USB2U
Click4Assistance
Google-Translate-English to French Google-Translate-Dutch Google-Translate-English to German Google-Translate-English to Italian Google-Translate-English to Russian BETA Google-Translate-English to Spanish
Choose a Language
Get A Quote

Posts Tagged ‘usb’

« Older Entries

Professional Photographers Guide To Buying Printed USB Flash Drives

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

If you’re a professional photographer who is considering abandoning CD and DVD’s in favour of USB Flash Drives then there are some basic facts you need to be aware of before you commit to buying flash drives printed that are printed with your brand or logo:

  1. Most companies that supply USB flash drives printed with a company brand or logo are principally supplying then as giveaway promotional products – the sort of thing that you pick from a company booth at trade and retail shows. Typically these flash drives won’t get a huge amount of usage and the demands the drives need to support in terms of read/write speed are pretty light.

    Typical read/write speeds of a “standard” promotional USB flash drive are going to be around 4MB per second (write) and 10MB per second (read). This is more than adequate if all you’re doing with the drive is loading up a couple of sales brochures maybe the odd short media file and links to your company web site but, if you’re a professional photographer or wedding video company you may (depending on what you are doing with the drives) need to specify certain minimum requirements – read/write speeds, grade of memory chip etc.

  2. If you buy standard promotional USB Flash drives and you then start to load very large video files or wedding portfolios onto them then you’ll immediately notice that they’re not the quickest of products. If you’ve been used to working on Apple Mac’s and you use top end Memory Cards with fast read/write speeds, or perhaps you use Firewire to move data around then by comparison a promotional USB flash drive is going to be a “horse and cart”.

    For example top end SD cards or CF cards have a read/write speed of around 40MB per second – X10 times the speed of standard promotional USB flash drives.

  3. Top end, high performance USB flash drives typically have read/writes speeds of 20MB (ish) per second, significantly faster than promotional versions but still not as fast as High Speed SD or CF cards. These high performance USB sticks also carry a significant price premium.
  4. If speed of data transfer is an issue for you then you might want to consider getting quotes on printed USB Flash Drives that work to the new USB 3.0 standard – these have read write speed of around 50MB – 100MB per second so they are blisteringly quick! Again, the downside is cost (they’re new so they’re going to be expensive) and you need a PC or Mac that is equipped with USB 3.0 USB ports to take advantage of the speed improvements. They’ll still work on USB 2.0 PC’s but only at USB 2.0 speeds! Still at least if you have USB 3.0 and you buy USB 3.0 sticks you can dramatically reduce your own data-loading times – your customer won’t notice any speed improvements until they upgrade to USB 3.0.
  5. A sensible compromise if you’re looking for decent data transfer speeds it to ask your supplier to quote for upgraded USB 2.0 flash drives – they’ll be a little more expensive but you should get something that has a longer warranty period and better performance with speeds closer to the High performance products sold by brands like Kingston and Lacie. Remember if you don’t ask for this you will just get “standard” promotional USB flash drives which are fine they’re just slow!
  6. Apart from speed the aesthetic of the USB flash drive will be important but there are lots of different models to choose from and the internal components of all of them can be upgraded to include High Speed, High Performance controller chips and flash memory modules.
  7. Ideally talk to your supplier about what you plan to use your USB flash drives for and get them to recommend a solution. If you’ve chosen your supplier well and they know their industry they should not only be aware of the issues but they should be able to put forward a range of different solutions.
Photographers UBS Sticks

Photographers UBS Sticks

  • Share/Bookmark
Professional Photographers Guide To Buying Printed USB Flash Drives

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Printed USB Flash Drives | Comments Off

Kodak – Missed the Move to Digital & USB memory Sticks

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Today’s news about Kodak filing for bankruptcy protection is a sign of just how quickly things have changed in the photography sector over the past couple of years. Here’s a re-run of an article we posted over a year ago that talks about the history of Kodak and the rapid move of photographers (professional and amateur) away from fill to digital technology.

