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Sphinx Software, creator of the popular Desktop Assistant and Mobile Web Server, has released a new service to help other developers embrace the U3 platform. Sphinx Software’s Portable Application Conversion Technology converts existing application to the U3 platform on-the-fly. The technology does not require any modification of the original source code; all the original binaries and so all the developer’s efforts are carefully saved and transferred to U3 smart drive incarnation of the same application.

For more details, check out Sphinx Software’s website.

Did you hear about the bachelor who was given a toilet brush from some friends who quite frankly were getting uncomfortable coming over to his place? A couple of days later, one of his buds asks him if he likes the toilet brush or not. He replies “Oh, sure. It does a good job but I still prefer toilet paper”

Yikes! You really need to use the tool that is most appropriate for the job to be done and using a toilet brush to clean yourself, while it’s possible to get the job done, may exact a measure of pain that the overall benefit doesn’t justify. What in the blazes do toilet brushes and toilet paper have to do with U3 development? Well, I’ll tell ya!

There are two new platforms that have been released for U3 smart drives that provide developers with ways to easily create completely mobile and out of the box U3 compliant applications: Yahoo Widgets and Runtime Revolution. In the case of Yahoo Widgets, the widgets them selves aren’t even wrapped in the U3 package file format. You can download a gazillion of them from the Widget Gallery once you have the U3 smart version installed on your U3 smart drive.

With the Runtime Revolution Studio IDE, you can create fully functional applications and have the IDE generate the U3P file for you. The resulting RunRev application will shutdown and cleanup in accordance with U3 certification criteria. Check out the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor U3 smart application for an example of what you can do with the RunRev development environment. There aren’t many limitations with the RunRev IDE and U3 certification is a practically guaranteed once your app is ready to go.

If you are thinking of developing a new little utility or a full blown app, be sure to check out the Yahoo Widgets and RunRev developer resources so you don’t wind up using a tool that creates more pain than benefit.

Greetings from the Big Apple and the floor of the Digital Life trade show. Silly me. I thought that I would come with the rest of the team to the Digital Life trade show, talk to a few developers here and there, wrap up the documentation for the certification test suite that we’ll be making available soon, and generally take it easy while the marketing and biz dev folks worked the booth. Think that’s what happened? Oh no… The U3 booth has been “the” place to be every time David Stahl gets on the tiny stage (picture him standing on a barrel) and starts talking to folks about U3 smart drives.  It’s all hands on deck! Since this is the blog for developers and other more technically orientated folks, here’s a mental exercise for you. Figure out how 250+ people gather to listen to David and Nathan and Claudio talk about and demo U3 drives when the booth footprint is only 20 feet by 30 feet. It’s possible.

Check out Nathan’s blog for some pics. It has been ill! I learned the “ill” expression from a young gentlemen here and I’m pretty sure that it means cool - or that the fridge broke and the mayonnaise in the sandwiches went bad in the food court. At any rate, the vibe here is so energizing and people were leaving each show buzzing with many returning for subsequent shows.

So what does this have to do with developer’s? If you are on the fence about whether it’s worthwhile to mobilize your app and get it U3 certified, it’s probably a good time to jump because the ease of use and password protection provided by the U3 Launchpad are really appealing to people. I know that U3 isn’t for everybody but there appear to be a lot of folks that do think U3 can make their life a lot easier. In short, there are going to be a lot of U3 smart drives being used and from what I can gather at this show, we are on the cusp of a dramatic increase in that number. This is a great time to get your application visible in the U3 Software Central Store.

PS: Just a few minutes ago, a guy jumped on on the Kingston demo pc here, started up the host machine’s Internet Explorer, logged into Ebay, issued a bid, and then logged out. When I showed him that he could have done all of that on a U3 smart drive using Portable Firefox and had his browsing history and data protected behind the password protection feature, we had another person seriously thinking about the ways the U3 platform makes his life better.

That’s right. I was in Best Buy yesterday when the Geek Squad dudes placed the 4GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro boxes on the shelf.  It was marked at $206 with a $107 instant in-store rebate bringing the price down to $99. 

