Weighs as much as the human soul!

November 18, 2011 8:35 AM

The 21 gram keychain computer. "The tiny PC enables what its inventor calls 'Any Screen Computing,' the ability to turn any TV, laptop, phone, tablet, or set-top box into a dumb terminal for its Android operating system."

Similar prototype from another inventor. Other than biological hardware (an actual implanted thumbdrive), this seems like the most portable computing possible. But are these devices too late to the party? After all, the concept relies on generic input and output devices becoming as ubiquitous and available as...well, mobile phones. Which, as phones come to feature HDMI-out, as well as USB keyboard input, are pretty much this. But not all content creators are on board.

posted by stupidsexyFlanders (77 comments total)

Pretty neat.
posted by ph00dz at 8:38 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Neat, but a bit on the losable side for me. Raspberry Pi's form factor (same area as a credit card, depth of two USB ports) would be more like it.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 8:40 AM on November 18, 2011

WANT.

Wait, it's something around the size of my keys (which I constantly lose) that will cost ~$200.

WANT, BUT CAN NEVER HAVE. :(
posted by Deathalicious at 8:40 AM on November 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

Again, Raspberry PI. 25 of your American 'dollars'.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 8:42 AM on November 18, 2011

But are these devices too late to the party? After all, the concept relies on generic input and output devices becoming as ubiquitous and available as...well, mobile phones. Which, as phones come to feature HDMI-out, as well as USB keyboard input, are pretty much this.

Phones are a lot bigger than thumbdrives. Also, no phones run Linux in a way that lets you alter every aspect of the software. Sounds like at least the first one does (you can install Ubuntu and by "Ubuntu" they mean "Debian").
posted by DU at 8:42 AM on November 18, 2011

Yeah, and the Pi is aiming for a $25 price point.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:42 AM on November 18, 2011

(which I constantly lose)

Yeah basically the only way I could own this awesome thing is if it was attached to me by a string, like mittens in a coat.
posted by griphus at 8:42 AM on November 18, 2011

Yeah basically the only way I could own this awesome thing is if it was attached to me by a string, like mittens in a coat.

Keychain.

Also, yeah, add a thunderbolt port to an iphone and you got the same thing basically..
posted by empath at 8:45 AM on November 18, 2011

(aside from the open source/free/linux-y part -- just functionally)
posted by empath at 8:45 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Okay, NOW we're in The Future.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:47 AM on November 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

And size. And cost.
posted by DU at 8:47 AM on November 18, 2011

Keychain.

Do they make something like an easily-detachable switchblade-style (or otherwise protected w/o a separate cap which will also get lost) keychain USB drive? I mean, generally, not just this project.

The problem with having a USB drive on a keychain is that if I want to plug it into a drive that isn't level with a surface, I either have to pry the whole thing off of the keychain or the keys hang off and weigh the whole thing down. The former is more trouble than it is worth and I've almost busted a USB port doing the latter.
posted by griphus at 8:49 AM on November 18, 2011

Plug it into a port rather.
posted by griphus at 8:50 AM on November 18, 2011

Great title.
posted by Aizkolari at 8:51 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure this thing has room for both my GTX295 cards in SLI configuration.
posted by straight at 8:56 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I either have to pry the whole thing off of the keychain or the keys hang off and weigh the whole thing down

I have my keychain USBs on a separate keychain with my laser pointer.

Also, I don't get how people lose their keys. I'm the absent-mindedest person in the universe and I never lose my keys. My keys are always in my pants, except while driving. And I'm always wearing my pants, including when I'm driving. When the pants come off, the keys stay in there. When new pants go on, everything is transferred.
posted by DU at 8:56 AM on November 18, 2011

A bit more on Raspberry Pi (from Nov. 15, 2011), showing the PCB in scale with a metro card, a US quarter and such.


stupidsexyFlanders: But not all content creators are on board.