Eastman Kodak introduced the first Box Brownie in February 1900 and in doing so they opened up photography to the masses. The Brownie was a pretty basic cardboard box with a simple lens that took pictures on 117 roll film. It was simple to use, cheap at $1 per camera and its launch was backed by a marketing campaign that encouraged everyone to pick up a camera and take “snaps”.

During its lifetime hundreds of millions of Box Brownies were sold. Of course of the years it went through a number of design changes and technology “upgrades” but the fundamental box shape remained.

It would be fair to say that the Box Brownie will have introduced many Professional Photographers during the early 20th Centaury to their profession. It also had a huge impact on our ability to chart social history through the snapshots that were taken with the Brownie.

Whilst the Brownie brought photography to the masses it still relied on roll-film technology that needed processing using chemicals and a fair degree of skill. With roll film there was never any ability to preview your photos, instead you had to wait until your film had been developed and printed before you could see what pictures you had taken.

In the same way that the Box Brownie revolutionised photography in the early 20th Centaury the introduction of digital image technology, digital cameras and mobile phones with integrated cameras has revolutionised photography 100 years later. Today pretty much every mobile phone can take good quality photos and these can be posted onto web sites and social networks sites within seconds and shared around the world.

Kodak USB Sticks

Kodak USB Sticks

It’s not just the amateur photographer that has switched to digital photographic technology but professional photographers now typically use digital cameras rather than their film based alternatives. One of the benefits for Professional Photographers of this digital revolution is their ability to save and distribute their portfolios electronically. This applies not only to how they save and store their own work but increasingly to how they save and distribute their client “shoots”, portfolios and wedding photos.

For some they will simply email the photos or post them on a web site to be “downloaded”. Others might supply them on a CD or DVD but one of the more recent and innovative trends are to distribute them on a USB memory sticks printed up with the logo and details of the photographer. The “branded” USB flash drives look much more professional than a CD or DVD and help to promote and develop the photographers brand – they in effect become a sales vehicle in their own right and they personify just how much the world of photography has moved on from the early days of the Boxed Brownie.

It’ll be interesting to see if Kodak can survive the next few years and reinvent themselves as a printer company. Realistically we’re likely to have to say goodbye to “Kodak Moments”.

  • Share/Bookmark
Kodak – Missed the Move to Digital & USB memory Sticks

Tags: , , ,
Posted in USB Memory Stick, USB2U News | Comments Off

Loading Data onto Promotional USB Sticks Is Boring So Don’t Do It

Friday, January 13th, 2012

If you’re thinking about buying some promotional USB sticks for your business, perhaps for a forthcoming show, exhibition or event but you’re dreading the prospect of having to load each and every one of them with data files then don’t do it.

Of course you should load them with data (sales brochures, web links, brochures, etc.) but don’t put yourself through the torture of doing it yourself. Get your supplier of the USB sticks to load the data for you before they are delivered. Most suppliers (providing it’s a reasonable amount of data) will pre-load the sticks for you free of charge. OK, you need to be organised and have your data ready and you might have to provide the supplier with the data early but if you can do this it’s so much easier than trying to load them yourself from you PC in the office!!

Pre-loading data onto hundreds or thousands of memory sticks can take hours and in some cases days, depending on the size of the data you are copying. So don’t do it it’s not good for your health or your sanity.

USB Data Loading

USB Data Loading

Companies that offer a data-loading service will usually use commercial and automatic USB data duplication equipment that allows them to load thousands of memory sticks pretty quickly. These professional data-loading systems are rack mounted, they manage tens or hundreds of USB sticks at a time and the systems can be expanded to meet demand.

At USB2U we invested in a number of professional data-loading machines a few years ago and we regularly load data on behalf of our customers. All we need is the data and then we create a “master” USB memory stick which we get approved by the customer and then we replicate the data onto the memory sticks the customer has ordered. Simple, painless and hassle free!

