Mike – Page 5 – Promotional USB Flash Drives and Accessories

September 17, 2011October 23, 2015

My USB business card fits into my wallet and holds 8GB worth of data! Does yours?

I smile when I recall the exchange of contact information via IR synch with Palm Pilots and Handspring PDAs. The good old business card did not cut it anymore; without a synching PDA you were not in synch with the progressive and technologically savvy professionals.

Even though it may have looked silly, it was a handy feature that enabled a speedy exchange of contact information. Rather than rely on manual methods for storing or inputting the data into the device, now it can be done in a snap. Come to think of it, our extremely powerful smartphones lack that kind of simple feature.

Interestingly, the PDA revolution did not really eliminate or significantly diminish the paper business card. Quite the opposite; the PDAs caused the business card market to offer increasingly luxurious and unique print business cards. It remains true that a great looking card can impress and can make your introduction much more effective.

Naturally, we need a way to combine a business card with the ability to store data in it for the promotional purposes. When an introduction is made, one should be able to provide contact information along with catalogs, presentations, forms, music, videos, or anything else digital. “Impossible!” you say? Oh.. it is possible and there are numerous options available.

The USB business card fits into your standard wallet and is the size of two credit cards put together. Take a look here:

This is only a single model of the USB card with a rotating USB connector. It can hold anywhere from 64MB to 16GB. Full color printing and silk screen printing methods can be used as well as full coverage printing to cover the entire card (front and back). Metal alloy cards of the business card size are also available, and are super cool for creating the ultimate impression. If you care to check out more models and details, check out our website.

The USB card is compact, and with an easy flip can connect to a computer’s USB port. Print all your business relevant information front and back, and load it with any data you want your clients to see. You will not only impress on introduction, your potential and current clients will continue using it for accessing your data and storing theirs.

August 1, 2011August 1, 2011

Give new life to your existing USB flash drive

Your flash drive serves you well with convenience and easy storage of data and documents. However, did you know that your flash drive can be as versatile as a Swiss Army knife?

Virtual world can be even tougher that the real one! Dig up your USB drive and use it to set up Windows, scan your computer for viruses and malware, or just have fun.

Check out the Cnet article to get some very nice pointers on using and appreciating your USB drive once again.

Six cool things to do with your USB flash drive via Six cool things to do with your USB flash drive | How To – CNET.

June 27, 2011March 18, 2012

The art of color matching or I would like a royal blue flash drive

It would be much simpler if everything was black or white. Fortunately, there are millions of colors that we can use to make our lives a little bit more lively and vibrant. When we see rich color all around, we try to enjoy it and rarely think technically about what makes color rich, bright, or lively.

If you are one of the people who does not think about the “technicals” of the color, it would be natural to select the color by the casual color name such as Royal Blue, Forest Green, or Deep Red. It would be safe to say that most of us don’t think about color in the terms of color mixing, numbers, and color models; it only comes natural to recall a favorite or required color on the familiar name.

In order to produce your favorite color for your custom logo or custom color casing, it would be necessary to convert it to a color model or more specifically a color space. Most frequently used color space for reproducing color in the plastic or printing your logos on plastic, metal, silicone, or PVC is the Pantone® color space. Other color models that can be used are RGB and CYMK, however these are converted (matched) to Pantone space for printing.

Let’s say your three favorite colors are Red, Green, and Blue that conveniently correspond to primary colors of RGB(255,0,0) for red, RGB(0,255,0) for green, and RGB(0,0,255) for blue. Once you decide to print your logo with your most favorite colors on a flash drive, lanyard, mug, or a glass, you may be faced with a conundrum. Let me demonstrate:

From left to right: Frequently used color, RGB color, Pantone matched color, Pantone similarly named color

On the left, are red, green, and blue colors that are frequently chosen for the USB flash drive bodies (cases) and custom logos printed on the drives. Immediately to the right is the RGB primary color red, green, and blue; how do you like the colors? Before you answer the question, the closest matched Pantone colors to its RGB neighbor is the next column. Surprised? You may be even more surprised that the Pantone space has similarly named colors for red, green, and blue displayed in the rightmost column.

When you thought that you can simply print your favorite colors, now you are faced with a choice of 12 colors instead of basic 3. Before you think 12 from 3 is bad; consider the fact that your color monitor most likely displays the colors above differently than does mine. Why? We’ll cover this in our next post.

It is important to understand that color matching is often not an exact science. When converting from casual color names to any color space or from RGB/CYMK color space to Pantone space, one has to be flexible with the result. If what you are looking for is the best match, consider using the Pantone color space for plastic cases and logo printing. However, at the very minimum, do yourself a favor and select colors from any color space; you’ll be glad you did.

Most of us love colorful logos and shapes. However, when it comes down to reproducing the color, we need to get slightly technical. Convert your casual color name to a widely recognized color space or start working with Pantone colors from the very beginning. One way or another, understanding the world of color will pay off in the end with your your favorite color looking just like it should.