included a USB which contained info on my academic blogging, keynote presentations, e-journal publications etc. then I believe it would mark me out from the other candidates.
Thank you, Skellie, for both the idea, and, of course, for Anywired! I have been a subscriber to Skelliewag since last September and I so enjoy your posts there. When I read that you were starting Anywired, I subscribed straight away and I’ve so enjoyed the content so far. Keep up the good work! It really is very much appreciated.
January 18th, 2008
That is interesting. I’ve never though about taking a small thing like a usb that far. This is good especially now since there are 20gb and even bigger usb drives. One can backup all your photos on it.
January 18th, 2008
I really think the business card idea is great - if it is customized so that even once the data is erased you are still there. I have one that a vendor gave me a while back and not only do I still use it occasionally, I have shown it off to others as an example. So, it has really done the vendor well. I wouldn’t give them out as cards to everyone, but to prospective profitable companies it would be excellent. Personally, I usually toss most CDs vendors send me.
January 18th, 2008
Last year, I received a gift from a prospective client; a USB drive in the form of a pen. It was brilliant.
All of her details were on the drive, but the nice thing was her business name and number were printed on the pen. Given I was using the pen; her name was constantly on my mind.
Yes, it is a little more expensive but I think well worth the money to create a lasting impression.
January 18th, 2008
I actually did #3 this Christmas. My mother had tons of floppy disks with files, then when she got a new computer at work with no floppy she was lost. I copied all her files to the Flash drive and then copied a couple gigs of pictures of the grandkids. Priceless!
January 18th, 2008
Here’s the original article “Social Engineering, the USB Way”
http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=95556&WT.svl=column1_1
Basically they did run the programs on the thumb drive. I’m not sure if there is an autoexec on thumb drives. Maybe you could plant one in the USB driver when it loads up? I’m not sure what is run when you connect a USB device, but there must be a “startup” program I would think.
Either way, it’s a concern.
January 18th, 2008
I love tips 1 and 3. Great list!
At my sixth form the other day, we all got a free gift of a USB stick from a local volunteering organisation - which had a nice PDF file with lots of information about volunteering in my area on it, and also the company name printed on it. I thought it was a great idea - a good way to increase awareness, as I felt obligated to read the PDF since I’d just recieved a free gift!
January 18th, 2008
Just yesterday somebody gave me a Thumb drive filled with photos. It was the first time that I had met the person, although we had known each other online. I told him, “OK, I will get this back to you once I get the photos.” He responded - Keep it, it’s yours! I must say, I was impressed by his generosity. I can see how giving even an inexpensive Thumb drive can make an impact!
January 18th, 2008
I’m a fan of Tips #1, #3 and #4.
I would have never thought of putting my portfolio on a thumb drive. I’m definitely going to have to share that idea with a screenwriter buddy of mine.
As for Tip #3, I thought my family was the only one who does that kind of thing! My parents would have loved a thumb drive for Christmas.
January 18th, 2008
I am new to working online; I really like this site. I also like the tips especially #1
January 19th, 2008
Skellie, that first tip is GENIUS! I almost bout 5 of them just to have ready to go, but I need to hold off for a couple days. Definitely something I’ll be doing, especially when I go try to ‘cold meet’ local potential clients who own cell phone shops, gadget stores, ect. Will leave a good impact I think
January 19th, 2008
But why on earth are you using a thumb drive for two computers right next to each other? Your Mac will happily mount shared folders from your PC..
Well, maybe not “happily” : http://aplawrence.com/Blog/B1057.html
January 20th, 2008
Regarding #4, one of my (small but growing) list of must-have apps is TrueCrypt. It works on Windows and Linux (and hence probably the now BSD based Mac), and can seamlessly mount your whole thumbdrive or any file on it, as a virtual drive.
January 28th, 2008
Business card… Not so sure about that one. I mean, the whole point of a business card is that it gives you all the person’s contact info at a glance. Not to mention that while you can carry around a couple of business cards in your wallet all the time, just in case, you’d be unlikely to have a business thumbdrive on you unless you expected to need it. It just seems so much less convenient than a regular old card, especially considering how many business cards you can have made for the price of one thumbdrive.
February 16th, 2008
Well, you could setup the USB drivers to run autorun files like CDs. This articles explains. I’m afraid I can’t validate it. I only bought one, then that was it. It would be more trouble digging it up and plugging it in. So we’ll take this articles at face value.
Besides, shows this guys blog some traffic.
http://blog.shankarganesh.com/2007/08/11/how-to-autorun-programs-from-usb-flash-drive/
March 29th, 2008
The USB idea works like a charm. I use the idea with great success