Flash Drive News

Vizio, an industry leader in technology, received their latest round of custom USB flash drives from CFgear and responded with even more good news by announcing they would launch 3.0 USB ports on their new PCs in the coming weeks! That’s right, Vizio, one of the largest TV manufacturers in the world, has announced their new line of PC’s will have industry standard USB 3.0 ports available on their systems. It only makes sense that a leader in the technology industry would launch such an aggressive move and not leave any details behind. Add to this that the machines are slick and extremely professional looking, and they should have a hit on their hands!

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Is the USB flash drive overtaking the CD or DVD as the media of choice for consumers?

Here at CFgear we specialize in all forms of media technologies and content so we like to think we have a little influence and certainly are at the front line of technological storage innovation. Whether a CD/DVD drive, USB flash drive, portable HDD, SSD, eSSD, e-MMC or a host of other storage solutions, we know the lingo, the technology and we manufacture most, if not all, solutions available in the market today. continue

We just returned from another visit around the world to ensure we keep ourselves and our valued customers one step ahead in the race for the freshest and newest technological advances available. We will be launching several new products including USB hubs, additional custom USB flash drive models, a host of cool new packaging ideas and a revamped custom lanyards business with around 15 different styles, materials and colors to choose from.

I have to say the most interesting part of this trip had to be discussions with our partners on newly created USB flash drive “shell” companies available today. They really opened our eyes to what we have been suspecting for some time. Most are sprouting up in mainland China due to very cheap and available 2nd and 3rd tier flash memory. How do you spot one of these imposter companies which may look like actual USA based operations? They are easy to spot. Here are a few easy ways to know your hard earned money is at risk with these fledgling websites. continue

Sioux Falls, S.D., September 26, 2011 — Code named the “CF Web Link”, the newest USB marketing platform standard from CFgear, this new USB device is a cross platform marketing tool that bridges the gap between direct marketing and digital marketing. The CF Web Link has incredible marketing applications, innovative and quick data connection capabilities and data capture applications. By connecting the CF Web Link to a “ghost page” on your website, you can precisely track the success of your marketing efforts. continue

At CFgear, one of the more difficult conversations we challenge ourselves to explain well to our customers is regarding what the varying “grades” of flash drives are, and what that means to all of us as customers. In flash drive land, we frequently hear things like A Grade, B Grade, Tier One, & Tier Two flash drives, with more explanations than we care to bear. The challenge is when different flash drive companies use the same terms but apply different definitions to those terms, making it difficult to accurately compare apples to apples. continue

Here are CFgear, we’ve been leaking information for some time on what we’ve known and haven’t known, relative to 3.0 flash drives. Our crack engineering team has returned from a trip, and they finished a debrief last week on the latest information we have relative to 3.0 drives and the applicable benefits as we see them today. Here is my best attempt to relay the specifics. continue

Our friends at Microsoft are up to their “old” and new tricks again.  The USB Autorun has been a standard amongst computer users for years. It allows users to insert any USB drive into a computer and have its contents autoplay. This is particularly nice for the USB promotional world as it allows companies or individuals the opportunity to put promotional material on their USB drives and have them instantly play for customers. However, it would appear that Microsoft has implemented a utility that can disable this function on computers set up for automatic updates through Microsoft. continue

Dear Friends,

We wanted to provide everyone an update on what has been happening in the present USB flash marketplace and what we can all expect in the next couple of weeks. We have just concluded a round table of meetings, including visits with some of our onshore and offshore suppliers, and we wanted to share some of the information and findings.

A Natural Migration of Downward Pricing

First, we are seeing a natural migration of downward pricing. We had the initial pricing reaction upward as supply constraints limited the increasing demand side of things. Korea, Taiwan and a few other countries then stepped in to help ramp production capabilities up to buffer the gap in supply. Although not yet back to normal, we continue to see growth on the supply side. continue

We recently completed another round of investigative work on “offers” we’ve either seen, heard or been asked about from the multiple companies who offer flash drives as a product line. We must admit, we had a great time with many chuckles and even some perplexed looks from the staff. Surprisingly enough, a host of  “offers” we found online turned out to not really be offers or were not honored as the print on the website promised or else they simply weren’t true.

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We often get asked as much about the flash drives of tomorrow as we do about the drives of today.  At CFgear we love to talk USB, and we think these questions are awesome!  It means our customers are trying to ensure their purchase of CFgear flash drives will stand the technology test of time for decades to come.  Did you know that USB flash drives are already more than a decade old!  However, there have been some exciting announcements recently to ensure that flash drive technology remains a key opportunity in the data storage, file sharing and educational markets for the next decade and beyond.

USB 3.0 has been an industry buzz for the last six months or so.  Why?  Here a few reasons if you are not familiar with flash drives or USB 2.0/3.0 lingo! continue