Kicks and Kisses

Just by a look at a music file on your computer, you can tell its byte count, datatype and content characteristic and that it is a file which can be played in any media player. But still you need CUT-COPY-PASTE interactions when you want to transfer the same from one device to another. Why can’t you transfer this file from one computer to another, like water from one glass to another?

Recently developed LoK-IT flash drives, by LOK-IT intrigues me. The User Interface built on the exterior of flash drive allows users to protect the data, in case one loses the Flash drive, which is not very rare; this is true innovation in Flash drive space, in the similar way we innovated from floppy drives to flash drives. I await a day when user will be able to have an idea of the information volume a flash drive contains, just by having a look at the information visualization on its surface or by simply weighing it in hand, sparing the plugging on computer.

Another true innovation, I believe, in this domain would probably be the data transfer- merely by holding two flash drives face-to-face and transmitting data from one to another. Certainly, our generation is not very far from this as we see in the incoming iPhone technologies/apps, which allows one to transfer contacts from one iphone to another.

Siftables is another great research project where David Merrill has designed & developed a system where information behaves like real world material.