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What Works in Public Education

Pen Pal: High Tech Disguised as Low Tech

by Michael Fitzgerald

A neat tool for moving files between computers is a portable USB hard drive. Pop one into the USB (Universal Serial Bus) slot on Computer A, download what you need onto it, and you're set to transfer files to Computer B faster than you can say "drag and drop."

USB drives come disguised as key-chain fobs, wristwatch attachments, and voice recorders -- very Inspector Gadget. The Meritline Mobile Pen Drive (right) is a nice mix of robot and writer; it's a smooth-gliding pen for scribbling notes and checking homework, but it houses a USB drive that holds a full 128 MB of data. One caveat: If the USB ports on your machine are too close together, the pen might block the neighboring port and prevent you from plugging in your printer or keyboard while you're using the pen drive. That quibble aside, this pen gets high marks.

Meritline Mobile Pen Drive
www.meritline.com
128 MB-512 MB | $58-$125

This article originally published on 9/14/2004

This article was also published in the September 2004 issue of Edutopia magazine.