Big things, it has been said, come in small packages. Prior generations looked forward to receiving small, velvety boxes, hoping for precious gems. Today’s little gifts are more likely to plug into the USB port on your computer, and will be just as appreciated. Many of the USB-powered devices on the market are of the promotional variety, meaning they fill an everyday need (such as a flash drive for data storage and transfer), but come in the form of a quirky design.
Desktop Fun
Other USB gadgets are just outright toys, such as the desktop rocket launcher, which has become the scourge of office cubicles worldwide. The fact that they can draw power from your computer is what makes them so novel and appealing. If they happen to serve an actual purpose as well, then that’s just the icing on the techno-cake, but there are other USB devices out there that have a price tag that would make bulk-buying prohibitive to most folks.
Taking the Plunge
One very expensive item with a USB application is the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife. With a full terabyte of eSATA II SSD storage capacity, it puts most computer hard drives to shame. It also includes a 96×48 megapixel monochrome LCD display screen, as well as the latest (256 AES) in security encryption for both hardware and software. Of course, it also comes complete with a pocket knife with a blade, a nail file and a tiny pair of scissors. If that’s all you want for your $3,000 then take the plunge.
Or, if you want something that’s expensive for the sake of being expensive, you could splurge on the Cartier USB Key. It’s just a flash drive that bears the Cartier logo, not encrusted in jewels as one might expect, but painted on. It holds about 4GB of storage, nothing special about that, and has an LED light that glows when plugged into your computer. The only thing that is noteworthy about it is the price, $800, roughly the cost of a new Apple i-Pad. Opulence surely must be its own reward.