Cleaning your flash drive, don't try this at home!

I'm in the habit of removing things from my pockets when I get home at the end of the day. After Taekwondo class last evening I began the ritual, but something was missing.

Cash - check;
Change accumulated during the day - check;
Cell phone - check;
Keys - check;
Flash drive - Flash drive? No Flash drive!

Retrace steps... Check office, no Flash drive. Check night table, nope. Check work clothes... where's my work clothes? Check hamper, no work clothes. Check washing machine... Flash Drive!

I don't recommend that you throw your flash drive in the washer! But if you do, let it dry 24 hours or so before inserting into your usb port and if you're lucky, like I was, it will still be shiny, clean, and functioning! I have a feeling the cell phone might not have been so lucky.

That thumb drive speaks volumes!

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider Vonage has introduced the V-phone, a bright orange 256 MB thumb drive complete with Vonage Talk Software pre-loaded, a detachable stereo earpiece/microphone, and your own Vonage phone number. The beauty of this little device is that there is no need to install the software on your PC, or restart your machine to use it. Just plug the device into any available USB port, assuming the PC being plugged into has a high speed connection, and start calling! Considering I paid $99 as an upgrade to my Dell PC a couple of years ago for my 64 MB USB drive, the $29.99 (ca) price tag seems reasonable. There is of course a requirement to subscribe to a Vonage service plan, which start at $19.99 (ca). You can compare that to your current phone service and make your own decision whether or not it's worth the expense, and of course there are other VoIP services such as Skype to consider but this little device does have it's merits. If nothing else, there are 250 MB's of free space to store your MP3's on...

Sounds like a great solution for road warriors and students wanting to stay in touch with home, at $20 a month for 500 minutes the return on investment should be decent..."Dad, my marks are good. Can you send money?"