Teen Tech

So, I’m up at camp, and quite frankly, there is not ANY technology to report on up here. So, last week, I sprained my ankle. It was bad enough that the camp’s health officer wanted me to go to the hospital to get x-rays taken. It was a sprain and they put me in an air-cast. That was the highlight of my week. There is a new Scout Executive for Tall Pine Council, and he plainly does not trust anyone. He has increased all of our paperwork by about 300% because he wants us in business staff to account for absolutely everything. It Sucks. Other than those few bumps, camp has been great and I am going to continue for another three and a half weeks.

Thumb drives, memory sticks, whetever you want to call them, are cool little devices. They’re a far cry from the 1.44M floppy disks we used to store data on when Windows started becoming popular in the early-to-mid 1990s. My stepson John ordered a thumb drive last week, and is now in possession of his new 16G version. And to think Bill Gates once remarked he thought a home computer would never need more than 640k of memory …

With all the problems recently with memory devices being lost or stolen, what can you do? Similar devices contain onboard password protection, while others are now coming with built-in biometric protection (i.e., a fingerprint reader). Still, none of this will prevent the little beastie from disappearing either in your sock drawer or with the help of unscrupulous individuals.

Here’s something simple: Treat your thumb drive like a key. Keep it with your keys, wallet, cell phone, etc. Whatever kind of item you carry that you always know where it is, that’s how you should be thinking of your thumb drive. It’s pointless to even buy a thumb drive if you don’t intend to actively keep track of where the thing is. If you think for one moment you might forget where your thumb drive is located, hold off on buying one until you can hang onto it.

If you have to have portable memory and still don’t think you can keep track of it, a USB Memory Watch may be in order for you. $200 for a 2G version might be a little steep yet, but there are others out there. Options are available … you just need to be smart about it.

I kinda like the thumb drive that’s also a bottle opener. Of course, if the bottle cap’s stuck and you start banging on it with the thumb drive, the drive just might end up with amnesia …

Most of the time, computer parts you’ll find at yard sales are complete and total junk. On occasion, though, a serious gem will show up that you’ll just have to have. Yesterday at the Luna Pier City-Wide Yard Sales I found this rather late in the day for a whole $10. It’s an empty case complete with a 420W power supply, and has never been used. I’ll be building Mary a new PC with it using parts from various suppliers. All the teenagers who hang out here are jealous!