USB Source gets the nod from Seattle software innovator StickyDrive™.

StickyDrive™ is a sophisticated value added software that is designed to be installed on portable media devices such as flash drives, flash cards, and MP3 players. This sophisticated software is the next step in the on-going NAND Flash Drive revolution. This week Sticky Drive announce that USB Source as their newest authorized dealer.The StickyDrive™ software has features benefiting the corporate customer that is looking to enhance their corporate message by leveraging this new technology paradigm. The integrated functionality of the software helps people organize, find, and use their stored content. The software can be customized to "brand the inside" of a flash drive offering a custom designed graphical interface incorporating logo’s, schemes, themes, navigation, internal and external links and much more.

“It takes a huge commitment and a real belief in the future of melding the 2 technology’s to become an authorized Sticky Drive dealer”. “In fact, this is the next evolution in flash drive integration into the serious business world.

Essentially what the combination of Flash Drives and StickyDrive software does is it allows the user to enhance their flash drives to become and perform a wide variety of functions previously not possible. The flash drive can now become a mobile web site that can cache files and documents, remotely access web sites, allow for auto updates and prompted downloads, it is amazing” .


This combination of useful functionality and new edge technology assures the corporate user that they will continue to further integrate their information and operations into a very people friendly business tool.

USB Source Flash drives save 500% in energy consumption

United States of America (Press Release) February 22, 2008 -- USB Flash Drive manufacturer and designer USB Source has put forth an environmental assesment green paper on the positive impact that the use of computer peripherals called Flash Drives have on the environment. A power consumption saving of over 500% detected. What is a Flash Drive? Flash drives are small, infinitely re-usable computer devices with a USB 2.0 interface.Their main purpose is to hold or transfer data from one computer to another. But what is their impact on the environment? Information on Flash Drives environmental impact was presented to the electronics and promotional products industry recently. In it, USB Source drives were tested and compared to the use of energy expounded when a CD is burned on a conventional PC to the energy consumed in the making of a USB Flash Drive. Considering that 97% of all CD sales are for 1 time use (non-rewritable) and that nearly half of all CD?s are used only 1.3 times (on average) for the simple transfer of data from 1 computer to another, when you compare that large amount of energy consumed to the small eco-footprint when using a Flash Drive it is fair to say the Flash Drives are deserving of the eco-friendly designation The test results showed that the energy and petrochemicals consumed in the making of a conventional CD (even before it was burned with information) was 1.78 times compared to the energy consumed in the construction of the average Flash Drive. Further research showed that the energy consumed in burning information (kilowatts) onto a CD was on average 15 times greater than the energy consumption of the simple transfer of the same amount of data USB Source Flash Drive. "Considering that 97% of all CD sales are for 1 time use (non-rewritable) and that nearly half of all CD?s are used only 1.3 times (on average) for the simple transfer of data from 1 computer to another, when you compare that large amount of energy consumed to the small eco-footprint when using a Flash Drive it is fair to say the Flash Drives are deserving of the eco-friendly designation" states industry analyst Peter Thomas. In fact last month USB Source was awared both RoHS compliancy and WEEE compliancy, the highest European standards.

SAMSUNG Develops Fastest GDDR5 Memory at Six Gigabits per Second - World's Fastest Memory

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology and the leading producer of high-end graphics memory, announced today that it has developed the world's fastest memory, a GDDR5 (series five, graphics double-data-rate memory) chip that can transfer data at six gigabits per second, which is more than four times faster than that of memories in state-of-the-art game consoles today. Graphics memory is installed in desktop PCs, notebooks, workstations and game consoles to move huge volumes of video or animated images simultaneously.
Samsung's GDDR5, which will be introduced at a density of 512 Mbit (16Mb x 32) chips, is capable of transmitting moving images and associated data at 24 gigabytes per second.
"We're pushing image enhancement to a limit never before realized, enabling the smoothest, clearest animation that gamers have yet to experience," said Mueez Deen, Marketing Director, Graphics Memory, Samsung Semiconductor. "Samsung's 512Mb GDDR5 will enable the kind of graphics hardware performance that will spur software developers to deliver a new level of eye-popping games."
The new Samsung graphics memory operates at 1.5 volts, representing an approximate 20 percent improvement in power consumption over today's most popular graphics chip - the GDDR3.
Samples of Samsung's new GDDR5 chip have been delivered to major graphic processor companies last month and mass production is expected in the first half of 2007.
Samsung expects that GDDR5 memory chips will become the de facto standard in the top performing segment of the market by capturing more than 50 percent of the high-end PC graphics market by 2010.
A technical paper on Samsung's new 6Gbps graphics chip is the only one on GDDR5 technology to be selected for presentation at ISSCC 2008.

