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Posts Tagged ‘Branded Memory’

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Current Trends for Branded USB Drives

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

The popularity of branded USB drives among retail businesses and corporations has created a market for applications, services, and initiatives from suppliers that make the devices more useful and user-friendly. What follows is a brief description of some of these utilities and offerings designed to expand the diversity of USB devices.

Some companies use flash drives to help market their core services, like eMotion Picture Studios, a Canadian video production company that operates out of Ontario. As an extension of the high-quality marketing videos they create for clients, the company offers thumb drives with custom-printed logos and messages. Like many other providers of branded USB drives, eMotion pre-loads files on the drive for easy recall on end-user computers.

Concern for the environment is another popular cultural trend that has impacted businesses in every sector of the marketplace. The development of “eco-friendly” materials and organic processes is now a factor in the business models of virtually every manufacturer who creates a tangible product.

Because of this, companies like Shumsky Enterprises are creating a wide range of “green” products whose fabrication leaves behind little impact on the environment, including branded USB drives. By using biodegradable materials such as lead-free solder, these firms meet the standards of the European Union’s RoHS Directive, which limits ““the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.”

What began, then, as a simple promotional initiative designed to increase brand-name awareness and encourage repeat sales has turned into a more complete solution for the distribution of proprietary or competitive information. Though there are hazards and security measures associated with such file-sharing, pre-loading these files and utilities on flash drives is a cost-effective way to attract customer loyalty.

There are other challenges associated with this higher-level use of branded USB drives, particularly when file sharing takes place within universities, municipalities, and government institutions. Two important factors come to mind. Because the core electronics of such devices are exported from a handful of OEM suppliers overseas, the quality of flash drives may suffer due to cost concerns, for example.

Another aspect of portable flash drives involves data recovery. Inevitably, pre-loaded files on USB drives may accidentally be deleted or damaged during use. In other cases, the files most often used by clients may be corrupted by a computer virus or due to software or operating system incompatibility. As a preventive measure, some companies that distribute branded USB drives offer utilities like data recovery software that can repair or retrieve deleted files.

Depending on the application, in other words how your thumb drives are being used, this may be an extra step that offers a measure of protection for important documents or a convenience for user groups who access certain files most often.

As technology advances and workgroups become more comfortable with them, suppliers and users will develop sophisticated uses for flash drives. Although most people still consider them simply as handy portable storage for computers, the versatility of branded USB drives will continue to develop in the future.

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Current Trends for Branded USB Drives

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If Your Data Is Valuable Protect It

Friday, July 31st, 2009

It was reported by the BBC on the 22nd July 2009 that three HSBC firms have been fined more than £3m for failing to adequately protect customers’ confidential details from being lost or stolen. The data was unencrypted and stored on floppy disks amongst other things. See the article, click here.

This is just the latest example of a high profile company and its their employees failing to take adequate measures to protect the personal data of their customers. With the increasing use of USB memory sticks to carry ever larger amounts of data around there is a growing need to inform and educate all those that use USB memory sticks on the benefits and the risks.

Some companies have now taken drastic steps and outlawed the use of USB memory sticks altogether. Whilst an understandable reaction it is not necessary when the implemtation of some basic security measures and working practices would deal with the issue.

The first step is to ensure that where sensitive data is being stored onto a USB memory stick that it is password protected and encrypted.

USB2U today announce the launch of a new slim, metal USB memory stick that can be engraved with your companies logo but more importantly if you have sensitive data, can password protect and encrypt and data loaded onto the memory stick. The encryption level is the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) an encryption standard adopted by the U.S. government. The standard comprises three block ciphers, AES-128, AES-192 and AES-256 and is highly secure.

To unencrypt the data you need to use a password (defined by the user). You only have a limited number of attempts to use the password before you are timed out. You can even set the USB stick up so that it “shreds” the data after a given number of failed attempts. If the USB Memory stick is taken apart and attempts are made to read the data directly from the flash chip the data will still be encrypted.

This new product is called SecureX and its available in a range of memory sizes up to 16GB

SecureX

SecureX

So, if you are thinking of branded USB Memory sticks but you’re concerned about the sensitivity of data stored on the stick they don’t abandon the idea just ensure you buy a memory stick with on-board security.



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If Your Data Is Valuable Protect It

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Branded USB Sticks Price Hike as Apple Place $500m Order

Friday, July 31st, 2009

To secure supplies of Flash Memory Chips used in iPhones, most iPods and many of its laptops Apple has agreed a half-billion dollar deal with Toshiba Corp for the supply of flash memory chips.

