(non sequitur version)

A little while back, I put up a thread suggesting some good photo tools http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-photos-57487/ for anyone who may need some pointers... Well, today, I got inspired to write another little article that was motivated by my own needs. Perhaps someone will find this helpful. Enjoy...

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Over the past few years, with the proliferation of USB stick memory, I seem to have accumulated a tidy pile of them. Thing is, with advances in technology, I rarely use any of them anymore -- there is just no need. Every since I started using Dropbox to sync my files, and Xmarks (no, not THIS Xmarks) to sync my Firefox bookmarks, and a host of online transfer and storage tools, not to mention that I have a netbook AND a notebook AND 2 desktop PCs (among other computers)... I just don't use USB sticks anymore.

So I did a Google search on what the heck I should do with all the sticks I no longer use. The most common suggestions are very much geek-toy-ish and really offer me nothing practical. Eg.

Portable apps? Why? I don't need portable apps on my portable devices... They're already portable. And the places where I use computers that are not my own have disallowed the use of USB sticks almost wholesale. And I generally don't use PCs that aren't my own anyway, except as a last resort. And if that happens, it's a freak accident -- which means I can put up with whatever software/OS are loaded on that computer...

Recovery tools? My systems just don't go down that often to justify it.

Tech/diag tools? I just don't fix my family and friends' computers as much as I used to. Besides -- 1 USB stick aught to do it, and I've got a whole slew of them.

Alternate operating system? Other than having that "Wow! It can actually be done" proof of concept, I have no need for Linux on a stick. Seriously. I got enough headaches keeping my systems running what they have without putting freakin' Linux on a freakin' stick! It's a toy. Plain & simple. I'd play with it for a week and then it'll get shoved back in a drawer again.

There are many other permutations and combinations out there that incorporate the above suggestions, but I really wanted to dig a bit deeper to find some not-so-common (yet useful) ideas on repurposing old USB sticks. I certainly didn't have a whole ton of time to dedicate to this, so if you have any of your own suggestions you'd care to append, by all means -- please do. But in the mean time, here are a few good ones I was able to track down...

1. Speed up Windows Vista or "7". If the USB stick is "ReadyBoost" compatible, when you plug it in, Windows should give you a ReadyBoost tab when Autorun comes up. With this you are turning your USB stick into a fairly fast disk cache that can (allegedly) seriously speed up Windows's performance.

2. Physical security "key." If you have a need for added security for whatever reason, a USB stick can be made into a "key" like for your car, where you must use it in order to power up and use the computer. One (not free) way of doing it is with these guys: http://www.montpellier-informatique..../en/index.php3.

3. Fill it full of music and connect it to your car stereo with a USB-equipped head unit, or a stand-alone MP3 kit (like this one: http://gadgets.softpedia.com/news/Co...o-2803-01.html)

4. USB stick RAID array! What can I say? This is über-geekdom at its best. But I like it! http://cs.joensuu.fi/~mmeri/usbraid/

5. Store PS2 Games on it. I don't own a PS2 (or any console, I must admit) but it seems that if I wanted to have my games library portable (say for going and playing at a friend's house) this looks like a good way to do that. http://www.ehow.com/how_5981231_use-...ps2-games.html

6. Movie Library. I do have a DVD collection, but my Chinese-made DVD player actually has a USB port in the front that allows me to play video files (DiVX-encoded .avi files). I don't know how widespread such players are, but a USB stick might be a very good way to have "movie night" at a friend's house, similar to the PS2 use idea above.

7. Portable photo album. Since computers are so widespread, if your photos aren't already up on the web for friends and family to see, just having a USB stick with a simple, freeware, portable image viewer program, and a library of photos from the last family reunion or holiday to Africa could be pretty handy when visiting friends/family but without having to take the netbook/notebook with you.

8. Password/PIN manager. Ever since I've had a couple of online accounts hacked, I've started using secure passwords... But I also can't remember a dozen or so random sequences (like: F@"}h4?Go9*c#=) Personally, I use Clipperz to manage all of these, with a single, master password. But if you don't want to leave your PIN/password info lying around on your hard drive, (or heaven forbid, a piece of paper) this could get stored, safe and encrypted on a USB stick using a file dump from Clipperz or a program like KeePassX http://www.keepassx.org/.

9. Tag your children. I'm not a parent (yet)... But it seems at least some creative, geeky parents have used USB sticks loaded with vital information about their children (like contact information for the parents) in case they get lost or (heaven forbid) abducted... Good Blog entry about that here: http://www.parentdish.com/2007/03/25...-lost-parents/

10. Donate it to charity. If nothing else, some charities will take old USB sticks and use them for development projects in the Third World, or give them to someone, somewhere, who really CAN use it... Here's one suggestion: http://www.inveneo.org/

Again, if anyone has any other suggestions (that preferably do not involve portable apps or tools, or portable operating systems) please feel free to append them here.
Cheers,

Jim