USB flash drives have quickly become the world's favorite storage devices. Thanks to their plug-and-play ability, fast (USB 2.0) speeds and portability due to their small size, USB flash drives are definitely the leaders of the portable storage device market. After all, why carry a bulky external drive or a CD/DVD when you can get a cute little USB flash drive that you can hang to your keychain?

And like any technology that has the least bit of success, there are a lot of USB flash drives on the market, from LEGO drives to cow-shaped USB hubs with USB drives instead of the cow's limbs (I know, it's awful). I was actually talking to another editor the other day about “What could they bring new to the classic USB flash drive?” Well, Ennova Direct Corporation seems to have found the answer to that.

Make the USB connector retractable, make sure a built-in cover protects the connector after it retracts and add a fingerprint scanner in order to protect your stored data. You might think “Fingerprint scanner? Come on!” Well, seeing how USB flash drives have gone beyond 64GB in size, a fingerprint scanner is a pretty good addition, if you plan to use your flash drive for... I don't know... back-up? Just imagine if you stored important documents on it and it fell into the wrong hands. You'd regret not having a fingerprint-only accessible flash drive, right? I know you'd see the way!

Peter Garrett, Executive VP of Ennova Direct, had a few words to share with us, “With USB flash drive memory capacities now reaching 64GB and higher, user's are now utilizing their USB flash drives as full external backup drives, making it even more important for users to secure the large amounts of personal data they are storing on their USB flash drives.”

He added that “To that end, we incorporated a biometric fingerprint scanner function into the design of our new Patented Retractable USB flash drive, while keeping with the popular theme of our signature retractable USB connector. We paid special attention to the design of the retractable USB connector, adding an integrated cover that when closed protects the USB connector and OLED screen-biometric fingerprint scanner at the same time.”

The device is planned for launch somewhere during Q1 2010. Just one year left to wait.


We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is .