GadgetReview

We’ve seen flash drives in a variety of forms before, but none in the shape of climbing gear.  Ok, so the carabiner is no longer synonymous with mountaineers, but cars and house keys.  So instead of hooking the flash drive to your keychain the keychain is the flash drive.  Makes sense.

The Brando USB Carabiner Flash Drive holds up to 4GB of data and comes in a variety of colors.

Available here for $32.

[Newlaunches]

With all things tech shrinking in size there’s no doubt you’ll lose a device or two.  Much the like the iPhone’s security, and previous phones before it, Lenovo debuted a portable USB 2.0 hard drive today that requires its user to enter a 6-12 digit combination before accessing the encrypted data.  The ThinkPad USB Portable Secure Hard Drive also includes a retractable USB cord, is less than 1-inch thick, and can store up to 10 different pass codes.

No word on availability, but the 160GB drive will cost $190 and the 320GB is $220.

[RegHardware]

To celebrate Eye-Fi’s one year anniversary, the company has launched a limited edition SD card that doubles the original’s capacity from 2GB to 4GB. The new WiFi SD card sports the same great wireless function we’ve all come to know and love plus the edition of geotagging and access to WiFi hotspot locations. Unfortunately they don’t specify how and which Hotspot locations we’ll have access to, and the geotagging is done based on the WiFi’s location, which may or may not be 3rd party. In any case, who can bat an eye at more storage and free hotspot access.

The 4GB Eye-fi card will be available here for $129, or you can grab one at your local Costco for $99

Full press release below

Eye-Fi Unveils the 4GB Eye-Fi Anniversary Edition

Eye-Fi Celebrates First Anniversary with 4GB Limited Edition
Anniversary Card and the Win of Popular Science’s Best of What’s New Award

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ — Today Eye-Fi Inc.
(http://www.eye.fi) announced a new, limited edition card — the Eye-Fi
Anniversary Edition — to celebrate the one-year anniversary of its first
wireless SD memory card for digital cameras. Eye-Fi also announced it has
been chosen as one of Popular Science’s 2008 “Best of What’s New” award
recipients.

“For the past year, we’ve been reinventing the way people save and
share their digital memories,” said Jef Holove, CEO of Eye-Fi. “From
automatic uploading to geotagging to sharing on the go, we’ve aimed to help
everyday photographers save their memories more often, share them more
quickly, and add more context to their collections.”

Available immediately, the new Eye-Fi Anniversary Edition doubles
storage capacity to 4GB and features faster memory speeds. Coupled with the
recently announced wireless performance upgrade, the Anniversary Edition is
designed to meet the needs of the demanding photo enthusiast. Like the
Eye-Fi Share, the Anniversary Edition wirelessly sends photos from a
digital camera to a computer and to one of more than 25 online photo
sharing sites.

The card comes in Eye-Fi’s celebrated, original slide-out package and
is available only at Costco.com for $99 to club members, or on http://www.eye.fi
for $129, while supplies last. The card can be upgraded post purchase to
include additional features, such as automatic geotagging and hotspot
access.

Since the Eye-Fi card launched one year ago, millions of photos have
been uploaded to the Web, and users report that they upload and share
photos with family and friends more frequently.

“With the introduction of the digital camera, the photography industry
faced a real challenge - photos trapped on cameras that were never shared
or printed because of the work involved,” said Alan Bullock, associate
director of InfoTrends. “The industry needs pioneers like Eye-Fi who
recognize the bottlenecks and build innovative solutions that move the
market forward.”

Over the past year, Eye-Fi has given more and more people the ability
to effortlessly share their digital memories and offered a rich, meaningful
experience for users. Eye-Fi has:

– Helped Take Geotagging Mainstream: Geotagging is a fast growing trend,
and through a partnership with Skyhook Wireless, Eye-Fi has automated
the process to make it easier and more compelling for all consumers.
Using the Wi-Fi embedded in its cards, Eye-Fi uses Wi-Fi positioning to
determine where an image was captured and adds a geographic tag to each
photo.
– Pioneered Uploads-on-the-Go to the Top Photo Sharing Destinations: Now
users can upload photos away from home at more than 10,000 Wayport
hotspots with their Eye-Fi cards - even without a computer.
– Introduced the “Eye-Fi Connected” Program: Eye-Fi has launched
the “Eye-Fi Connected” program to help other manufacturers tap
into the benefits of Eye-Fi’s wireless photo sharing ecosystem.
Nikon has released two Eye-Fi connected cameras, the Nikon D60 and D90,
both optimized for Eye-Fi cards. Lexar introduced the co-branded
Shoot-n-Sync Wi-Fi(R) Memory Card that uses Eye-Fi’s patent-pending
technology and online service.
– Integrated Social Networking: Eye-Fi announced integration with Twitter
and the availability of RSS feeds so users can notify their networks in
real time about recent photo uploads, and photos can be viewed
instantly.
– International Expansion: Due to high demand, Eye-Fi plans to expand into
Japan and Canada by the end of the year. Now more people worldwide will
have the ability to enjoy the benefits of Eye-Fi’s products and
services.
Also announced today, the Eye-Fi Explore card was chosen as one of
Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New Award” recipients in the gadgets
category. Each year since 1987, the editors of Popular Science review
thousands of products in search of the top 100 technology innovations of
the year. To win, a product or technology must represent a significant step
forward in its category.