What is USB mean? How does it work?

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to interface devices. USB was designed to allow peripherals to be connected using a single standardized interface socket and to improve plug-and-play capabilities by allowing devices to be connected and disconnected without rebooting the computer (hot swapping). Other convenient features include providing power to low-consumption devices without the need for an external power supply and allowing many devices to be used without requiring manufacturer specific, individual device drivers to be installed.
USB is intended to help retire all legacy varieties of serial and parallel ports. USB can connect computer peripherals such as mouse devices, keyboards, PDAs, gamepads and joysticks, scanners, digital cameras, printers, personal media players, and flash drives. For many of those devices USB has become the standard connection method. USB is also used extensively to connect non-networked printers; USB simplifies connecting several printers to one computer. The large volume of USB memory devices and their ease of use has created a security concern that is often overlooked. USB lock software can lock out memory devices and still allow other USB peripherals to function. The USB was originally designed for personal computers, but it has become commonplace on other devices such as PDAs and video game consoles. In 2004, there were about 1 billion USB devices in the world.[1]
The design of USB is standardized by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), an industry standards body incorporating leading companies from the computer and electronics industries. Notable members have included Agere, Apple Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Intel, NEC, and Microsoft.

For the complete story......... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB

How to Check if you have High Speed USB 2.0 flash drive or an older 1.1 flash drive

I get asked this all the time.....how do I know if it is usb 2.0 or something less....if you think your supplier may be less than honorable...ask them for a working sample and follow the steps below....this will tell you what you are getting...........

Standard USB 2.0 (Above)
If your Device Manager shows an ENHANCED USB Host Controller, the system has High Speed USB (USB 2.0) capability.
Types of High Speed USB (USB 2.0) Host Controllers
Intel Enhanced
SiS Enhanced
VIA Enhanced
ALi Enhanced
Standard Enhanced
NEC Enhanced
The system shown has onboard Intel High Speed USB (USB 2.0) with an NEC High Speed USB (USB 2.0) PCI card installed.
The key word is ENHANCED. If you have an ENHANCED USB Host Controller then you have High Speed USB (USB 2.0)
All other types are USB v.1.1

What are they thinking? USB Source refuses to sell humping dog usb.

Sometimes I wonder who was the first person to start the "random USB gadget" trend, because they just seem to be getting stranger and stranger every day. Similar to the humping dogs, Thumbs Up UK's new USB Owl seems to serve no purpose other than to simply entertain you.

The Owl moves his head, blinks his eyes, and even flaps his wings. He comes with a clip that allows him to perch atop your monitor and drive you crazy and also has an optional tree stump that he can roost on should you prefer it. It's too bad he can't be remote controlled or had a camera built in, as this would be great to perch on the top of your cubicle at work and make people feel that there is always someone watching them. Make sure you check out the video for the full effect. It will be available in May for about $25. Video demo after the jump.

comment:....Must we?