Not only that but, the beauty of the professional data duplication equipment that we use at USB2U is that during the data loading process we test and QA each USB stick again before they are sent to our customers. We can also provide detailed reports on the overall amount of data loaded; the data transfer speeds of the sticks and any failures.

The level of investment in this professional equipment is significant but it allows us to offer a complete solution that includes the supply of branded USB flash drives and accessories, data loading and if needed fulfilment. We can also do all of this quickly often responding to request to print, dataload and ship USB sticks in as little as 24hrs

  • Share/Bookmark
Loading Data onto Promotional USB Sticks Is Boring So Don’t Do It

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in USB2U News, promotional usb flash drives | Comments Off

Where To Buy Your Custom USB Memory Sticks During Chinese New Year

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

The happiness in China at the prospect of the forthcoming New Year holiday to celebrate the Year of Dragon is in stark contrast to the challenges faced by customers who have come to rely on China’s ability to turn-around orders for custom USB memory sticks in a matter of days.

Whilst there are hundreds of suppliers of custom USB memory sticks in the UK the vast majority of these will place their orders on a host of specialised factories in China or they will have their own manufacturing capabilities in China. Either way Chinese New Year will effectively mean that nothing gets produced or shipped for around 3-4 weeks and even when production starts up again it can take a week of two for things to get back to normal.

Buying Custom USB Memory Sticks During Chinese New Year

Buying Custom USB Memory Sticks During Chinese New Year

Normal production and delivery schedules are typically 7-10 days from the date you place your order with a UK suppliers albeit a fairer measure is from the date you approve the production proof which can be a couple of days after the order has been placed. Given the logistics involved it’s no mean feat to make this happen and understandably a major event like a long national holiday can have a dramatic impact.

The key dates to be aware of are the 6th January to the 4th February. If you place an order for custom USB memory sticks after the 6th January then there is a very strong likelihood that you won’t get your order delivered until the end of the first week in February (at best) and most likely mid-February. So, be very wary of any delivery promises you are made over the next few days and weeks because we’re about to enter a very unstable and unpredictable time.

The only safe way to buy Custom USB Memory Sticks if you have a delivery deadline that falls during the next few weeks is to find a local supplier that holds UK stock and can print and dataload (if needed) the stock for you.

Given the costs and risks associated with doing this most of the smaller suppliers won’t be able to offer what is commonly called a “rush service”. Instead, you’ll need to seek out one of the larger and more established companies like USB2U who always carry a large inventory of blank USB memory sticks and have in-house capabilities to print and dataload the USB sticks.

The “Rush Service” that USB2U offer allows them to fulfil orders in as little as 24hrs but during Chinese New Year this can get stretched to 48hrs as demand for the service increases.

For the very latest information about what USB sticks are available and in what memory sizes you are best to give them a call.

  • Share/Bookmark
Where To Buy Your Custom USB Memory Sticks During Chinese New Year

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Custom USB Memory Sticks | Comments Off

The Promise of USB 3.0 Looks More Certain in 2012

Friday, December 16th, 2011

USB 3.0 or SuperSpeed USB as it is often referred to has gotten off to a bit of a sluggish start but the announcement this week by the USB Implementers Forum that Intel’s new “Ivy Bridge” 7 Series Chipset has achieved USB 3.0 certification is likely give it a real shot in the arm in 2012.

Superspeed USB has been so named because it delivers a 10 fold increase in data transfer speeds compared to the current USB 2.0 standard but to achieve these speeds everything from the PC, to the cable to the peripheral or storage device connected to the PC must support the USB 3.0 standard.

Whilst we’ve seen a number of smaller PC manufacturers launch PC’s with USB 3.0 on-board the lack of any Intel based

USB 3.0

USB 3.0

solution has held the market back. The market needs Intel to deliver 3.0 support to drive competition and to bring USB 3.0 prices down.

