The concept of the RAM disk has been around for a while but due to expense and limitations are virtually unheard of in practical use. FusionIo, with its revolutionary ioMemory technology, intends to change all this and bridge the gap of limitations between current storage and memory technologies with the innovative new ioDrive.

The ioDrive, with a catch phrase “The power of a SAN in the palm of your hand”, operates on the PCI-Express x4 bus with access rates approaching DRAM with a sustained 600 and 800 MBytes/s write and read operations respectively. Aside from the high speed, small packet transfer feature of the drive, ioDrives require no RAID controller to provide redundancy between drives, there are no moving parts and they use industry standard form factor and interface.

Today Seagate took the wraps off of their first hybrid notebook hard drive featuring a combination of standard hard drive storage and Flash memory. The Momentus 5400 PSD features only a 5400 rpm spindle but promises faster system response times along with extended notebook battery life and better storage reliability. We’ve seen hybrid drives like these in the past with Samsung and Hitachi, and improved speed and efficiency through this type of storage combo is likely to be the standard in coming years.

The 2.5 inch drive utilizes 256MB of Flash-based memory for storing data that’s frequently accessed providing a quicker responses and through this also requires less drive disk access, cutting the power consumption of the drive more than in half. Having the additional quick-access memory also aids in faster OS boot times according to the company.

Got Halo? With yesterday’s release of “Halo 3″ it seems everyone is jumping on Bungie’s first-person shooter bandwagon. 7-11 has “Halo” Slurpee cups, Doritos have “Halo” branded chip bags and Mountain Dew is calling their pop “game fuel”. Although I do think those early pregnancy tests are taking things to far…

Mimoco is releasing their own “Halo” series of USB flash drives in three weeks. Compatible with USB 2.0 protocol the Halo Mimobot Series 1 line replicates the likeness of Master Chief, “Halo”’s hero. You can pick a drive in Spartan blue, red or Master Chief’s preference, forest green. They’re a little goofy looking but then again it’s supposed to be a tiny USB drive, right?

Zip Zip Memory Bricks are small USB 2.0 Flash memory drives encased inside a Lego-type toy building brick. When the cap is on they appear like a normal toy brick, but pulling one half of the brick apart exposes the USB 2.0 connector. They come in colors of green, yellow, blue, red, black or white, much like Lego bricks do, and have a capacity of 1GB.

The Memory Bricks also have a lanyard attached to make them harder to lose and easier to identify should you happen to drop it into a pile of regular toy bricks. The company says you can stack memory bricks just like you would with regular toy bricks, but what would be cooler is if the memory would stack up as well!

That fuzzy brown square thing with the great white shark-like mouth is a character named Domo. Created by the marketing department of Japanese television station NHK back in 1998 to be their mascot, Domo became a viral phenomenon as internet users grafted the image as their forum icon.

Seeing their creation catch on to the zeitgeist, the TV station licensed out the rights and Domo products soon started appearing on Japanese store shelves. This fall a series of 26 two-minute short films featuring Domo and his cave-dwelling friends will begin appearing on Nicktoons suggesting that he’s about to really invade America’s cultural landscape.

Having your own cool-looking memory stick is becoming as important to fashion as the way you dress. Producing a boring flash drive says you’re practical but pulling out a Darth Vader USB drive says “I brake for The Force.” What these four new USB drives say to your co-workers and friends is open for interpretation but they may have the side-effect of making those around you hungry.

Produced by Japan-based Green House, these 1GB USBs are made to resemble a cartoony style of staples of the American diet. As any medical expert will attest, a slice of pizza, hamburger, hot dog and a sub sandwich represent each of the four food groups that are so important in your nutritional requirements for proper junk food.

If the Memory Squid isn’t to your liking and you are still in need of some extra flash memory consider Traxdata’s EZ Drive YEGO. Think of it as a high-tech Christmas tree.

