Twintech Goodies

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USB flash drives have been around for quite some time now, although not too popular. They are useful to users who need to transfer large files between work and home or laptop and desktop. It was exactly two years ago when OCA reviewed the 16MB EasyDisk USB HD. At the time, just the 16MB variant cost $59, while a more practical 128MB was $189. While over the course of these two years, USB flash drives have not received much improvement in terms of technology, the prices of these drives have since dropped by about 50%, making them much more attractive. Today, we'll look at two different types of USB flash drives from Twintech: the Firefly USBee and and Translucent Flash Drive.

 

Manufacturer:	Twintech Industry, Inc.
Products:	Firefly USBee & Translucent Flash Drive
Price:	USD$54.95 (64MB Firefly USBee + free    32MB Translucent Blue Flash Drive)
Availability:	In stores and online now
Reviewed By:	Kaoman
Edited By:	Mack "SPeeD"

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Introduction
USB flash drives have been around for quite some time now, although not too popular. They are useful to users who need to transfer large files between work and home or laptop and desktop. It was exactly two years ago when OCA reviewed the 16MB EasyDisk USB HD. At the time, just the 16MB variant cost $59, while a more practical 128MB was $189. While over the course of these two years, USB flash drives have not received much improvement in terms of technology, the prices of these drives have since dropped by about 50%, making them much more attractive. Today, we'll look at two different types of USB flash drives from Twintech: the Firefly USBee and and Translucent Flash Drive.

 

 

 

Here are some specs. Besides dimensions and weight, the two types of drives are identical.

 

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The Drives
The Firefly USBee is Twintech's newer flash drive compared to the Translucent Flash Drive. Its package comes with a driver CD for Windows 98, instruction manual, P.I. Protector manual, carrying strap, and translucent USB extension cord.

 

P.I. Protector is a piece of software by ImagineLan.com which comes preloaded with all Firefly USBee drives. It is designed to protect the user's privacy while browsing the internet by having the computer store all information about internet activities on the USB drive itself. Such internet activities include: browser history log, recent file list, cookies, URL auto-complete list, URL drop-down list, and temporary & cached files.

 

PI Protector is a software program that provides an innovative approach to Internet privacy using the latest removable storage device, the USB memory key. PI Protector protects a Windows 98SE/ME/2000 or XP user's privacy and their sensitive personal information by diverting all tracking of a user's Internet activities to a portable USB memory key or removable storage device, thereby prohibiting the storage of any information on the user's hard drive, and offering the added convenience of "Internet Portability."

While this software sounds impressive, I do not really see any realistic application of it. If you are at work and on the internet, unless you yourself are the network administrator, everything you do can be seen, and probably is being tracked and logged. In public net cafes or libraries, you face similar problems since everything is usually bound together through a network. And lastly at home, you have little nothing to hide. For that matter, I have deleted the P.I. files off my USBee.
 

  
 

The USBee is an awkward yellow/orange color, which coincides with the terms "firefly" and "bee." I would have much rather preferred a nice metallic version, although the drive would then no longer fit its own name. At the tip of the drive is a clear, plastic hole which serves two purposes: a) for the carrying strap and b) for the yellow LED which is embedded beneath. In the specifications of the USBee on Twintech's website, a read/write protect switch is listed. However, inspecting the drive carefully, I found no such thing.

 

Here are some more photos of the Firefly USBee in action:

 

   

 

Next: A closer look >>
 

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