Some sceptics have also suggested that the Intel has been dragging its heels to allow its own high-speed connection technology called Thunderbolt to get established. Thunderbolt is twice as fast of USB 3.0 and is a joint development with Apple on whose products it is already being shipped.

Mainstream PC’s with Intel’s Ivy Bridge chips onboard and support for Superspeed USB 3.0 are expected to start hitting the shops in May/June 2012. From this point on things will start to get interesting because all of a sudden USB 3.0 will be within reach of most people buying a PC, in fact within a few months it will be the de facto standard on any PC purchased.

With Intel’s support in 2012, USB 3.0 will move into the mainstream and the peripherals and cables that we use with our PC’s will also start to move over to the new Superspeed standard. It won’t happen overnight because un the short term USB 3.0 products will inevitably carry a price premium but within a couple of years USB 3.0 will just be the expected standard and referred to not as USB 3.0 but USB.

For the Promotional USB Flash Drive sector there is unlikely mass change to USB 3.0 flash drives simply because in the short term (next 12-18 mths) they will carry a price premium that most companies won’t want to pay for a “give-away” product. Equally, there is little point paying for a premium high-speed product until you are sure that most people you give them to are able to benefit from the higher speeds on offer. We’re some years away from the ubiquitous use of USB 3.0 and until that time or until the factories stop manufacturing USB 2.0 sticks the standard for promotional USB flash drives will be USB 2.0 – after all, these will still work on USB 3.0 PC’s they just won’t work at the high data transfer speeds.

  • Share/Bookmark
The Promise of USB 3.0 Looks More Certain in 2012

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in USB2U News | Comments Off

Daily Christmas Offers From USB2U – Check Out Our Advent Calendar

Monday, December 5th, 2011

We’ve decided to get into the Christmas spirit early this yeas so in the run up to Christmas we’re running a whole series of special offers and prize giveaways. All of the details of the offers and the offer codes will be revealed on our Advent Calendar.

Our advent calendar is dead easy to use – simply click on the window that matches the date to reveal the offer of the day. There’s no registration needed – you simply claim your offer or gift by mentioning the Gift Code when you send you quote request in or when you speak to one of our account managers.

USB2U Advent Calendar

USB2U Advent Calendar

To give you a taster of what’s going to be on offer the daily deals will include

  • Unlimited data-loading on your USB sticks (any size of data will be loaded by us using our professional data loading machines) – we usually charge for any data over 200MB so if you have particularly large files to pre-load onto your USB sticks this an offer that is well worth watching out for.
  • Special discounts on certain memory sizes or types of USB flash drive.
  • Free pantone matching – match the body colour of the USB stick to one of the colours from your logo or choose a colour that will help your logo stand-out. Colour matching usually costs around £50 so if it’s something you’re interested in then keep an eye out for which window this will be behind.
  • Free 16GB USB Flash Drives with every order.

If you don’t think you’ll remember to go to our Advent Calendar everyday then you could follow up on Twitter where we’ll be posting out the offer of the day every day!

Now’s a good time to buy your promotional USB Flash Drives because not only will you be able to take advantage of these cracking deals but you’ll avoid the scramble for USB sticks that takes place every year in January when the factories in China that produce them close to celebrate Chinese New Year.

  • Share/Bookmark
Daily Christmas Offers From USB2U – Check Out Our Advent Calendar

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in USB2U News | Comments Off

Chinese New Year – If You Need USB Flash Drive Plan Ahead

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

It’s seems rather bizarre to be worrying about Chinese New Year in November particularly because Chinese New Year doesn’t even happen on the 1st January but towards the end of January and that’s some 7 weeks away.

But, if you are looking to buy promotional or branded products in the near future (including branded USB memory sticks) then you need to understand that these are typically manufactured to order in China and flown into the UK within a matter of days. Despite the distances involved the usual lead-time from order to delivery is usually as little as 7-10 days but this assume the factories are working – during Chinese New Year not only do the factories close but pretty much everything closes!

