A real memory stick breakthrough breaks through

BY FAR THE NEATEST gizmo of the show so far is the Lexar Jumpdrive Mercury, a USB flash drive with a twist. Suuuuure I hear you say, everyone has a 'USB drive with a twist', but so far, Lexar is the one company that really does, it has a usage meter on the side.

The flash of brilliance by the Lexar engineers is that they solved the single biggest problem the sector faces, power, with a bolt out of the blue, ePaper. The bar graph below is not an LCD, it is the often discussed and rarely seen ePaper/eInk technology. Once it is set, it stays where it is without any electricity, so no slow battery drain. The bars are not as dark as an LCD, but are plenty readable, and don't wash out at high angles or with polarized sunglasses.

The other great thing they did is have the drive update it's own usage on the fly. Most competitors make you install drivers, and if you plug it into a PC without drivers, or worse yet, a non-PC device, you are SOL. This one just works.

There are two models that will be available in a few months, a 1GB and a 2GB. Both command about a $5 premium, well worth it to me, for the meter, but this relegates them to the high end where the cost is more easily absorbed, precluding smaller variants. The 1GB will retail for about $60-70, 2GB for $100-100.µ