There’s something majestic about certain antiquated tech. I don’t think anyone is clamoring to bring back 8-track tapes, but record players are still pretty neat. In the same way, no one wants to go back to handwritten letters as the exclusive form of communication, but wax seals are still awesome. Luckily, you can have it both ways. With these Top Secret USB drives you can use digital media because it’s handy, but also seal it with wax because it’s freaking cool.
Wax-sealing is a really old practice, originally used to make sure that letters were received unread. If the wax was broken, you’d know someone had gotten into it, and any potential snoopers couldn’t just reseal it because your little stamp would be unique to you. Not only did it let you know if someone had been looking at your stuff, but it also deterred them from doing it in the first place because it wasn’t going to be a secret.
The Top Secret USB drives are trying to bring back the practice by being specially made to be sealed. The body of the drive is made out of porcelain which, besides being snazzy, can hold up to the heat of the seal. Also, there’s a little indentation especially for the seal. It’s not perfect since I imagine the stamps are mass produced and I’ll bet that if you really wanted to get in unnoticed, you could probably freeze the drive, pop off the seal, heat the drive up a little and have the seal melt back down a little from the bottom. Still, it’s neat and it’s not like you can’t also just throw a password on there to be safe.
The drives come in 2 GB, 4 GB, and 8 GB sizes, come with wax and the press, and are available for about $45. It’s a little steep for a USB stick, but you aren’t going to find many opporunities to seal your data with wax these days.
(via Technabob)
Published: May 4, 2012 04:46 pm