Endpoint Security: How to Control USB Devices

USB ports are a fact of life in modern IT--which means they are also a headache for every IT manager.“You’ve got to live with USB ports, and you’ve got to secure them,” says Ari Tammam, VP of alliances at Promisec, a maker of endpoint control software. “I don’t think you can get away with blocking them for everyone.”The USB port control native to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 is extremely limited. You can disable ports or render them read-only, but finer control over allowed devices or file types is lacking. However, there are a number of third-party applications that give you control over your USB ports with varying degrees of granularity.One of the features of the USB hardware specification is that each device tells the system what kind of device it is as part of the connection process. Some manufacturers take advantage of this to let you block specific kinds of devices on specific ports. For instance, you might opt to allow a USB mouse on any port, but never allow thumb drives. But remember, the principle of least privilege applies with a vengeance to USB ports. Generally, the question shouldn’t be “what do you want to block?”; it’s “what do you want to allow?” Some manufacturers go much further with the controls they allow, and let you require “a specific device with a specific serial number linked to a specific user” to use a particular port, says Gil Sever, CEO of the endpoint security tools manufacturer Safend. You might also mark certain devices as read-only or specify which kinds of files can be read and written through a given USB port. This helps prevent two security risks: someone loading rogue programs into the system through the port, or someone taking out unauthorized kinds of data. For example, a user may be authorized to download Excel (.xls) or Word (.doc) files, but not database files.Some products also block USB ports at the OS level--that is, they become part of the connection process and won’t allow specific kinds of devices to connect on any port on the network. Others will only allow certain specific devices while blocking other devices of that class. Thus the user can download files to, say, the disk drive in her laptop, but to no other USB disk drive. Alternately, you could set things up such that only a thumb drive encrypted with corporate-approved encryption and registered to a specific user could be allowed. When shopping for a USB protector, the major things to look for are ease of management and granularity. Because a typical network will have thousands of USB ports, you probably want to be able to manage all of them in a single central location. Ideally, you’ll want something that allows you to manage the ports on a Windows network through the group policy feature or something equally seamless. A few products have the ability to manage the ports on all the networks in the enterprise rather than having to manage each network separately.Of course USB port control isn’t the be-all and end-all of security, nor can you absolutely guarantee that data can’t be leaked out USB ports. But then that’s true of any other endpoint in the network as well. The point is to do what you can to mitigate the risks of these pesky but oftentimes useful devices.

32gb SDHC card unveiled

Flash memory pioneers Sandisk and PNY have both shown off 32GB SDHC (secure digital high capacity) cards at the big photography show in Las Vegas.
While most people will understandably ask “what’s the point” with 1GB being enough to cater for all but the most compulsive photographers, it seems that growing use of digital cameras and camera-phones to record video images is viewed as the market for these kinds of capacities.
PNY has yet to offer its ones for sale, but Sandisk has priced its 32GB SDHC card, with a MicroMate USB 2.0 Reader thrown in, at $349.99. “Cameras also are increasingly used for recording video clips, which demand even more memory and capacity,” said Susan Park, senior product marketing manager for SanDisk Ultra II cards. “These mega-capacities in our SanDisk Ultra II line give users the worry-free ability to capture thousands of their memories and hours of HiDef video on a single card.”
It must be stressed, however, that SDHC cards are not necessarily compatible with all devices that have SD storage capability. Devices that do not specifically support SDHC will not recognise SDHC cards

