GranthamTech

USB Drive Imitates Life March 17, 2009

The trouble with being a geek, albeit an aging one, is that you tend to see everything in terms of technology. Some people could call this focused thinking. On the other hand perhaps rather more people would consider it to be tunnel vision. In any case my particular obsession with the application of technology became clearly exposed today when I read about the gentleman with a USB memory device embedded in a part of his body.

The person in question, a computer programmer from Finland, was unfortunate enough to lose part of a finger in an accident but has succeeded in replacing it with a prosthetic substitute containing a USB data storage device. So as well as restoring, at least in part, his lost finger it would also appear to have added add some additional functionality for him.

However when I read the story all I wanted to know was, and I do feel a little guilty about this, how many gigabytes of data could it store? Was it enough to get Xubuntu on to it and was it even bootable?

Apparently it is a 2 gigabyte device and so if it’s a standard flash drive then booting any lightweight Linux distribution would be possible. Given that, think of the convenience factor. Any reasonably modern personal computer could be made to boot an operating system simply by inserting a finger into one of it’s USB ports. How handy is that?

I know It’s an absurd thought but I am minded to think about the fresco depicting The Creation Of Adam, by Michelangelo, as seen on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel. The figure of God is shown giving life to Adam through his outstretched finger. Not totally unlike how the finger resident USB drive might give new life to the computer is it?

I know. I should get out more.