I'm still waiting for the publicized HDCP master key to result in some black/grey market dongles to make the content creator limitations a non-issue. I can imagine some black/grey market micro-computers including an HDCP overlook feature, once the first wave of these micro-computers are on the streets for a few months.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:56 AM on November 18, 2011

Stopped caring when I got to "Android".
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:58 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

What I want: a phone with USB and a keyboard that can start up an EC2 instance when I push a button. I could access all my stuff wherever I am on the phone's screen, or I could plug it in and sit down at a monitor and work for a couple of hours. We're so close...the barriers right now are stupid things like lack of USB host ports on phones.
posted by miyabo at 8:58 AM on November 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

Do they make something like an easily-detachable switchblade-style (or otherwise protected w/o a separate cap which will also get lost) keychain USB drive?

Yeah, there are both switchblade-style ones and ones whose USB plug rotates out of a protective case like a folding pocket knife.
posted by Zed at 9:01 AM on November 18, 2011

This is nothing compared to my Commodore PET 2001 with 8 kB of memory, cassette drive and 40 x 20 character monochrome display. I paid only $795 for it in 1977!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 9:02 AM on November 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

Do they make something like an easily-detachable switchblade-style (or otherwise protected w/o a separate cap which will also get lost) keychain USB drive?

Absolutely any form factor or style of USB flash drive that you can imagine has been produced. Cases. Switchblades. Slide-out plugs. Rubber duckies. Swiss army knives. There is not a manmade object that has not been produced in a variant that can store a couple of gigabytes of data, at this point.
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:03 AM on November 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

Stopped caring when I got to "Android".

Do explain.
posted by glaucon at 9:03 AM on November 18, 2011

I lose my keys in my pants, when they slip into that stupid mini-pocket on the right, or get caught between a couple of business cards. Or I put them in my coat pocket and leave the coat somewhere. Or I take them out to use as an impromptu box opener and put them down. Keys get lost.

There is not a manmade object that has not been produced in a variant that can store a couple of gigabytes of data, at this point.

I'm trying not to think about the implications of that for the sex-toy industry.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:08 AM on November 18, 2011

This is an interesting concept, I'm not entirely sure why it's running Android, though. Is that really the best OS for devices that aren't phones? (Honestly, I'm asking.)

That said, I have lost every USB key that i have ever owned, so I would definitely lose this.
posted by asnider at 9:09 AM on November 18, 2011

I'm trying not to think about the implications of that for the sex-toy industry.

I've seen vibrators with USB connectors. I assume that's just how they recharge, but it would be interesting to have a "smart" sex toy, that collects data while you use it and then learns how to be more, um, effective for future sessions. Plugging it into your PC would let you...chart your own sexual experiences?

OK, maybe you're right. Maybe it is best not to think about it.
posted by asnider at 9:12 AM on November 18, 2011

Cool, but I'm definitely more excited by the Raspberry Pi.

jeffamaphone: "Stopped caring when I got to "Android"."

Yeah, that seems an odd choice, but you can stick a proper Linux distro on it too - the article suggests Ubuntu, but I imagine something a bit more lightweight would be a better bet. Or you could put Windows 8 on it, if that's your thing.
posted by jack_mo at 9:14 AM on November 18, 2011

The USB end is male, so I assume you'd need a female-to-female convertor to be able to connect a mouse and keyboard, right? And am I missing something about the USB protocol - is the computer able to negotiate whether it's a host or a device using the same connection?

Also, "any TV" is a stretch... "any TV with HDMI" more like it, which rules out most TVs in places that would benefit most from this.
posted by rh at 9:16 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Do they make something like an easily-detachable switchblade-style (or otherwise protected w/o a separate cap which will also get lost) keychain USB drive? I mean, generally, not just this project.

I have a flash drive where the cap is the part that attaches to my keyring. So I don't lose the cap unless I lose the keys too, and I can pop the flash drive out and plug it in without having the weight issue. Looks like this.

Is that what you had in mind?
posted by kafziel at 9:16 AM on November 18, 2011

I've seen vibrators with USB connectors.

I believe there are people working on software to remotely trigger the operation of a USB-connected vibrator (not searching for that at work...), so even if your partner is away they can help you out.
posted by Jpfed at 9:18 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah, there are both switchblade-style ones and ones whose USB plug rotates out of a protective case like a folding pocket knife.

Link?

My keys are always in my pants, except while driving.

I think we wear very different kinds of pants.

Is that what you had in mind?