Intel and Micron develop world’s fastest NAND flash memory

Boise/Idaho/Santa Clara, Feb 1 Intel Corporation and Micron Technology Inc. today unveiled a high speed NAND flash memory technology that can greatly enhance the access and transfer of data in devices that use silicon for storage.The new technology — developed jointly by Intel and Micron and manufactured by the companies’ NAND flash joint venture, IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) — is five times faster than conventional NAND, allowing data to be transferred in a fraction of the time for computing, video, photography and other consumer applications.The new high speed NAND can reach speeds up to 200 megabytes per second (MB/s) for reading data and 100 MB/s for writing data, achieved by leveraging the new ONFI 2.0 specification and a four-plane architecture with higher clock speeds. In comparison, conventional single level cell NAND is limited to 40 MB/s for reading data and less than 20 MB/s for writing data.“Micron looks forward to unlocking the possibilities with high speed NAND,” said Frankie Roohparvar, Micron vice president of NAND development. “We are working with an ecosystem of key enablers and partners to build and optimize corresponding system technologies that take advantage of its improved performance capabilities. Micron is committed to NAND innovation and designing new features into the technology that create a powerful data storage solution for today’s most popular consumer electronic and computing devices.”“The computing market is embracing NAND-based solutions to accelerate system performance through the use of caching and solid-state drives,” said Pete Hazen, director of marketing, Intel NAND Products Group. “At up to five times the performance over conventional NAND, the high speed NAND from Intel and Micron, based on the ONFi 2.0 industry standard, will enable new embedded solutions and removable solutions that take advantage of high-performance system interfaces, including PCIe and upcoming standards such as USB 3.0.”For example, the specific performance advantages of high speed NAND in today’s most popular devices include:– When used in a hybrid hard drive, high speed NAND can allow the system to read and write data anywhere between two or four times the speed when compared to conventional hard drives.– With the popularity of digital video cameras and video on demand services, high speed NAND can enable a high-definition movie to be transferred five times faster than conventional NAND.– With the pending USB 3.0 interface, high speed NAND is expected to effectively deliver on the increased data transfer rates of the new specification, where conventional NAND would act as the bottleneck in system performance. USB 3.0 is aiming for 10 times the bandwidth of current USB 2.0 solutions, or approximately achieving 4.8 gigabits per second.– As NAND continues to move into the PC platform, the Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface (NVMHCI) can take advantage of high speed NAND in solutions such as Intel(R) Turbo Memory, allowing for even better system performance. NVMHCI is designed to provide a standard software programming interface allowing operating system drivers to access NAND flash memory storage in applications such as hard drive caching and solid-state drives. (ANI)
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Boise/Idaho/Santa Clara, Feb 1 (ANI-Business Wire India): Intel Corporation and Micron Technology Inc. today unveiled a high speed NAND flash memory technology that can greatly enhance the access and transfer of data in devices that use silicon for storage.
The new technology -- developed jointly by Intel and Micron and manufactured by the companies' NAND flash ...';

Penny-sized USB Bluetooth Adapter

If this isn't the smallest USB Bluetooth adapter on the planet, it's got to be pretty freaking close. After all, the dongle part barely extends beyond the USB connector, making it sit nearly flush with the side of your computer. Crazy stuff.And this isn't the kind of Bluetooth connection that's as slow as molasses either. Brando proudly exclaims that this adapter is perfectly capable of Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, making it just as speedy as most of the faster Bluetooth devices on the market today. Data transfer is as speedy as 723 kbps and you've got an effective working range of more than 10 meters.The Brando penny-sized USB Bluetooth 2.0+EDR adapter is on sale now for $27. Just try not to lose it.

Kingston introduces new USB drive with built-in card reader

Kingston Technology introduced its DataTraveler Micro Reader, which is an all-in-one USB flash drive and reader that can store, transfer and read content on mobile memory cards.The DataTraveler Micro Reader is enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost, and features onboard Flash memory up to 4GB and an expansion slot to read microSD, microSDHC, or Memory Stick Micro (M2) cards. The 1GB version is available at a MSRP of US$24.95 in the US.

Toshiba and SanDisk to Expand NAND Flash Memory Production with Construction of New Advanced Fabrication Facility in Japan

