Ok, I’ll admit it. My name is Martin Woodward and I am a gadgetaholic. I have a few USB memory keys and a couple of external USB hard-drives. However, I’ve been thinking about getting a new memory key for a while because my other ones are either too small or are a bit battered looking. I was looking to spend £3 yesterday on a UK to US phone adapter and ended up getting myself a new 512Mb memory stick manufactured by Didigo so I would qualify for free shipping on my order. I’ve been wanting to have a play with TrueCrypt for a while and I think I might create a hidden partition on the device and give it a try.
What’s the big deal you may ask? Well this model has an integrated ePaper display (or Bistable Reflective Cholesteric Display to give it the proper name). It shows you the free capacity and also the volume name on a little display that stays visible even when the power source is removed. If you rename the FAT32 volume (in Windows, Mac or Linux) the display updates to show the new name.
I’ve been a keen follower of electronic paper technology for a while and this is the first time a device with it has come into a price range that I can justify and I have a need for. We’ll soon probably have these displays built in to all sorts of devices but for now I was willing to pay a little over the odds (£42) for a memory stick so I could see it working for myself. I’m sure it will give me endless hours of fun demonstrating it to anyone unluckily enough to comment on the display. If you are coming to TechEd this year be sure not to comment on it or I’ll bore you for hours. Watching the display work reminds me of the feeling I got when I saw my first pocket calculator, the Sinclair Cambridge, with it’s mesmorizing LED display.
