Hardware & Equipment | 16 Feb 2009 :
A common nightmare for travelling businessmen forced to use public computers - in hotel business centres, say - is the horror of accidentally leaving behind a confidential document on a forgotten USB key.
One solution is a secure memory stick called the Mobiu (presumably an amalgamation of "mobile" and "USB").
In effect it's a USB thumb drive containing a subscriber identity module, or SIM, that works like a credit card's chip and pin setup, complete with a four-digit security number. Remove the SIM and the device is disabled.
The Mobiu's 1GB memory leaves room for its Softmaker software. This includes a suite for word processing, spreadsheet and presentations. These run on the Mobiu without leaving their tracks on the host computer, as does the Firefox browser bundled with the drive.
However, be careful when saving confidential documents because these are not saved to the Mobiu by default - which looks like a design oversight.
Fortunately, Mobi Manager enables any misplaced files to be retrieved from the host PC's hard drive, again without leaving any trace, and moved to the safety of the USB stick. Alternatively, files can be shunted to a secure website, the MobiVault, which also serves as a backup facility.
Once stored in the MobiVault, files can be accessed from any PC with an internet connection, providing you have a Mobiu drive - and your PIN code.
The Mobiu's price covers up to 5GB of online storage, which is plenty for digital documents. However, upgrades provide more space. if the device is lost, a replacement Mobiu (£86.25 inc VAT) can be used to retrieve any data stored in the MobiVault using the old device.
And remember, if someone finds your lost Mobiu, they can't access the data without knowing the PIN code.
The Irish distributor is Osmosis, and the RRP is €159.
Cliff Hutton