New Wireless data Sony memorysticks

The cards, dubbed tranSticks, are based on Sony's Memory Stick flash memory cards and are visually coded by color and with symbols. Card pairs contain the same ID and key. Conceptually, a pair of cards are like the two ends of a cable.A pair of the cards allows users to form a connection between devices on a network -- the Internet or a local network, wired or wireless -- by plugging the cards into the devices in question rather than using software. The cards' secret keys encrypt the process of finding a paired tranStick.The virtual wire capability can be used to connect laptop computers to slide projectors and music players to speakers.

The cards can also be used to allow two computers to share memory on a server and to synchronize files.The transStick system consists of cards, card slots and the software that connects devices containing the cards. The researchers also created a device for converting Memory Stick cards into tranSticks.The system could be used practically within two years. The researchers presented the work at the Computer-Human Interaction (CHI 2004) conference on April 28 in Vienna, Austria.