Each EZ Drive is a USB storage device that holds 2GB of Flash memory and that splits off in a Y-shape to give you an additional two USB ports (which are compatible with USB 1.1 and 2.0 specs.) If you need more memory or if you just want to grow your EZ Drive tree add another couple of Yegos to your base and voila, now you have four additional USB ports to play with — and so on and so forth.

Waterproof electronic devices just always seem kind of cool for some reason. Anytime you can take some electronic gadget under water and it still works, even when there is no need, automatically moves it up the “cool” list a few points.

A good example is the mDrive waterproof USB Flash drive from Gidis. The slim drive comes packaged in a CD jewel case with a smooth looking black and red Taegeuk design, but what’s most noteworthy is that its waterproof. We’re not sure just how many things you’re going to be able to actually plug this thing into when your under water but when a device comes along with a functional, underwater USB port, Gidis will be ready. Then again, this of course could be handy right after you’ve downloaded the secret documents onto it while on your secret spy reconnaissance mission, and then have to dive into the ocean in a narrow escape.

If you are looking for the ultimate in security for a new thumb drive take a gander at the IronKey, the military’s solution to keeping their secrets safe. The IronKey is made to be both tough physically as well as data attacks.

For starters it encrypts your password using 256-bit AES and then encrypts that info a second time using 128-bit encryption. It may sound like overkill but heck why not do it? If a hacker wants to try and guess your password they only get 10 tries before the IronKey destroys all of the data it contains. If the villain tries to pop the drive open and get at the chips inside he will have a next-to-impossible task pulling it out in one piece since the guts are coated with an epoxy and would gum up the removal process.

SanDisk has announced a doubling of the drive capacity of their SanDisk Cruzer Micro flash drive, brining the total capacity to 8 Gigabytes from the previous maximum of 4GB.

This capacity equates to around 1,600 high res photos or 2,000 songs on this single, 2-inch long, half an ounce USB Flash drive. The drive, like the previous Cruzer’s, features the retractable USB connector so there is no cap needed and more importantly no cap to loose. The connector retracts into the drive when not in use. When …

In a world where your cell phone can be a camera, mp3 player, portable video device, and access the web you most definitely need a lighter that can be used to secretly store your personal data. Combining two of my favorite things, information and fire (the true key to the modern world), the memlite is a hybrid lighter and USB flash drive that would even make Q himself jealous.

The memlite will eventually come in five colors (black, grey, blue, red and green) and soon will have a capacity of 4GB… more than enough room …

Available in colors of black, pearl blue, red, and silver, the Korean company DIGIX has released a ballpoint pen that also houses a USB flash drive. The pen measures 6.1×0.5×0.5 inches and has 1GB of storage capacity. Simply remove the cap from the back of the pen to expose the USB 2.0 compatible plug.

via Aving

Advanced Media, the manufacturer of Ridata digital products, announced it had begun sales of its Ridata Yego Drive through the Web sites of Wal-Mart and CompUSA. The Yego Drive is available in 2GB and 4GB storage capacities.

The Ridata Yego Drive is a rather unique looking USB drive. Besides allowing one to store data on it this drive also acts as a USB hub via the two USB ports built into its limbs. These USB 2.0 drives also feature what is called “advanced partition and security functions” so one can create password protected areas for storage of important files.

PQI has been at work packing more storage capacity in the same wallet-sized USB memory device. They’ve doubled the maximum capacity previously available in the super-slim, 3mm thick flash drive from 16GB up to 32GB. Now you can easily carry 32GB of data in a place as small as a credit card slot in your wallet.

The 32GB U510 connects via USB 2.0 with a slide-out dongle so there’s nothing making the card any larger, and no additional parts you need to have with you to make it work. …

Sony has announced a new series of flash drives called the Pocket Bit Mini (USM-HX series). The USB flash drives come in capacities of 1GB and 2GB are Vista ReadyBoost compatible with virtual expander, encoding and secret file lock built into the drive.

They come in colors of black or white and has a two-way carrying case to make them convenient for different USB port locations. The little drives are 14.5mm long and weigh just 1.5 grams. They will retail for $34 and $52 for the 1GB and …