Chinese New Year is the most important of all of the festivals in China and it typically lasts for around 15 days but, in 2012 the Chinese will celebrate the Year of the Dragon which is arguably the most important of 12 animals that mark the coming of each new year.

2011 year has been the Year of the Rabbit – an animal (and year) that is typified by calm and reflection. By comparison the Year of the Dragon is will be marked by excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration and intensity.

Chinese New Year 2012

Chinese New Year 2012

During the Chinese New Year holiday many factory workers travel hundreds and in some cases thousands of miles to be reunited with their families in the provinces. The resulting “factory shutdown” will last for around 3 weeks in 2012 and is usually preceded by panic buying, which in turn forces the factories to stop taking orders early so they can be fulfilled before the holidays start. The expected closure dates in 2012 are from 6th January to 4th February!!

So, if you need or think you might need promotional or printed USB memory sticks early in 2012 then ideally you need to place your order in December. Leave it until January and you’ll find the prices start to rocket up and lead times stretch from days to weeks.

Some of the more established suppliers will hold stock locally so that they can continue to supply during the factory closures but don’t expect the same wide choice of models of memory sizes. You’ll also have to brace yourself for higher prices simply because labour and print costs in the UK are higher than in China coupled with the fact that you’ll be fighting over the limited supply of sticks that are available.

The best advice is to plan ahead now and get your order(s) in early. Understandably this is not always possible but at least armed with an understanding of the issues/challenges you can hopefully find a way to work with the situation.

  • Share/Bookmark
Chinese New Year – If You Need USB Flash Drive Plan Ahead

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Printed USB Memory Sticks, USB2U News | Comments Off

Will You Be Sending Out USB Sticks For Christmas

Friday, November 18th, 2011

If you’re planning to send out a gift to your customers this Christmas then if you’ve not already got your gifts on order then you need to get your skates on because time is ticking away.

Popular gifts tend to include perennial favourites like diaries, calendars, food hampers and bottles of wine and whilst these are always well received at a time when the economy is struggling it’s getting harder to justify gifts that don’t do more than just get consumed.

Historically diaries and calendars would be relatively easy to justify because by their very nature they are used all year long and the recipient is reminded every time they use them of who gave them the calendar or diary. But, with the continued explosion of smart phones, tablets and PC’s how many people actually use paper based diaries or calendars these days?

Branded USB Memory Sticks for Christmas

Branded USB Memory Sticks for Christmas

An interesting alternative to the more traditional gifts is the USB memory stick – these can be printed with your logo (including a Christmas theme or message), they can be supplied in an attractive gift box and more importantly they can be pre-loaded with data before they are sent out.

The data (files) that can be pre-loaded could include a greeting or Christmas message from you and your colleagues (comprising of an “electronic Christmas card”, a short movie, a recorded message etc.) as well as this you could include information on your products/services. By doing this your Christmas USB sticks become “trojan horse like” – not only do you give your customers a timely gift and “thank you” but you also use the opportunity to remind them of the products and services you sell!

This subtle form of marketing is much easier to justify than requesting a budget to send your customers a box of chocolates or a case of wine and the USB sticks will last significantly longer. Given USB sticks were voted as the most popular promotional gift in a recent BPMA survey there’s also no danger of disappointing the recipient.

The usual lead time for branded USB sticks is around 10 working days so there is still time to get them ordered in time for Christmas but don’t leave it too late because you’ll need to make the last posting date for Christmas delivery.

And, if you do plan to post the USB flash drives out you might want to consider getting Credit Card shaped USB flash drives because these give you a larger space to print your message on, they slip easily into the wallet of the recipient and more importantly because they are only 2mm thick they can be sent out using standard letter post.