I was thinking something where the drive itself is secured a little better than just a cap. I've had USB drives with caps before and it's an absolute crapshoot as to how well it sticks.
posted by griphus at 9:19 AM on November 18, 2011

I've seen vibrators with USB connectors. I assume that's just how they recharge, but it would be interesting to have a "smart" sex toy, that collects data while you use it and then learns how to be more, um, effective for future sessions. Plugging it into your PC would let you...chart your own sexual experiences?

Like the Jawbone Up, but sort of... further up?

That said, there was a kickstarter-funded 8GB USB drive-cum-vibrator, but it didn't collect user data. I have a feeling there are sex toys out there which can at least be programmed with new pulse patterns by USB from what I assume looks like a Temuri-on app, but that may have been a... concept design.
posted by running order squabble fest at 9:19 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

drive-cum-vibrator

golf clap
posted by griphus at 9:21 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Also, no phones run Linux in a way that lets you alter every aspect of the software.

DU, my rooted Kyocera Echo disagrees with you.

--

Stopped caring when I got to "Android".

Computer geeks are the most pathetic of geeks. Can you imagine a rocket scientist saying of a successful Mars landing,
Stopped caring when I got to "LOX tanks",
or a car geek saying of a 300hp, 100mpg engine,
Stopped caring when I got to "diesel fuel"?

Scientists care about "why". Engineers care about "how". Developers care about "when". Users care about "how much". Fanboys care about the product label.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:22 AM on November 18, 2011 [35 favorites]

Do they make something like an easily-detachable switchblade-style (or otherwise protected w/o a separate cap which will also get lost) keychain USB drive? I mean, generally, not just this project.

Yep. I had one for a while and didn't lose it until I leant it to somebody. I can't find it right now, but it was a regular USB drive with a rubber covering that attached at one point so the drive could switchblade out.

I'm trying not to think about the implications of that for the sex-toy industry.

You mean like teledildonics?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:25 AM on November 18, 2011

Do they make something like an easily-detachable switchblade-style (or otherwise protected w/o a separate cap which will also get lost) keychain USB drive? ....

The problem with having a USB drive on a keychain is that if I want to plug it into a drive that isn't level with a surface,...

griphus, why wouldn't a quick-release keychain work for you? You could forget and leave it attached to the computer, and still drive away, but as soon as you pull the keys out you're very likely to notice the missing dongle.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:29 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Griphus - short answer is "yes", although I'm not sure what you mean exactly. I have a Sony drive where the USB plug is stored in the body and clicks out through the end, and another where the (half-height) plug folds into the body like a flicknife and flips out when you press a release button. A very common, and cheap, model for promotional drives holds the drive in a curved metal strip, with it rotating in and out.
posted by running order squabble fest at 9:30 AM on November 18, 2011

Didn't we go through something like this maybe ten years ago or a bit before with portable CPUs that were about the size of PDAs, and they ran Linux and all you would need is a dock or just to borrow someone's keyboard, monitor and mouse? It was a bit more compelling before you had smartphones worthy of the name, but they still didn't take off.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:30 AM on November 18, 2011

...the USB plug is stored in the body and clicks out through the end...

That sounds like what I am looking for; do you have a picture or some search terms?
posted by griphus at 9:31 AM on November 18, 2011

The Sandisk Cruzer has the slide-out connector like we're discussing - I have a titanium one in my pocket that's been banging around for a few years now...
posted by pupdog at 9:35 AM on November 18, 2011

Here's one where the USB plug is stored in the body and clicks out through the end...
posted by rh at 9:35 AM on November 18, 2011

The USB end is male, so I assume you'd need a female-to-female convertor to be able to connect a mouse and keyboard, right?

USB connector is to plug the gizmo into a computer directly. The Bluetooth is there for the keyboard/mouse.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 9:36 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh, wait, no, I have those. Not to turn this into a Stealth AskMe anymore than I already have, but the problem is that I a USB drive that can detach completely from the keys, but stays attached better than a simple cap.
posted by griphus at 9:41 AM on November 18, 2011

Scientists care about "why". Engineers care about "how". Developers care about "when". Users care about "how much". Fanboys care about the product label.

