The tech in your life might already have a USB flash drive (sometimes called a thumbdrive), but you know the old saying: "You can never be too thin or have too much portable storage space."

Honestly, most flash drives are fairly similar. The Lexar 1GB JumpDrive Mercury Flash Drive ($48-$49) is interesting because it has a capacity meter. You can tell at a glance if the thing is almost filled up, without plugging it into a machine.

The drive comes with Secure II software to encrypt and digitally shred files (Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.3+ required). Portable applications are becoming more and more common, so not only can you back up your data on a flash drive these days, but you can take your apps with you, too.

-- Peter Smith

Wireless Weather Forecaster