"No more pencils, no more books" is the opening line of a classic rhyme that I'm sure you've all shouted exuberantly at one point or another in your childhood. Lately, however, every day spent on the Boston College campus convinces me that this rhyme needs to be updated for the 21st century: In place of traditional reading and writing materials iPods and USB Flash drives have become synonymous with academia. On modern college campuses, iPods and USB drives seem almost as prevalent as any other school supply, rapidly becoming a fixture in the everyday life of the average student. Even my roommate, who knows as much about technology as I do about astrophysics, owns not only an iPod, but two of his own flash drives.
These devices undeniably excel at their intended uses, providing portable music and file storage, respectively. On the other hand, recent news has been chock full of stories regarding alternative uses for iPods and Flash drives, providing a glimpse into how versatile devices with seemingly limited uses can actually be.
Here are just a few of the stories I've recently stumbled across on the Internet that detail some of the more interesting uses of everyone's favorite gadgets:
Nike has recently announced that it plans to make its entire line of running shoes compatible with the iPod Nano by the end of 2007. You might be wondering exactly what it means for a shoe and an MP3 player to be "compatible" with each another. Runners looking to take things to the next level need to own the following three things: a pair of Nike+ shoes, an iPod nano, and the Nike + iPod Sport Kit. The kit comes with a transmitter that fits into the sole of the shoes, and a wireless receiver that plugs into the bottom of the iPod. Not only does the iPod allow you to run alongside your favorite tunes, but can display information about your workout such as elapsed time, distance, pace, and calories burned. In addition to displaying this information on the screen, voice feedback lets you know how you're doing and will even congratulate you on a personal best. Afterward, syncing your workout information to your computer will load charts and graphs, allowing you the ability to track your progress.
Keeping with the sports theme, ESPN ran an article a couple of months ago about how the Colorado Rockies use video iPods to prepare themselves for each game. The Rockies video staff fills the pitchers' iPods with all of their own performances, as well as their opponents' at-bats, and vice versa for each position player. The largest iPod on the market can hold approximately five seasons of a specific player's at-bats.
Todd Helton, for example, has every hit he's gotten since 1998, organized by month, on his. It, however, seems that Colorado may have been better off keeping this innovative system under the radar. The Marlins and Mariners have since contacted the Rockies about adopting similar programs.
In terms of flash drives, musician Trent Reznor has come up with an innovative way to use them to publicize his upcoming album. At recent Nine Inch Nails concerts, USB drives, containing high-quality, previously unreleased MP3s and images, have been found in bathroom stalls, in what almost seemed like an Easter egg hunt of sorts. These drives have generated an enormous buzz among their large fan base, each providing a unique glimpse into what the new album will be like.
In a slightly more practical example, a lost 3-year old at Disneyland was reunited with his parents thanks to a USB drive he had on a lanyard. When plugged into a security guard's computer, a message popped up relaying the parents' cell phone numbers.
While in this case, the child could have simply had the number written down, a USB drive clearly has the capability to contain far more information than a piece of paper.
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