USB Combo Lock: Never Access Your Data Again

Yes, data security is important. And, yes, having your private data on an easily accessible data stick is not the most secure option for your private journal/pictures/recipes. But, isn’t adding a combination lock to a USB flash drive a little extreme? And doesn’t it add one more element to keep you from accessing your own data once you forget the combination?

Maybe, it’s a good thing that Bill’s USB (named for Bill Gates… of course?) is just a concept right now. Designer Yun Hwan Sung gives us this idea for safer transportable storage because “we are living in a competitive society where property is possessing information since Bill Gates as released Window 95 in 1995.”  Huh?

To be fair, I think this concept is pretty neat if only because it’s a throwback to my days of forgetting my locker combination in high school. The design is a fun pastiche of modern and old reminiscent of clean sci-fi from the late 70s. Plus, the combination lock is hardly high tech–it is just a locking mechanism to keep your USB key hidden within the shell of the lock. I might not buy it, but I like thinking about it.

[Yanko Design via Gizmodo]