Toshiba is the world’s second largest supplier of flash memory. Similar sized deals have also been reached with Samsung who are the  world’s largest supplier of Flash Memory Chips.

Whilst this is good news for Toshiba and Samsung and it allows then to ramp up their production plants again it will mean that buyers of flash chips on the spot market (this includes many of the factories that produce branded and promotional USB Memory sticks) are being told that supply will be hard to come by.

With reduced supply in the market but demand unabated the classic economic laws of “supply and demand” will kick in and in the short term at least the price of flash will increase.

So, if you are looking to buy branded USB Memory Sticks be prepared for some short term volatility in pricing and ideally book your orders now whilst there is still some flash at the old price available.

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Branded USB Sticks Price Hike as Apple Place $500m Order

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Branded Memory Sticks replace the Chainsaw

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Most companies, irrespective of their size, will either exhibit at or attend one or two trade shows, conferences or business forums each year. In some cases companies become serial exhibitors or serial attendees of such events.

For some attendees part of the attraction is to simply gather as many “freebies” as they can from the exhibitors but for the vast majority their attendance has a serious business justification. Attendance or participation is typically linked

Custom USB Van

Custom USB Van

to building industry and competitor knowledge, networking or buying and selling.

Historically it was impossible to attend these events without either printing the equivalent of a rainforest’s worth of brochures and sales literature. Likewise many attendees’ arms get extended during their day as they accumulate the said printed material.

Another casualty of this frenetic conference and exhibition giving and attending is the humble tree that surrenders itself to the chainsaw to provide the raw material for the brochures and sales collateral But things are changing, albeit slowly.
Today more and more companies recognise the environmental, production, storage and distribution costs of such actives and are now switching to USB Memory sticks. The humble USB memory stick can be pre-loaded with electronic copies of sales brochures, price lists, presentation slides, videos, links to web sites etc. In fact all of your businesses sales collateral can be pre-loaded onto a single tiny USB Memory stick.

custom usb forklift

custom usb forklift

As well as replacing a huge amount of expensive and heavy paper the USB memory sticks can of course be branded to carry a company logo or brand.

You can take USB memory sticks one stage further and get a fully customised memory stick produced in the shape of your company logo or perhaps a specific product, examples include USB trucks, guitars, fruit, light bulbs, aeroplanes, mobile phones etc. In fact pretty much anything can be manufactured with a USB connector on the end. These customised versions make a real impact and are ideal when there is a particular product to launch or promote.

Whether a customised memory stick or more conventional branded USB memory stick is used the benefits to all are obvious. With the fall in the price of branded and customised memory sticks the costs when compared against printed collateral also stack up. So putting aside the environmental arguments branded USB memory sticks make commercial sense hence why their use is becoming more popular.

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Branded Memory Sticks replace the Chainsaw

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What’s The Most Popular Storage Capacity for Promotional USB Memory Sticks?

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Branded USB Memory sticks are becoming evermore popular for the transfer and storage of large amounts of data. This popularity is mainly due to their compact size, ease of use and the dramatic reduction in price over the past few years.

One of the key decisions to make when purchasing Branded USB Memory sticks in the storage capacity.

Before delving into which capacity to select a short technical overview as is useful to understand the measurement terminology used when defining memory capacity.

Electronic data is measured in ‘bytes’. Multiples of these are:

•      1 Kilobyte (KB) is equal to 1,024 bytes

•      1 Megabyte (MB) is equal to 1,024 Kilobytes (1,048,576 bytes)

•      1 Gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1,024 Megabytes (1,073,741,824 bytes)

Branded USB Memory sticks range from 32MB to 16GB. They double up in size from 32MB:

•      32MB (almost obsolete)
•      64MB
•      128MB
•      256MB
•      512MB
•      1GB
•      2GB
•      4GB
•      8GB
•      16GB

You need to be aware that all Promotional USB Memory sticks need a small amount of capacity to allow it them work. As a general rule of thumb around 5% of the storage capacity will be used by the Memory Stick to manage how it stores the data on the stick.

So, how much data can each stick hold? The amount of data that can be stored depends on the type of the data, such as MP3 audio files, digital photos, word files etc. and the quality for example the resolution of photos.  As a benchmark 512MB memory stick would typically store about 250 photos.

When deciding what capacity to select for your Branded USB Memory sticks you need to consider the following.