Toshiba Corporation Hiroko Mochida, +81-(3)3457-2105 Corporate Communications Office International Media Relations Group www.toshiba.co.jp/contact/media.htm or SanDisk Lori Barker Padon, 408-801-1384 lbarker@sandisk.com Toshiba Corporation and SanDisk(R) (NASDAQ:SNDK) today announced that they have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to form a new production joint venture and construct a new 300 millimeter (mm) wafer fab in Japan
to build on and further their industry-leading positions and meet the anticipated future demand for NAND flash memory. The two companies will now select the plant site, targeting a production start-up date in 2010. This latest announcement underscores the commitment of Toshiba and SanDisk to the rapidly expanding market for NAND flash memory, which has become the storage technology of choice for a growing number of consumer and computing devices, including memory cards. Fifty percent of the new fab's production capacity will be allocated to the new joint venture. Within the joint venture the parties will equally share wafer output and funding for the equipment. The remaining 50% of the Fab's production capacity will be managed by Toshiba and half of the output will be provided to SanDisk on a committed foundry basis. The agreement provides SanDisk an option to convert its committed foundry capacity into the joint venture or to convert to a non-committed foundry arrangement. Construction of the new facility is expected to start in calendar year 2009. Commenting on the new facility, Mr. Shozo Saito, Corporate Senior Vice President of Toshiba Corporation and President & CEO of Toshiba's Semiconductor Company, said, "NAND flash memory is enjoying rapid growth and is expected to expand with new applications in coming years. Toshiba is committed to support such growth of NAND flash memory through continued proactive capital investments in production capacity and advanced process technology. The new fab will build on the strong record of success we have achieved with SanDisk in flash memory product development and production, and further strengthen our partnership." Dr. Eli Harari, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SanDisk, said, "We are very pleased with the financing structure in the new agreement which maintains our guaranteed 50% of the capacity output while reducing substantially our capital expenditure commitments for funding the new fab NAND manufacturing equipment. We believe this will allow us to meet our forecasted customer needs in 2010 and beyond, while freeing up cash flow for investments in new products and in growth markets. This substantial undertaking by Toshiba and SanDisk demonstrates our confidence in the continued future success of the strong partnership between our two companies." Toshiba and SanDisk expect to sign a definitive agreement later in 2008. About Toshiba Corporation Toshiba Corporation is a leader in the development and manufacture of electronic devices and components, information and communication systems, digital consumer products and power systems. The company's ability to integrate wide-ranging capabilities, from hardware to software and services, assure its position as an innovator in diverse fields and many businesses. In semiconductors, Toshiba continues to promote its leadership in the fast growing system LSI market and to build on its world-class position in NAND flash memories, analog devices and discrete devices. Visit Toshiba's website at www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm About SanDisk SanDisk Corporation, the inventor and world's largest supplier of flash storage cards, is a global leader in flash memory - from research, manufacturing and product design to consumer branding and retail distribution. SanDisk's product portfolio includes flash memory cards for mobile phones, digital cameras and camcorders, digital audio/video players, USB flash drives for consumers and the enterprise, embedded memory for mobile devices, and solid state drives for computers. SanDisk (www.sandisk.com/corporate) is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States. Toshiba Disclaimer: This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning future plans, strategies and the performance of Toshiba Group. These statements are based on management's assumptions and beliefs in light of the economic, financial and other data currently available. Furthermore, they are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Toshiba therefore wishes to caution readers that actual results may differ materially from our expectations. Major risk factors that may have a material influence on results are indicated below, though this list is not necessarily exhaustive. -- Disputes including lawsuits in Japan and other countries -- Success or failure of alliances or joint ventures promoted in collaboration with other companies; -- Success or failure of new businesses or R&D investment; -- Changes in political and economic conditions in Japan and abroad; unexpected regulatory changes; -- Major disasters, including earthquakes and typhoons; -- Rapid changes in the supply/demand situation in major markets and intensified price competition; -- Significant capital expenditure for production facilities and rapid changes in the market; -- Changes in financial markets, including fluctuations in interest rates and exchange rates. SanDisk Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements about each company's business outlook, technological advancements, investments, construction timetables, production schedules and output and effects on financial performance, new markets and customers, supply and demand, and sales that are based on each company's current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate and may significantly and adversely affect each company's business, financial condition and results of operations. For SanDisk, these risks and uncertainties are discussed in detail under the title "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in SanDisk's Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006 and its Forms 10-Q. SanDisk is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries

USB Source launches new models for 2008

USB Source came out today with their collection of new USB models for Fall 2008.

The offering included 7 new digital usb picture frames, 12 new MP3's and MP4's along with over 20 new styles of USB Flash Drives.

Breaking the price barrier does not mean forsaking style. USB Source is not only the domestic sales arm for a major Chinese USB conglomerate it is also a style and design house.

The new collection can be fully viewed at the USB Source web site.