Removable hard drives are great, allowing you to take loads of files from one place to another, easily and efficiently with a reduced chance of you losing anything. However they do have a few flaws: they are easily stolen, and easily hacked.

So, what can a manufacturer do? Well they can’t stop you losing it (although coloring them something other than black, gray and silver might help) but they can make them more secure and that is what Levono have done with their new product: the Vault. As its name suggests, it is not about storage (although it does have 160GB/320GB) or about looks, it is about security.

If Santa is looking for stocking stuffers, or if you are just looking for some portable storage at a good price, you may want to check out one of Newegg’s latest “Special Buys.”

Right now, they are offering the Kingston DataTravelor 100 4GB flash drive for just $7.99 complete with free shipping.

I’ve compare shopped the item at some other sites. Overstock is actually asking $21.99 for the same item. (Which is just ridiculous, even Newegg doesn’t list that as the regular price). . . .

I’m sorry, but I just wonder, is this entire thing just someone’s idea of “Just how far can we take this and people will think we’re serious?” I mean, the name itself. Who came up with it? You have got to be kidding me.

Okay. For those who aren’t aware…Cucku is a “Social Backup Service” that runs on Windows machines. It was available to select beta users since February of this year, and its 1.20 version just became available for all to download yesterday. You want to make all your personal files oh so safe? Well then, all you have to do according to Cucku (oh, that just makes me roll my eyes each time I type it), is back up all of your data to your friend’s computer. Oh, and in return, they back up all their work onto yours. You are “back-up buddies.” Isn’t that special?

Apparently in their spare time, Microsoft employees still work on techie projects. These projects are called “Community prototypes.” The first such prototype, from Office Labs, is called Speed Launch. This program allows users to download the program and utilize it to work as a quick-start activation program.

It works with any file, website or program. Users simply drag what they want to add to the program to the Speed Launch “Bull’s Eye” to create a shortcut, and name it. Then, whenever they want to access a shortcut, simply press Windows-C and type the shortcut name…and voila! There you go. You are also able to use the program to open multiple items with the same name. Simply give the items the same name in the “naming stage” of the process, and when prompted to replace or merge the files, select merge. That way, when you select that file name from the bull’s eye, any files given that name will open for you.

If you’ve ever wanted to bring your collection of digital files with you wherever you go, the Mvix MVU-2500U portable media player might be the answer to your needs. ThMVU-2500U uses 2.5-inch PATA / IDE hard drives with support for up to 250GB, which is actually more than enough to contain 100 DVD quality movies. more »