• What is the objective of your Promotional USB Memory stick campaign. If it is to provide specific data or information that is pre-loaded, then the size should match the amount of data to be loaded. If the requirement is to allow the user to use the Memory stick as a promotional keepsake, then there needs to be sufficient headroom over and above any data that you may wish to load.

• What budget do you have? The higher the capacity the higher the price. However, the price differential between a 64MB and 1GB is no longer that great.

• The market for flash memory is volatile and is driven by supply and demand. Therefore, it is worth checking if there are any special offers on different USB Memory capacity. For example it has been know for 512MB to be cheaper than 256MB.

• If the Branded USB Memory sticks are gifts for prospects or existing key clients, you need to consider the perceived value of the item you are giving. So if budget is limited it may be prudent to buy less of higher capacity Branded USB Memory sticks.

Based on the above criteria, currently the most popular capacity for Branded USB Memory sticks is 1GB, but watch this space!

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What’s The Most Popular Storage Capacity for Promotional USB Memory Sticks?

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Top Ten Pitfalls Of Buying Promotional USB Memory Sticks

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Buying Branded USB Memory sticks should be a painless process and for the most part it is. However, there are numerous examples of where things have gone wrong – some real horror stories! However, the good news is that by asking the right questions and selecting the right supplier you can avoid most of these issues.

This guide illustrates the top ten pitfalls of buying Promotional USB Memory Sticks and how to avoid them.

Find a reputable supplier

There are many suppliers providing Branded USB Memory Sticks As with any industry the quality of the organisations varies widely. Whilst normal due diligence is always required, here are a few tips to help you with the process:

• It is always good practice to run a credit check to make sure your supplier is in good financial health. This is more important if you are being asked to pay upfront for the Branded USB Memory sticks.

• Reputation speaks volumes. Don’t be afraid to ask for references and testimonials from their existing customer base and make contact. If they have provided excellent service levels, they will not be embarrassed to share their successes.

• Make sure there are full contact details on the web site including address and contact telephone numbers – and phone them!

• Ensure they are working from a business premises. There is a growing trend for individuals pertaining to be companies are working from home without the infrastructure to support you if things go wrong. An easy way to check this is by using Google Earth.

Hidden costs

When stating your requirements to a supplier be specific about your needs and ensure that they are all met by studying your quotation carefully. Ask for terms and conditions and be aware of payment terms and delivery date promises. For example some companies will charge extra for print and origination, so ensure that these are covered in the quotation.

Quality of Chipset / Housing

If you quote sounds to good to be true – then it probably is! The core cost of any Branded USB Memory Stick is made up of the USB Housing and USB Flash Chip components. There are ways of saving costs on these buy using poor quality housing and reconditioned USB Memory chips.   Both carry reputation risk for you or your client if things go wrong. So ensure you ask for a sample to check the housing quality and your supplier provides new branded A Grade chipsets such as Samsung, Hynix, Micron or Intel.

It is also worth asking what the manufacturer’s Quality Assurance testing procedure is.

Dataloads

To autorun or not to autorun that is the question! Many clients are faced with the dilemma of whether they should add an autorun facility to their promotional USB Promotional Memory Sticks.

An autorun facility allows users to insert a USB Branded Memory Stick and for the computer to automatically run a programme e.g. a movie file.

The advantages of this facility is that it ensures the user is presented with the information the client wants them to see, without having to find the information themselves. This makes is a very intuitive process and ensures the information on the USB Memory Stick is delivered. However there are some hidden pitfalls:

• Nuisance factor. If one of the objectives is to ensure that the USB Promotional Memory Stick is a keepsake that the end user will access on a regular basis then its worth bearing in mind that every time the user wants to access or save a document they will have to run through the dataload programme. Fine for the first few times, but thereafter they may find this an irritation and relegate the memory stick deep into a draw!

• Autoruns will not work on Win 98 or 2000 operating systems – beware there are still many users out there with these systems. You will also need to ensure that the appropriate code is written into any autorun for it to work on Mac operating systems.

• Some corporate firewalls restrict autoruns, so the danger is that the end user will never see the data.

There is a middle way, why not consider loading the data onto the USB Branded Memory Stick with an icon labelled ‘Click Here To Start’ and allow the user to access the data when they want.  This data can be protected so it would not be deleted, but overcomes may of the issues detailed above.

