It’s easy to take thumb drives for granted. These cheap little chunks of flash memory, which plug into a computer’s USB port, are almost as plentiful as popcorn. I’ve got a plastic bag full of them at home, sent out as electronic press releases by various technology companies.
When a gadget becomes this commonplace, we can lose sight of its value. A thumb drive is more than a handy way to tote data files between home and office. Loaded with the right software, these drives can automatically preserve your critical data files, scan your computer for viruses, or tune in your favorite Internet audio streams.
Let’s begin with dessert. There’s lots of audio entertainment online, and a new USB thumb drive from Aluratek Inc. makes it easy to tune in.
The Aluratek USB Internet Radio Jukebox has been programmed with the addresses of 13,000 online audio streams. When plugged in, it displays tuning software that lets you quickly find every conceivable kind of music, as well as news, sports, and weather reports.
You can find these Internet broadcasters for free, if you know where to look, or you can pay about $20 for Aluratek’s thumb drive and let the software find it for you.
File backup is serious business, and it’s now practical to save your backups to a large-capacity thumb drive, like SanDisk Corp.’s Ultra Backup.
You can buy one with storage capacity of up to 64 gigabytes, and with the backup software programmed right into the drive. Just plug it into a USB port to install it. You can set the drive to back up every file in sight.
Or you can set it to copy only certain types of files — documents, photos, music. Then, just push the “backup” button on top of the thumb drive and go have a cup of coffee.
That’s the…