Yes, I know to you technophiles out there thumb drives are soooo last week, but if history is any indicator, this now ubiquitous technology will be fully embraced en masse by the reporting profession shortly before the premiere of Shrek 9... so humor me.

If you haven't purchased one of these digit-sized marvels -- and you're not still mired up to your armpits in DOS -- go to {insert name of local electronics store here}, drop the fiddy bucks and simplify your life. Need to move large audio files between computers? Spend 10 minutes burning a CD... or drag and drop 'em to your thumb drive in about 10 seconds. Need to slip counsel a dirty ASCII but neither of you have a floppy drive? You know the drill.

My favorite stress reducer? At the conclusion of depos from hell (which is all of them lately), I back up the job with the audio onto my thumb drive, then jam that sucker in my pocket. If my laptop gets swiped at the airport on the way home, life sucks, but I've still got the job. Computer gets concrete poisoning while loading it into my car, nuking the hard drive? Not a problem.

Lastly, if you're a complete gadgetaholic like me and the missus, check out the Intellistick brand of drives. They fit a standard USB port but are no thicker than a credit card, fitting easily in your wallet alongside your maxed-out Visa.

"Somebody who thinks logically is a nice contrast to the real world" - Unknown, The Law of Thumb