Proofs/screenshots

Many suppliers will mock up a visual of what the Promotional USB Memory Stick will look like before production. This does not always match the finished product. So ensure that the proof carries the colour pantone references and size of the logo. Some suppliers will provide a picture of a printed pre-production so you know exactly what you are going to get.

Shipping / Customs

Almost all Branded USB Memory sticks are manufactured in the Far East and as such need to pass through both Chinese / Taiwanese and UK Customs. For the vast majority of orders this is pretty seamless process. However, any consignment can be pulled for inspection and customs may request additional information. If a global brand is printed on the Promotional USB Memory sticks they may ask for written authentication from the end clients that the goods are not counterfeit.  Either way a custom check will delay your order from a few days to up to 3 weeks!

Returning goods / Warranties

Things go wrong! The mark of a good supplier is how they manage these issues. All Customised USB Memory Sticks should carry at least a 12 month warranty. Ensure your supplier stipulates this as part of their Terms and Conditions.  However, if the items need replacing it make take several weeks for the Branded USBs to be returned to the manufacturer and repaired or replaced.

Poor Packaging

Poor quality packaging can ruin a great looking USB Memory Stick. In particular the insert that holds the USB memory stick within a box needs to be of the same shape and size of the USB Branded Memory drive. Again the only solution is to have a sample of a box before you order.

Delivery Timeframe

Do not leave the ordering of Branded USB Memory sticks to the last minute unless you want to pay a premium for rush fees and limit your choice of what is available in the UK. Allow at least 2, ideally 3 weeks, from providing your supplier with the artwork, which kicks off the production process.

Quality Of Print

The printing of logos onto your Branded Memory stick is a real art form that at best makes a perfect reproduction of your logo at worst makes it look like real mess and something you would not want to associate your brand to. The typical printing process is spot or screen-printing. This is great for simple logos with up to 4 colours. However it cannot print tints, tones, complex logos or a logo with many colours. A new full colour printing process is now evolving allowing greater printing capabilities. Again if time permits ask for a pre-production printed sample and remove this potential pitfall.

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Top Ten Pitfalls Of Buying Promotional USB Memory Sticks

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USB2U – Express Service

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Have you been given the task of sourcing Promotional USB memory sticks in a hurry, but keep getting quoted a 10-14 day turnaround? Have you been let down by another supplier? Or need Branded USB memory sticks for a show or event where the deadline will not move? If so, USB2U offers an Express Service for printed USB memory sticks!

The vast majority of Promotional USB memory sticks are manufactured in the Far East then shipped to the UK. The timeframe to proof, manufacturer and then to ship in (assuming there are NO customs delays) means that the typically turnaround is 10-14 days.

At USB2U we like to offer our customers a safety net by offering an Express Print and Delivery Service.  We keep stock of the most popular USB memory stick models in the UK and we can proof, print in up to 4 colours and delivery the entire job within 48 business hours. For those real emergencies we can even deliver the same day.

In addition, to our rapid printing we are able to upload your data files to your memory sticks, saving you another time consuming task.

All you need to do is provide us with the artwork and data files then just relax and we’ll do the rest.

Please call a member of our friendly team to discuss your requirements and obtain a quotation on 01604 685040 or email: trade@usb2u.co.uk

Express Service Overview in 3 steps:

Day 1: Place order / sign off visual proof
Day 2: USB2U prints your items / uploads your data
Day 3: Items delivered to your door or direct to your client

USB2U USB Twister
Twister: Our most popular model

Some of our customers’ comments:

“Amazed that the Branded USB Memory Sticks arrived so quickly – it got us out of a real fix”

“I ordered printed USB’s memory sticks on Wednesday afternoon and they were delivered on Friday morning – WOW – thanks”

“I was let down at the last minute by another supplier. USB2U were able to rescue our exhibition”

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USB2U – Express Service

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Testimonial – Getech

Friday, July 10th, 2009

Yesterday we received the USB drives. They look good, really good… it’s a shame they’ve now got to go out to our customer!!!! and even our repair centre manager was impressed what had been done at such a low price.

Will now be looking to source most forms of USB keys from yourselves. They’re not totally common, and they come in dribs & drabs… not usually in this kind of quantity… So minimum & maximum stock levels will have to be set up for this.

Donnie Barker
Purchaser

USB2U Getech Twister Mockup

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Testimonial – Getech

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Essential USB Drive Antivirus

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

In today’s day and age, with the growing number of viruses, people really need to not only protect their computers, but their USB drives as well.  If you are downloading to your customised USB flash drive, there is a chance that you could inadvertently transfer a virus.

