If your geeking it, then you've got thumb drives. USB 2.0 rules, there's little else to say about it. There are several Linux distros that can be booted off a thumb drive LiveCD-style, especially once you get past the 512MB range. And, man, those can be lifesavers if you're a sys admin. But USB vendors are looking to take what's already a useful little gizmo and really make them shine.

 

Startup U3 is going to release a line of USB drives that allow users not only to take along data, but their productivity environments as well. Other vendors are getting into this, too, releasing USB-to-desktop syncing applications as well as dedicated versions of certain apps intended only for USB.

 

And that's just the software side. Possibly in response to this surge of thumbware, hardware folks aren't content to leave thumb drives as self-contained units anymore. An expandable thumb is the order of the day with Bonzai being one of the first vendors out there.

 

Keep it up and I'll be adding a whole new set of pockets to the travel utility belt.