Imagine the possibility of simply using sticky notes as USB drives. You can finally identify what’s on the drive, and stick them anywhere outside your pocket. For instance, storing financial records and placing it in your wallet; or, inside a notebook filled with family photos.
Meet dataSTICKIES, a new concept created by an Indian duo of designers Aditi Singh and Parag Anand. These ‘sticky notes’ flash drives that are made from a graphine-based material sandwiched between a protective layer; and like sticky notes, can be stuck on any surface. There is also a low-tack multiuse conductive adhesive that allows you to stick these together to increase the storage of the ‘drive’.
Instead of using a USB port to access and write data, the user sticks these notes on a Optical Data Transfer Surface that is attached to the front of surfaces (e.g. television, monitor). According to the designers, this solves the problem they have identified with USB drives of:
USB-based drives can be inconvenient to use as the positioning and insertion of the drive in the USB slot needs to be done precisely. When the slots are at the rear of a device, as is the case for many desktop computers, this task becomes even more troublesome.
It is an interesting concept not because of the technology used, but what it can be used for. As they have pointed out, this bridges the physical world with the digital world. For instance, a text book could use this to include additional information, or more visual and animated explanations of complicated subjects.
You can find more information about the concept on its website.