Here’s something a little different today – instead of playing the portable Ghostbusters Remake game, build a very realistic model of the very cool Ghostbusters Ecto-1 car entirely out of paper! Scroll all the way down to the bottom of that website’s page to download the instructions and printouts – they are all in jpg format. While you’re there, check out the instructions to build a paper version of the Back to the Future time travel car and Mad Max’s car. The detail in the models is incredible! I’ve got to build that Ghostbusters car right away!

Check out these designer flash drives from mimoco. They have a two Star Wars models of Darth Vader and Chewbacca (which looks kind of funny) with two more planned for release but whose identities are unknown at this point.

If they could only come out with a Gumby flash drive; that would be nice. iPod has a Gumby skin, but if you ask me – it doesn’t even remotely look like the Gumby we know and love! It’s not even green!

There are a variety of FM stereo transmitters on the market that plug into your car’s cigarette lighter and play your MP3s off of your USB flash drive. This is a great way to turn your flash drive into a music player at an affordable price (several models are priced around 30$ US), provided you own a car!

Plug your flash drive into one of these transmitters then select an FM channel on your car and player and the music is broadcast through your car’s speakers. I haven’t tried these transmitters out but if any readers have, I would love to hear feedback regarding the sound quality of these devices.

Did you know that even Fido can have his own flash drive? The Top Tag Pet ID ($39.95 US) is a mini flash drive for your pet where you can outline your contact information, your pet’s diet, commands, medical information, personality and exercise habits in an easy to use interface. It comes with a waterproof case (that doesn’t seem to be 100% waterproof since they mention in the FAQ that it can still get wet), but I would be afraid that the cover poses a choking hazard to your pet.

I guess this product could be useful for some pet owners, as for me and my dog Molly, I think we’ll just stick to the old fashioned bone-shaped tag with her name and my phone number on it for now. After the Canadian exchange and the taxes are applied, this gadget becomes too expensive for a single purpose item that would go on an active dog who is sure to loose the cover and probably damage the drive.

I’ve been searching the web for some ideas on modifying my flash drive and found a few some ingenious ideas and instructions.

If your looking for ideas to customize your flash drive, perhaps these sites will offer some inspiration!

Pez Dispenser mods:

• Pez drives pitcures
• Nice Darth Vader Pez intructions
• Instructions on making your own PEZ mod

Lego:

• Lego brick instructions

Cars:

• Mini Cooper
• Ferrari

Other:

• Teddy Bear with instructions (link updated!)
• Homer Simpson with instructions
• Clear Case with instructions
• Miscellaneous drives
• Guitar USB flash drive
  
• Top 10 Weirdest USB Drives

Taking care of such a little device is pretty simple. Follow these tips to ensure your flash drive has a long life and that your data remains intact:

1. Unplug your flash drive properly through Windows
2. Replace the cover when not in use
3. Store it in a safe place

1. Unplug your flash drive properly through Windows

I’ve seen a lot of flash drive owners pull out their drives from their computers without using the “Safely remove hardware” icon located in the system tray. This could cause file corruption or, even worse, it can cause the entire flash drive to become corrupted and unreadable (the latter can happen if the flash drive is removed while the main index file is being modifed). The best practice is to remove your flash drive by doing the following:

1. Close any directory listings you might have open in Windows Explorer
2. Close any files, portable applications and launchers running off the flash drive
3. Click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon from the system tray
4. Select your flash drive and click Stop
5. Click on OK in the pop-up window
6. When your flash drive light goes off, then it’s safe to remove your flash drive

2. Replace the cover when not in use

Keep the protective cap on the USB connector when not using your flash drive to keep the connector clean and to prevent it from getting damaged.
3. Store it in a safe place

Finally, I have to add, keep it in a safe place! I left mine on my desk with the lanyard dangling and my dog decided it was her new toy. Seeing my flash drive in her teeth made me realize how easily she could have destroyed it or even choked on the cover. Luckily, a Toy Poodle isn’t much of a challenge even for me, so it was very easy to wrestle it out of her jaw lock and bribe her with a real treat instead. It still bears tiny dent marks on the plastic case from this experience. I have also misplaced it on numerous occassions, forgetting where I put it or loosing it between several papers.

So that’s the basic requirements of taking care of your little flash drive. I’ve read there isn’t much danger at airport security machines (you see test results at this site: http://www.i3a.org/itip.html); however, you might want to check the specifications of your particular drive to make sure. Finally, label your drive with your contact information. It wouldn’t hurt to create a file in the root directory named something like “LostandFound.txt” and put your contact information in there too, in case the outside label becomes illegible.

I recently received a USB flash drive as a brithday present. Cool, I thought. Now I can make backups easily and quickly. And I did. But then I noticed that this little drive was hanging around doing nothing most of the time. I thought there must be other exciting things I can do with this little bugger besides looking at it collecting dust?

That’s how I found out about a whole new world of portable apps, USB hacks, music, games and a whole bunch of other cool stuff. This site is all about maximizing your drive and having some fun with it, so enjoy!