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programming and human factors
by Jeff Atwood
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It's a geek rite of passage: what's on your keychain? Here's mine:
I carried a Leatherman Micra for years, but I forgot to ditch it prior to a business trip and it got confiscated at the airport. Very frustrating, but it forced me to look for alternatives, and the Squirt is superior. It's available in colors, it's slightly smaller, and most importantly-- unlike the Micra, the ancillary tools can be used without opening the scissors/pliers. It's incredibly handy.
And you can have it engraved. Mine is, of course, a homage to Pulp Fiction. I think it's much funnier on a tiny multi-tool, but you can actually get the real wallet if you're so inclined. There's an alternate, non-embossed version available here, with some related trivia and media.
USB thumbdrives, on the other hand, are all basically the same. There is some variance in read/write speeds based on the type of flash media used, but even the fastest ones are too slow to substitute for a real hard drive unless you're extremely patient. With any luck, the USB thumbdrive will become the new floppy drive. I've talked before about how to make your USB thumbdrive bootable, which is always convenient. I picked the Sandisk Cruzer simply because it happened to be on sale at Costco; I had to drill a small hole in it to make it suitable for keychain mounting. It does have one feature I like-- the giant LED on the rear of the device, which makes it quite obvious when it's connected or transferring data. It's also fairly small as these devices go.
USB thumbdrives are way more boring than LED flashlights or multitools-- it's what you put on them that makes them interesting:
There are some great ideas in those threads. A lot of it is what you'd expect: anti-virus, anti-spam, remote access, encrypted passwords, and various utilities. I only recently added my USB drive to my keychain*, so I'm not sure how much of this stuff I'll actually need or use, but I'm game to find out. I did discover one particularly intriguing item in these lists: uniform server, which is a tiny WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PhP/Perl) distribution. Pretty cool.
update: Here's my 2006 edition of the keychain.
* after going through a Palm trial in 1996 and trying again with a refurb Tungsten C last year, I've concluded that PDAs just don't work for me. I guess I'll be needing that mythical perfect smartphone, but there's one small problem: I don't typically carry a cellphone with me, either.
Heh. On my keychain? Keys, and my car remote. That makes it quite big enough, thank you. I recently added my gym membership card (only offered in keychain format) and, because the extra bulk was negligible, after that I added my library card and credit card. But hang a big hunk of anything else off it? No, not for me thanks.
Richard on March 30, 2005 9:25 AMKeys are the only thing on my keychain. My USB drive is in my laptop bag.
I was a little surprised by the ring that you are using. I've been using this LeClasp one that you just squeeze the center to remove a set of keys easily. This makes stuff like leaving the car keys in the car while it is warming up but then being able to go back and lock the door much easier. Or anytime I have to surrender my keys like at the mechanic.
Linkage:
http://quagtum.com/B0_LeClasp_Keyholder_SelfDefenseDevice.htm
Picture:
http://quagtum.com/images/Ph/HRes/HRes_LeClasp_w_Keys.gif
Six keys and two grocery discount cards. That's quite enough crap for me.
David Grant on March 30, 2005 11:02 AM> That's quite enough crap for me
What if you guys are ever lost in the woods? Or trapped in a really dark place? Or if minesweeper.exe is missing from your aunt's computer?
Oh, how you'll be sorry then..
Jeff Atwood on March 30, 2005 11:49 AMDo you regularly get abducted and dropped in the woods late at night? The light sounds useful but looks heavy. The swiss army knife type thing might be useful but I'd probably just keep it in my car.
Will Rickards on March 30, 2005 2:53 PMA cross, three keys, and a grocery store card. I even leave the remotes in the car. When I get out I just leave my keys in the car and take the remote with me. I can't stand to have too much in my pocket.
I do have the JumpDrive that hase a loop on the end to put on my keychain if needed..I've used it 4 or 5 times and is handy.
Erik Lane on March 30, 2005 3:48 PMJeff, you make me laugh, I have pretty much the same setup except I have a squirt p4 and a gerber Infinity Ultra Task Light. ;)
Scott Schecter on April 5, 2005 2:12 PMhttp://www.gunthergifts.com/vicswis12thu.html
Amit on April 24, 2005 12:34 AMhi all,
does anyone know where i can get myself a new piece of arc-aaa flashlight??
thx
Well, they went out of business, so it may be tough. Have you tried Froogle? Or eBay? I'd also poke around http://www.dansdata.com/ since he is a huge LED aficianado; that's where I found about the Arc AAA in the first place. Also a very cool hardware site with a great DIY spirit.
Jeff Atwood on May 22, 2005 6:06 PMtried froggle with no luck.
now trying on ebay.
heard that peter gransee is coming up with a new company soon. wonder they will try to produce this wonderful piece of instrument again??
if not, is there any other good or better alternatives??
am considering surefire E1L or Peak Mattherhorn ..
sk on May 29, 2005 10:20 AM> if not, is there any other good or better alternatives??
You should email Dan @ http://www.dansdata.com with this question, I know he'd have an expert response to this. If you PayPal him $5 to support his site (and it is a great site, worthy of support), I guarantee he'll answer your question.
Jeff Atwood on May 29, 2005 6:45 PMIt looks like the two Peak "Matterhorn" AAA models, reviewed here, might be a good substitute for the now-defunct Arc AAA:
http://www.dansdata.com/peakled.htm
Jeff Atwood on June 4, 2005 6:28 PMwww.arcflashlight.com
Anon on July 13, 2005 11:26 PM| Content (c) 2009 Jeff Atwood. Logo image used with permission of the author. (c) 1993 Steven C. McConnell. All Rights Reserved. |
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