Hasta La Ideas

The USB seems to have grown exponentially more prevalent since it evolved into its third and current revision in late 2008 as the standard connector and, in concert with the decreasing cost of flash memory, replacing optical media as well. A couple of new products—one enthusiastically crowdfunded, the other not quite as successful (as of press time)—affirm USB technology’s place among those coveted objects of ‘everyday carry.’

Our beloved smartphones only obliquely acknowledge their dependence on Universal Serial Bus: they’re one degree (read: cable) removed from port… which, as Zeller Designs sees it, is precisely the problem. The ChargeCard, created by Noah Dentzel and Adam Miller, is at least as clever as its name: an iDevice (or micro-USB) cable in card form. The 1/10”-inch form factor makes it a readily ‘walletable’ solution to unwieldly, dubiously portable cables. As the story goes, the L.A.-based team came up with the ChargeCard when “one of Noah’s colleague’s desperately paid 50 bucks to a guy at a bar in exchange for his charger so he could text a girl he was trying to meet up with.”

They upped the ante, seeking $50,000 on Kickstarter, a goal that they’ve more than doubled with 24 days to go.

Meanwhile, in keeping with Dentzel and Miller’s dude-centric mantra of “keys, phone, wallet,” another self-initiated product speaks to the widespread adoption of USB technology. Considering that flash drives are now as common a keychain talisman as the ever-popular bottle opener—after all, the current generation of young urban professionals includes a contingent of former fratboys—it was only a matter of time before the two tools were combined into one. Designer Carter James is hoping to launch the PopTop USB Drive via IndieGogo, with just under three weeks to reach his $5,500 goal.

While most USB drives are made from cheap plastic that are lucky to survive a week on your keychain, the PopTop USB drive departs from that trend. Made out of a solid cast alloy, it feels solid in your hand and will probably outlast anything else you keep in your pockets. It integrates a bottle opener into the end as well which means simplifying your keychain with one item. At 16GB, you can pretty much store anything you need.

(more…)