Some product labels tell you a lot about the "how".
posted by DU at 9:41 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

the article suggests Ubuntu, but I imagine something a bit more lightweight would be a better bet

Ubuntu doesn't implicitly mean a full-blown desktop environment installation. You can start off with just ubuntu-minimal which is as lightweight as it gets (this side of custom embedded systems) and it'd still be Ubuntu.

griphus, check the Sandisk Cruzer line, for instance. But if you get one, nuke that goddam U3 malware from orbit.
posted by Zed at 9:42 AM on November 18, 2011

Oh, having looked better at what you're after, griphus, I'd say you might be better off solving this at the keychain level with a keychain with easy-detach rings (It's what I use.)
posted by Zed at 9:54 AM on November 18, 2011

For a straight-up usb key, I think the tuff-n-tiny must be approaching the limit. Wear it as an earring.
posted by cairnish at 9:55 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Sandisk Cruzer has the slide-out connector like we're discussing - I have a titanium one in my pocket that's been banging around for a few years now...

These things are completely invincible. I have one and I've sent it through the wash and dryer and it was fine, and didn't lose any of the data on it. But yeah, I get what griphus is saying about the keychain thing...maybe one which had an unscrewable cap instead of just a slide-off cap, griphus? Pretty sure I've seen those somewhere.

Also, this: Other than biological hardware (an actual implanted thumbdrive) suggests being not-that-far from a future where your computer is your actual thumb that you just slide the USB port out of and stick into a screen, and that is so mind-blowingly science fiction that it is hard for me to believe that it is actually possible.
posted by mstokes650 at 9:55 AM on November 18, 2011

I'm not getting the price point on the Cotton Candy. It's much more expensive than the Raspberry Pi or pluggable computers like the Sheeva. Is it all due to the extra miniaturization?

Not to turn this into a Stealth AskMe anymore than I already have, but the problem is that I a USB drive that can detach completely from the keys, but stays attached better than a simple cap.

I use one of those keychain things that you can clip onto your beltloop. House keys are on the semi-permanent attachment end, car keys and USB drive are on rings attached to the 'clip' part. That way I can separate those easily if I need to loan my car or USB drive. You have to get in the habit of making sure the keys are away from the opening end if you clip it on to something, though, or they can fall off when you undo it.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:05 AM on November 18, 2011

My keys are always in my pants - oh, if only women's dress pants/skirts ever actually had pockets.... Although I've gotten much better since I got a bag that has a keyring clip in it.

Very excited about these, actually; I'm sort of visualizing being able to rework our home computing setup so either of us can use the desk with the monitors without having to actually share a computer, most of the time.
posted by epersonae at 10:06 AM on November 18, 2011

Wear it as an earring.
I'm genuinely surprised that I almost never see jewelry with built-in storage. I'd wear a nice-looking wrist strap, pendant or something that also had a few GB of storage, or at least a slot for something like that tuff-n-tiny stick to live in.

I've seen one or two ghastly silver, diamante-encrusted affairs that are clearly intended as statement pieces. But more subtle wearable storage is the kind of thing that I'd expect accessory and low-end jewelry makers, along with hundreds of people on etsy, to be all over.
posted by metaBugs at 10:08 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Zed: "Ubuntu doesn't implicitly mean a full-blown desktop environment installation. You can start off with just ubuntu-minimal which is as lightweight as it gets (this side of custom embedded systems) and it'd still be Ubuntu."

Good point! In fact, I used Ubuntu installed from the Minimal CD on my netbook for a good while - dunno why Ubuntu now equals 'enormous bloatfest' in my head.
posted by jack_mo at 10:16 AM on November 18, 2011

This would be cool for me. I'd like to play with additional OSes, but often the entry point is too high. $200 for a device and OS seems reasonable, especially once you factor in the cool
posted by cjorgensen at 10:22 AM on November 18, 2011

... subtle wearable storage is the kind of thing that I'd expect accessory and low-end jewelry makers, along with hundreds of people on etsy, to be all over.

There's not a lot of functional ones, that I've seen, but this seller has some interesting pieces.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:28 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'd like to play with additional OSes, but often the entry point is too high.

Most desktop CPUs in the past half-decade support hardware virtualization and, with adequate memory, can offer excellent virtual machine support to satisfy most OS experimentation desires on the cheap.
posted by Zed at 10:49 AM on November 18, 2011

NOW we're in The Future.