  • Share/Bookmark
Will You Be Sending Out USB Sticks For Christmas

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Branded Memory Sticks, USB2U News | Comments Off

5 Reasons To Buy Promotional USB Memory Sticks

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

If you’re wondering why so many companies are buying promotional USB memory sticks at the moment here’s a few reason to help you understand what’s underpinning the demand for them:

  1. People like being given USB memory sticks – a recent BPMA (British Promotional Merchandise Association) survey found that people prefer to be given USB Sticks (45%). Next in the list came pens (39%) swiftly followed by mugs (36%). USB sticks were the clear winner because they were considered to be the most useful.
  2. They’re easy to uses – simply plug them into any PC and you can save data to the stick or retrieve saved information from the stick in a matter of seconds. They work on any PC equipped with a USB port (and that’s pretty much everything these days) and they work equally well on Macs.
  3. USB sticks pre-loaded with sales collateral, presentation files, media files and press release information are great at sales conferences, shows, seminars and press events. The cost of buying the USB sticks can be offset by the savings made not printing the brochures etc.
  4. They look great printed with a company logo or school crest. A wide range of different USB flash drives are available in all sorts of styles and shapes and made from lots of different materials. Popular models like the Twister USB stick can even have the body shell colour matched to help enhance the overall look of the printed disk.
  5. The price of Printed USB flash drives continues to fall and the minimum order quantities are now as low as 25 pieces – expect to pay around £2-£3 for an entry level USB stick printed with your logo (including printing on both sides and with a free lanyard or key ring).
Promotional USB Sticks

Promotional USB Sticks

This year thousands of companies will give away millions of promotional USB sticks printed with their logo on. USB sticks have moved from being a “techie” product to a mainstream promotional product in just a few years and they set to be with us for a more years yet.

  • Share/Bookmark
5 Reasons To Buy Promotional USB Memory Sticks

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Promotional USB Sticks | Comments Off

Can Professional Photographers Resist The Call Of The USB Flash Drive

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

At first it was a trickle, then the trickle turned into a gentle stream and today whilst it’s not a raging torrent we’re certainly seeing a large amount of interest from professional photographers in branded USB flash drives.

The enquiries range from the classic “working from home” wedding photographer all the way through to some of the larger high street companies like Venture. Irrespective of where they come from or how big they are their primary interest is in finding a more professional way to present their clients with their portfolios. CD’s and DVD’s are now deemed to be dated, “old hat” and in a highly competitive market many photographers are looking at USB flash drives to help them differentiate their service(s).

Professional Photographers - USB Flash Drives

Professional Photographers - USB Flash Drives

In a way the move from CD and DVD’s to USB flash drives is a classic example of “Crossing the Chasm” as defined by Geofforey Moore. At the moment we’re seeing “early adopter” Professional Photographers embrace USB flash drives and taking full advantage of all of the benefits they deliver, behind them will come the mainstream and eventually the laggards. Ultimately, few will be able to resist the change and the CD and DVD as a medium to distribute photos on will be dead.

USB Flash Drives - Crossing the Chasm

USB Flash Drives - Crossing the Chasm

At the point USB flash drives become mainstream they will have deemed to have “crossed the chasm” and there will be no turning back. An analogy can be drawn with the way in which the industry has moved from 35mm film to digital based photography – it seems like only a few years ago that everyone was still using films but today, but for a few hard core sceptics the professional market (and for that matter the home market) has moved across to digital.

The benefits of USB Flash Drives to the Professional Photographer are clear to see:

  • They are small, portable and modern.
  • All PC’s have USB ports but many of the new generation of PC’s are now shipping without a CD or DVD drawer.
  • They look fantastic when printed or engraved.
  • They have a high-perceived value particularly when compared to a CD.
  • There are a wide range of different styles and designs available so there is something for everyone.
  • They can be presented in complimentary gift boxes which can also be printed or engraved.
  • They provide an “upsell” opportunity and a new revenue stream opportunity.
  • In the short term until they do “Cross the Chasm” and become mainstream they present a means of differentiation in a crowded market.
  • Share/Bookmark
Can Professional Photographers Resist The Call Of The USB Flash Drive

Tags: , , ,
Posted in USB2U News | Comments Off

« Older Entries
Share/Bookmark Subscribe