Who really invented the thumb drive?: The Ubiquitous USB Gadget is the Brainchild of an Unsung Singapore Inventor

Journal Contribution ResearchOnline@JCU
Stevens, Hallam
Abstract

In 2000, at a trade fair in Germany, an obscure Singapore company called Trek 2000 unveiled a solid-state memory chip encased in plastic and attached to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector. The gadget, roughly the size of a pack of chewing gum, held 8 megabytes of data and required no external power source, drawing power directly from a computer when connected. It was called the ThumbDrive. That device, now known by a variety of names—including memory stick, USB stick, flash drive, as well as thumb drive—changed the way computer files are stored and transferred. Today it is familiar worldwide.

Journal

IEEE Spectrum

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Volume

60

ISBN/ISSN

1939-9340

Edition

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Issue

2

Pages Count

6

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Publisher

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

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Publisher Location

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Publish Date

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Url

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Date

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EISSN

N/A

DOI

10.1109/MSPEC.2023.10040548