What's small, silver and fits into your pocket?

Well, among other things, the USB (Universal Serial Bus) Flash US3 Drive, the world's smallest hard drive - that's what.

This astounding portable storage device is the latest way to transport information - like a glass of Martini: Any time, any place, anywhere.

The starter price for one of these life-savers is £50. It weighs fifteen grams and looks a bit like a cigarette lighter.

It can hold up to 512 Mb - that's more than five zip discs worth or more than 700 floppy disks - the mind boggles.

There is no mechanical drive or cable involved. The gadget can be plugged into your computer.

It's a low power consumer and can be used in conjunction with a PC (Windows 98 or later), laptop or Mac.

There's no need for an external power supply. An optional connection cable is available if you prefer not to have this little poppet plugged directly into your machine.

You don't have to contend with any batteries and you don't have to load up any software either.

It comes with a mini-driver disk, which, once inserted, instantly installs so you can use the drive like any other hard-disk drive.

If only everything was this simple.

So you can carry heavy graphics files, entire movies on DVD, or stacks of music in the palm of your hand.

The drive has a writing protection switch and can work with your own security function.

I suppose the only danger is that you could drop this ridiculously small thing through the grid of a gutter.

I nearly forgot to mention. If you ARE short on attractive necklaces, as an extra, the Flash US3 drive does have a rather fetching neck strap. Think 'conversation piece at parties'.

Price: £50.

Contact: 01494 794974 or www.usbinnovation.com
Feel good factor: 7 out of 10.