Goodbye Floppy Discs

I have a new fashion accessory for all of you out there.
You may hang it around your neck. You may use it as a bracelet charm or add it to your key chain.

It's small, comes in various colours and can store your life. Instead of lugging around your laptop, tote a small USB key.

USB keys, also called U3 or smart drives are simple data storage devices. That means you can take your data and applications with you. Work on them at school or work and take them with you when you're done. And the next person who uses the computer cannot access what you were working on because you don't leave a record.

These little gadgets have officially killed off both the floppy and Zip drives.

But, with Canadian companies monitoring portable storage devices their employees bring to work, it leaves me wondering if we've moved on from email tracking to pocket checking?

According to a national survey conducted by Ipsos Reid and sponsored by Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc., companies have banned MP3 players, such as iPods, over worries that employees can use them to steal corporate data.

Poll results showed that 49 per cent of mid- and large-sized businesses across Canada have established policies to prevent personal laptops and USB keys from entering the workplace.

There is a good reason for concern. These little devices can now store up to 4GB of information. According to the survey, that's equivalent to "approximately a half million pages of text or 800,000 emails." Now, the top-of-the-line iPod holds 60GB.

Is this just paranoia? Remember when our emails were being tracked (and still are) or external web browsing was forbidden? Is this new measure just a way to protect us from data loss due to security breach?

With more companies going remote, accessing computer files from across the world is crucial. This little USB device was an answer to portable computing, so why sensor it?

For information on U3-compatible applications, go here.