Sweet Mary!  I love the sound of Iomega’s latest network storage drive, the ScreenPlay Pro.  Sure, it’s branded as a hard drive, but it does so much more.  For one, it connects to your TV via HDMI, component or composite.  Two, it’s rocks a built-in media player that support up to 1080i and can play MP3, AAC, MPEG4, AVI, DivX, XVid, Quicktime and photos.  Lastly, it jacks into your homes network over Ethernet (Iomega plans to release a USB WiFi dongle), which means you can access the 500-1000 gigs of storage from any computer on the network.  Too bad it doesn’t have a built-in Bit Torrent client, but at least there’s a remote.

You can grab the Iomega Screenplay Pro here for about $300

[RegHardware]

Say what?!?!  Super Talent will release a $600, 8GB USB flash drive finished in 18k Gold that could ostensibly pass for a real piece of jewelry.  Granted, you’ll need some serious chest hair and 3 buttons down to pull it off.  Ya, that’s $75 a gigabyte.

[RegHardware]

When you checkout at at grocery stores there’s a few impulse items strategically placed at an arms length.  If you ever take notice, one of those items are usually batteries.  Duracell, the Cooper Top battery maker is looking to expand their product breadth and will begin offering Flash Drives to what has probably been an untapped market: the impulse, less tech savvy shopper.  They’ll have to depend on some smart packaging to communicate it’s value at an impulse moment, but after all, they are Duracell.

To start Duracell will offer USB drives, SD, microSD, and CompactFlash memory cards.  They won’t produce the the memory cards and drives and instead will private label Dane-Elec’s line of products.

[DigitalTrends]

Here’s the perfect way to round out that Master Chief Halloween costume: The Mimoco 8GB Master Chief Halo series MIMOBOT USB Flash Drive.  There’s only 3 left, so you better get collecting now.

You can grab it here for $75

Flash drives are convenient for transferring data between computers, but too often, most flash drives are too fragile to survive the bumps and bruises of being carried in a pocket or purse. Inevitably, people drop their flash drives on the ground and step on it or leave it in their clothes that they drop in a washing and drying machine. If you need to transfer data and can’t risk losing it through damage or physical abuse, you might want to look at the ATP ToughDrive Camo.

Like most USB flash drives., the ToughDrive Camo includes a cap to protect the metal end that plugs into the USB port. It also includes a removable hook that lets you attach the flash drive to your clothes, such as through the belt loop on your pants.

What sets the ToughDrive Camo apart from its competition is its tough synthetic polymer coating that encases the entire unit and protects it from physical damage. This rugged rubber coating includes a camouflage design to emphasize its military-style toughness, while the removable cap fits snugly over the exposed metal portion that plugs into the USB port. While this cap fits tightly, there is no way to keep the cap attached to the ToughDrive Camo itself when it’s plugged into a computer. Lose this cap and you’ll lose the ToughDrive Camo’s ruggedness as well.The ToughDrive web site includes testimonials from military veterans who have exposed the drive to the dirt, heat, and grime of the Middle East and found the ToughDrive Camo survived all environments. Part of the ToughDrive Camo’s protection comes from its synthetic polymer casing, but another part of its protection comes from its internal components wrapped in a protective casing as well. This combination of internal and external protection insures that the ToughDrive Camo will live up to its name. Read More

Buffalo’s Linkstation Mini is an ultra small NAS drive, with capacities of up to 500GB to 1TB.  It’s fanless in operation due to the 5400rpm drive limitation and has a low power consumption making it ideal for 24/7 use.  The drive is just 1.6×3.2×5.3 inches, weighs just under a 1lb and can fit in the palm of your hand.

The Linkstation Minis are available here starting at $200

[Computerworld]

The ‘cute and fun’ Japanese character inspired rayD8 flash drives are back with a limited edition version. Only 200 of these glow in the dark, skeleton rayD8gig flash drives will be produced, so act now before the your collector opp is missed.

Available here for $100

[Giz]