September 21, 2005

Your Computer (Files, Programs, Email+) On A USB Drive

I've written about Forward Solutions Migo, software embedded in a USB key that lets you take your computer with you. When you put the USB key into a computer your files, email, desktop settings and other things are loaded onto the computer you are at just as if you were at "your" computer.

Another company at Demo, U3 is launching a product, sold by OEM's like SanDisk, very similar to the Migo, but U3's software appears to do a lot more.

Tim Bajaran of Technology Pundits writes Now the folks from U3 have added another dimension to this idea by marrying the concept of Outlook email and folder synchronization to the notion of running applications themselves from the USB thumb drive so that, in essence, your entire computer productivity can be handled strictly from the thumb drive itself. Of course, how much productivity a person can do via a thumb drive is determined by the size of the USB media¬?s storage capabilities, but I find that the idea behind the U3 software is most compelling and in many ways, gives us a glimpse of the role portable USB storage devices may play in the life of both business and consumer users in the future.

U3's press release reads further The second program is SignupShield Password Manager, which stores fully encrypted passwords and supports browsers such as Internet Explorer and Mozilla¬?s Firefox. Unlike ¬?simple¬? password managers, this program saves passwords and related data from registration, log-in and password forms. When a user returns to a recognized site, SignupShield automatically fills out sign-in and password change forms. Also, with a feature called 1-Click Sign-in, a user can make a single click from a list of saved sites and SignupShield visits the site, fills out the password and logs in by submitting the password. SignupShield was developed by Protecteer of Bedford, New Hampshire.

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