USB, Off The Cuff

Always looking for a new way to carry my USB key drive. Here’s another option (via Ubergizmo): Designed by Berlin-based Tonia Welter, the cufflinks are a prototype, but with plans to build with a capacity of up to 1 GB. A bracelet is in the works, which looks not unlike Imation’s Flash Wristband’, and will … Read more

Directory of Screencasting Resources

Updated Nov 13 2006: added a piece on screencasting in Linux which looks helpful, albeit complicated. This week’s WSJ.com column, out Friday, is about screencasting (you can find all my columns here; subscription only, I’m afraid): Screencasts are really simple to grasp. And in some ways they’re not new. But I, and a few thousand … Read more

The Presence Problem

Steve Smith of Lavalife makes a good point about the surge of new products which extend the use of Skype beyond the desktop. Great for mobility and wider access, bad for one of the key benefits that IM-related programs like Skype bring us: presence. (Presence merely means being able to signal whether you’re online, whether … Read more

The Barcode Revolution

Pacarc, the guys who brought the Mitsubishi Jet Towel to the U.S. are now bringing over another piece of Japan: The design barcode. The design barcode, in the words of Pacarc’s James Allard, “seemed so obvious – utilize the last one-inch square of (nearly) blank real estate on product packing for branding or company image … Read more