Don’t bother shopping in the Best Buy in Redwood City off Route 101 because I bought all they had on the shelf (unless they restocked).  Sorry.  I could not resist.

One of the most common things people ask me is whether I see smart drives carrying full operating systems in the future. Here are my thoughts.

U3 smart drives rely on the host computer’s operating system to perform all the functions required to run the applications that are stored on and launched from the drive. As such, the smart drives do not require a full operating system to be loaded.  What might the advantages be of carrying a full OS on a drive instead?

First, if the drives carried an operating system, computers could be much less “intelligent” – and thus extremely inexpensive – effectively empty shells that would contain only the processor, keyboard, monitor, and basic I/O connections. Second, such a computer could potentially run any type of operating system, making it possible for consumers to choose their OS of choice when using a public computer.  Sounds great, huh?

The disadvantages, however, might impact the very value proposition smart drives provide – low cost, plug and play devices to store a lot of data.  A typical operating system like Windows, Linux and Mac OS, are in the 4GB range, and while drive capacity grows every year, only the largest flash drives on the market today - 8GB drives – could store an operating system. If carried on a flash drive, the OS would take up a large chunk of space that could otherwise be used for files, music, photos and video.

More problematic, if the operating system were to be loaded from the drive, the experience would be more plug and boot than plug and play, creating what is likely to be a slower than acceptable user experience.

Finally, much of the hardware attached to a CPU, the monitor, networks, printers and input devices, are configured and integrated with the operating system at the time of installation. If these devices were configured when the OS was plugged in, it might further slow the load process, if it worked at all.

For my vote, plug and play is king. For now, it’s optimal to use the smart drive for applications and data, and keep the OS on the host computer.

IFA starts this Friday (Sept 1). Remember to visit the U3 booth (Hall 1.2, Stand 104c) for a chance to win a U3 smart drive. Pick a ticket and if your secret code unlocks the smart drive you walk away with a drive!

And for those of you who can’t make it to Berlin, our intrepid colleagues Nathan and Claudio are blogging and podcasting from the show on the U3 smart blog.

Going into Blockbuster last week, I started thinking more about video. So has Mark Cuban. I’d love to browse online and load up my favorite movie or two. But Mark hits the nail on the head about the “1 THING” about downloadable movies that those of us who like the idea are missing: you can only download to one PC at a time and one thing at a time. Then there’s the whole issue of how you view it on your TV… I may be the Queen of IT, but the electronics in my home are far from a harmonious network.

But hey - I have four PCs in my house, and so do many others. I use one every day – so there are always one or two “idle” PCs at any time. What if I could use those to download movies while mine is in use? But I don’t want to view the movie on that PC, so it would be great to download it to a U3 smart drive, and take it with me on business or even plug it into my TV for viewing.

I love this idea – before I head to the airport, I load up my smart drive with 2-3 movies, and don’t tie up my laptop on which I’m madly finishing work. When I finally get settled in my seat for that 5 hour flight to Boston or New York, I plug it in and decide which movie to watch.

Even better - what if I can plug my drive into a kiosk at the airport and avoid the download over the air all together? How long could that take – a few minutes tops? That way I’m copying the movie directly to my smart drive without even booting my computer or bogging down my internet connection.

Now, I’m thinking ahead here … we’re a few years away from having an affordable ($50-$100) 20 Gigabyte flash-based smart drive to carry 3 or 4 movies. Meanwhile, our product teams have to get started on the next great thing. Is it video-on-demand to go? Could smart drives become great video-on-demand devices?

What’s your take on downloading movies? Am I nuts here?

U3 will be exhibiting at the upcoming IFA trade fair in Berlin (Sept. 1-6).

Win a U3 smart drive! Visit our booth, pick a coupon and see if your secret code unlocks the smart drive. If yours is the lucky number, you walk away with the drive!

Come and visit at Hall 1.2 Stand 104c. We look forward to seeing you there.

IFA is the world’s largest Consumer Electronics trade fair, with over 1,000 exhibitors from 40 countries and around quarter of a million visitors.