Because customised USB flash drives are so popular, they are a great target for attackers to spread infections.  Flash drives are frequently used to move data between multiple systems. Due to this, viruses can be spread quickly.  Viruses can become so bad that many work places have banned the use of flash drives.  Some places of employment have placed silent applications that can detect when a flash drive is in use. Although this helps, by the time someone is notified, a virus could already be spread. Although this can be very problematic, viruses can’t get everyone trying to use a customised USB flash drive.

Many people think that because their customised USB flash drive is encrypted that they are safe.  Encryption only protects against loss or theft.  Digital photo kiosks are often not thought of as a threat, but these are one of the main distribution points for infections.  Think about it, you could go to a popular store, infect the photo kiosk, and sit back as the virus spreads to thousands of people walking in with their memory cards.  Many people will save pictures on a flash drive as well and this may be after they have been to a kiosk.

There are many places on the internet that provide USB antivirus programs.  Most of these programs provide great protection against programs trying to attack through your USB drive.  When any USB device is inserted into your computer, the antivirus program will automatically scan.  It will then block and delete USB viruses, Trojans and malicious code.  These programs can help to permanently protect your computer against USB worms.  These programs will not slow down your computer, and are compatible with other virus programs.

There are other precautions you can take to ensure protection against viruses.  Make sure to use security features such as, passwords and encryption.  It is wise to keep personal and business USB drives separate.  If using security and virus software, make sure that it is up to date.  Do not plug an unknown USB drive into your computer.

Nothing will protect you 100% from USB viruses, but it is worthwhile to educate yourself on all of the software and precautions you can use to help protect yourself and others.  Keep up to date on the software you use, and try to understand any current viruses and how they could affect you.

Spreading viruses through USB drives can be a very large problem.  It is a very easy way for people who are up to no good to do a lot of damage, and in a very short amount of time.  It takes the work out of spreading viruses through traditional means. So we need to become more aware of our USB drives and devices.  We are in a world of viruses that are not limited to our computers.

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Essential USB Drive Antivirus

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The Twister: The Most Popular Promotional Branded USB Flash Drive

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

The Twister USB flash drive is, by a long stretch, the most innovative design that has been introduced into the USB flash drive marketplace since its inception. It has fused the functionality and cost-effectiveness of the latex covered plastic circuit board and chip housing with the robustness of the metal body that has been introduced through the metal Twister USB flash drive. This has helped in maintaining the quality standards required of the USB flash drives and yet keeps the sleek design and the versatility of the USB gadget intact.

USB2U Branded Twister USB

The defining features that help to distinguish the Twister USB flash drive from the other contemporary USB flash drives are listed below.

1. This USB flash drive has a twisting metal casing that safeguards the actual USB connector from impacts and falls in any environment that the USB flash drive is used in. The absence of a cap eliminates the possibility misplacing the cap of the USB flash drive and as a result could result in damage to the USB.

2. The tough metal casing will ensure that your data is protected from external sources. This advantage, along with high data retention capacity of the Twister makes it very popular with the people who are more inclined to use USB flash drives for portable data storage.

3. The toughness of the Twister USB flash drive is not the only party trick for this leader of innovative USB flash drives. The visual appearance of the Twister” is also a huge reason why USB users are attracted to this particular USB flash drive so much. The elegant rubberized-feel body of the Twister innovative twisting metal case that could be swung aside to reveal the actual USB flash drive captivates users.

4. The Twister with its ‘expensive’ looks and sturdy structuring is an asset to behold for corporate customers. They very often use this product as printed, branded, promotional gifts to enhance their brand image and an provide an increase in brand retention among their existing consumer base. There is also an option to utilize laser engraving to embed a company logo on the external casing. This double advantage allows companies to increase chances of converting their prospective clients through a marketing campaign that has been strengthened to double over the conventional USB flash drives.

Therefore, you can ascertain for yourself the superlative advantage that the Twister USB flash drive has on offer. If, in the past, you have been wary of the dangers to your chosen, stylish USB flash drive due to rough handling, you can put them to rest by using the Twister. It has taken the functional qualities of a standard USB flash drive and the style of a well-designed fashion accessory to produce one of the most innovative technological marvels in the promotional USB flash drive industry in recent times.

USB2U Branded Twister USB

Check out the packaging options for the Twister: Click here

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The Twister: The Most Popular Promotional Branded USB Flash Drive

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