The excruciating pain from the acoustic cannon still throbbing in his head, Seth pushed the revs on the battered Puffin to their max and climbed quickly away from the bloody melee below. The stolen Thumbox still felt hot, like it could burn a hole in the polymer lining of his cloak-coat, but he knew it was just residual heat from the death grip of the Vandal he zapped to obtain it. Reaching a safe altitude he eased back on the throttle to save watts, despite his urgency. His life was, of course, insignificant next to the importance of his cargo, but he couldn't risk injury or death in a crash landing - it was critical he get the National League's viral package to the ICC for analysis before the polls opened. Plus, his husband was waiting at home.....
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:58 AM on November 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

mstokes650, I was just ruminating there. I know doctors can install subcutaneous data ports for monitoring pacemaker function and such, and it's probably not crazy to think at some point we can have computing power implanted with I/O ports for interfacing with other devices. At least you wouldn't lose it.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 11:10 AM on November 18, 2011

Also, no phones run Linux in a way that lets you alter every aspect of the software.

DU, my rooted Kyocera Echo disagrees with you.

If you have to root it, it didn't "let" you.
posted by DU at 11:16 AM on November 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

The problem with having a USB drive on a keychain is that if I want to plug it into a drive that isn't level with a surface, I either have to pry the whole thing off of the keychain or the keys hang off and weigh the whole thing down. The former is more trouble than it is worth and I've almost busted a USB port doing the latter.

Attach the USB drive to the rest of your keychain with one of those retractable janitor key leash things?
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:17 AM on November 18, 2011

No, no, I get that, I just think it's mind-blowing that we're at a point where it isn't crazy to think that would be possible soon.

Honestly, I'd probably be all over that if it was possible, I'd be way too worried about losing my entire computer to keep it on a thumb drive on my keychain or something. I don't tend to keep super-important data on one for the same reason. Though, having to go get surgery every time I want a hardware upgrade might be awfully inconvenient.
posted by mstokes650 at 11:19 AM on November 18, 2011

This is interesting, but one phrase in the article seems a bit odd- "When connected to an HDTV, it uses the HDMI port for video, the USB for power, and Bluetooth to connect to a keyboard, mouse, or tablet for controlling the operating system."

That seems to suggest it needs to plug into a USB port (or wall wart) for power when connected to a TV. Does this mean one needs to also have a USB extension cable? Doesn't that reduce the utility a bit? (Not to mention the need to carry a BT mouse/keyboard.)
posted by JMOZ at 11:20 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

That seems to suggest it needs to plug into a USB port (or wall wart) for power when connected to a TV. Does this mean one needs to also have a USB extension cable? Doesn't that reduce the utility a bit? (Not to mention the need to carry a BT mouse/keyboard.)

Yeah, ultimately, the number of accessories you'd need to carry around in order to make this thing usable make me think that sticking with a laptop or tablet is more sensible.
posted by asnider at 11:27 AM on November 18, 2011

The price point is a bit high. I am totally looking forward to Raspberry Pi. I have so many cool ideas on how to make portable computers for the car and on the go.
posted by handbanana at 11:39 AM on November 18, 2011

Crap. As cool as this is (and it is very cool) it is just going to give credibility to the nonsense that Hollywood comes up with for the kinds of tools that "hackers" use.

Because now when someone plugs in a USB slug and it provides a custom user interface and begins to decrypt and transmit the contents of a hard drive, I'm not going to be able to scoff and roll my eyes anymore.

Because, however unlikely, it could happen now.
posted by quin at 12:01 PM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm still waiting for the publicized HDCP master key to result in some black/grey market dongles

Well, Andrew Huang's NeTV thingummy is only possible because the master key is known, although he goes to some trouble to avoid ever, technically, decrypting the content it's modifying.
posted by hattifattener at 12:04 PM on November 18, 2011

Tomorrowful: "There is not a manmade object that has not been produced in a variant that can store a couple of gigabytes of data, at this point."

This sounds like a challenge.
posted by brundlefly at 12:25 PM on November 18, 2011

I'm trying not to think about the implications of that for the sex-toy industry.

