Imation has just come out with a flash drive that purports to be about the size of a paperclip and that holds up to eight gigabytes of storage. While I was searching around for that on PriceGrabber (not there yet), I noticed this little charmer. It makes up for its lack of roominess (256 gigabytes) with its stylish design: Modeled after a Gumby doll, this one wraps around your wrist, so you’ll never mislay it.

The latter point is an important consideration. According to research from the Ponemon Institute, most people don’t think twice about copying corporate data onto a USB device to move it to another computer, but if that USB device is misplaced, unlike with a missing laptop computer, they won’t necessarily report it as lost to the enterprise security folks.

Eventually, maybe manufacturers will come up with access control cards that grant you entry to your place of employment and that act as a data retainer, allowing you to move information easily and securely.

In the meantime, a low-cost blue Gumby isn’t a bad idea. Wonder if it has “storestrong” imprinted on the rubber.

Posted on June 28th, 2008 by dian