Mobile Technology

iStick flash drive plays nice with the iPhone

iStick flash drive plays nice with the iPhone
The iStick features both Lightning and USB connectors
The iStick features both Lightning and USB connectors
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The iStick features both Lightning and USB connectors
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The iStick features both Lightning and USB connectors
Pledge levels start at $65 for an 8GB iStick
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Pledge levels start at $65 for an 8GB iStick

Although the iPhone and iPad may indeed pack a whole plethora of features, they still lack a plain ol' USB port. This means that they can't share files with a Mac or PC via a regular flash drive. The iStick, however, isn't regular. According to its creators, it's the world's first Lightning-to-USB flash drive.

It is, of course, already possible to move content between iDevices and computers. You can use a Lightning-to-USB cable, you can send files by email, or you can upload content from one device to the cloud, then download back from the cloud to the other device.

The iStick, however, is designed to make things easier. First of all, unlike a cable, files can be stored on it. This means, for example, that you could load a movie from your computer onto it, then watch that movie on your iPhone directly from the iStick – you wouldn't have to actually load the movie into the phone's limited memory space, in other words.

It's also much quicker than loading to and from the cloud, and doesn't require internet access. Additionally, users don't have to set up an account, or worry about the security of data stored online.

Pledge levels start at $65 for an 8GB iStick
Pledge levels start at $65 for an 8GB iStick

The iStick (not to be confused with the smartwatch-like thing of the same name) is made by Hyper, which also manufactures the streaming iUSBport. The company is now raising production funds on Kickstarter, with pledge levels starting at US$65 for an 8GB iStick and ranging up to $199 for a 128GB model. A free iOS app is also required to use the stick.

It should be noted that iPhones older than the 5/5c/5s don't have a Lightning port, so an unmodified iStick won't work with them. If you own one of those older phones, you might instead want to check out the i-FlashDrive HD, which plugs into the phone's 30-pin connector.

More information on the iStick is available in the pitch video below.

Source: Kickstarter

4 comments
4 comments
P17
There's also the "Personal Cloud" which is far better value than one of these USB sticks, however, not as portable or as reliable as the USB stick. Personal Clouds are set up in two ways. One uses a hard drive connected to your router and accessed through either an app or through a third party servers like WD My Cloud. Alternatively, La Cie Fuel creates its own wifi link to your iPad/iPhone/Mac or Android device. The benefit of this system is you can access your files when there is no wifi or mobile data connection.
The biggest reason to buy is because around $150 in the US and £140 in the UK buys you 3Tb of WD My Cloud, and about 2Tb of La Cie Fuel. The downside is that transferring data over wifi is potentially slower than the USB stick. However, both My Cloud and Fuel are significantly fast to stream films and several devices can connect at once. My Cloud can even be used to set up your own quasi cloud service, though I don't think WD would like you to start charging for this! However, with My Cloud you can password protect it and set up separate passwords for areas of your My Cloud allowing people to share all kinds of things from what is effectively a cloud based server.
pmshah
I wonder if so called Apple security will allow such usage! Just last week I got RAVPower FileHub. I logged into it from my wife's iPad 2 through Safari web browser. There was no way I could either view or transfer my grand daugters' photos and video clips. The function was simply not available in web interface mode. Had no problem in transferring the same to my Nexus 7 to show to my 94 year old mother. Really wonder how Apple reacted to this device.
pmshah
From the price of $199/= I am guessing Apple is getting its pound of flesh - I err its ton of flesh to allow it to be compatible !
BTW I watched their video presentation. What they showed was file transfer from an Apple note book to another apple device. I would not be surprised if it blocks connecting to a Linux or Windows PC/notebook ! In any case any one using has money to burn so they can continue to extend their bragging rights.
Jim Czerwinski
I people mentioning how good the cloud is and how you can stream movies so easily, yes you can but if your mobile you will burn through your mobile data plan in one or two movies. How cost effective is that. There are very good practical reasons to use the istick and it's not meant to replace the cloud. Also some of us don't like to store personal data on the cloud where it's exposed to the public, haven't you noticed almost on a daily basis someone somewhere is being hacked? This is a great device to serve its purpose.