"I call him Fister Roboto. He's a fully integrated, multi-fetish, artificial being. And the best part, is that he's learning..."
posted by codswallop at 12:37 PM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

That's MeFi's own Fister Roboto.
posted by griphus at 12:39 PM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Quin: That could happen last year. That Apple-compatible virus that got some news mention was delivered by connecting an infected flash drive to a terminal, and it executed itself once plugged in.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:16 PM on November 18, 2011

Phones are a lot bigger than thumbdrives. Also, no phones run Linux in a way that lets you alter every aspect of the software. Sounds like at least the first one does (you can install Ubuntu and by "Ubuntu" they mean "Debian").

That's not true at all
posted by delmoi at 2:42 PM on November 18, 2011

griphus: "Yeah basically the only way I could own this awesome thing is if it was attached to me by a string, like mittens in a coat."

After locking my keys in my car with the lights on twice in one week, I do this with my car keys. Only I use parachute cord. This device would go well next to my keys an bottle opener.
posted by notsnot at 3:15 PM on November 18, 2011

I'm trying not to think about the implications of that for the sex-toy industry.

Dude, why not throw in some bluetooth .

If you have to root it, it didn't "let" you.

WTF does that even mean? There are a ton of popular android phones available where root isn't difficult to get. The fact that a device ships with android does not mean that it's locked down at all. You can get the full source code to android 4.0 if you want.

When you're talking about MacOS the term people use is "Jailbreaking" because that's what they're doing. Defeating the system controls that try to prevent users from taking control of the device. On android it's just called 'rooting'. In many cases, phone makers don't make much, or any effort to prevent you from taking full control of your phone.

Anyway, the interesting thing is that I think the whole concept of a central 'computer' is kind of going away. Instead we are going to have all these different connected devices. The HDMI equipped TV you're going to plug this thing into likely it's own internal computer as well. The average home in the future might have hundreds of devices connected over WiFi, the same way your average PC has hundreds of applications running in the background, not to mention millions of discrete files.

Kindle is a harbinger of that. It's a computer, but the main purpose is reading books you buy on Amazon. I think in the future we'll see even more of that.
posted by delmoi at 3:20 PM on November 18, 2011

The one-click root apps may be easy to run, but they do actually break through security measures. In the case of, say, SuperOneClick, they can use a feature in the debugging tools to turn off the stuff that enforces permissions, which means it isn't really a "hack"--more like entering the administrator password, save that the phone expects to be administered by a computer.

If you can do whatever you want to the device, but need to use a particular software package to do it--we still don't call that "rooted" because it isn't convenient enough. But is it "locked down"? I dunno.
posted by LogicalDash at 5:37 PM on November 18, 2011

I'm surprised more people haven't built USB jewelry around this. I gave one to each of my bridesmaids.
posted by limeonaire at 5:45 PM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Considering that I'm on my fourth iPod shuffle, having apparently lost my three previous ones in incidents of sudden inhalation, I'm both the perfect target market for this and someone who would likely be a repeat buyer. Plus, the medical community would benefit, racking up billable hours extracting microscopic computing devices from my sinuses.
posted by sonascope at 6:08 PM on November 18, 2011

USB drive that can detach completely from the keys, but stays attached better than a simple cap

Lots of thumb drives have lanyard holes, the Corsair Voyagers come to mind. I love my Voyager Mini. Use a micro carabiner to attach it to your keychain.

I also have something similar to this (~40x20x3mm) that's three-four years old now that I keep in my much abused (I keep it in a back pocket) wallet. I'm constantly amazed that the thing continues to keep working.

That Rasperry Pi looks like it would be a super fun toy/tool, but I can't believe the price point. They'll probably have to admit that they had to re-price it higher because of shortages in a particular component, or problems in manufacturing lowering yields, or something.

But here's hoping.
posted by porpoise at 7:07 PM on November 18, 2011

DU: "Also, I don't get how people lose their keys. I'm the absent-mindedest person in the universe and I never lose my keys. My keys are always in my pants..."

Since it appears you've never missplaced your pants, you're clearly not the absent-mindedest person in the universe.
posted by Deathalicious at 9:12 PM on November 18, 2011