USB chickens and eggs
Someone has finally determined that the chicken came before the egg. And the egg then came from the chicken. But no one can explain where the chicken came from. Various sources come to mind but we’re waiting for the official answer. In light of this, some may be wondering, which came first, the USB interface or the USB flash drive? And were they invented by the same person? And what about the mini USB and micro USB? Is the micro USB shorter than the mini USB, and should you keep them all at arms length?
It turns out, there is quite a long and winding road attached to Flash memory, the USB flash drive and the USB interface. The first removable flash drive, using flash memory came into being in 1984 thanks to Dr. Fujio Matsuoka working for the Toshiba Company. The first USB flash drive was introduced in 1998 and its inventor is in dispute but credited to Dov Moran, co-founder of SanDisk among other co-foundings or co-findings, as the case may be.
The USB interface is thought to have been invented by Ajay Bhatt as part of a collaborative effort to establish a standard for peripheral devices. And just in case you were wondering, just as the QWERTY keyboard was deliberately designed for slower typing, USB connecters are designed with the intention that try as you would, you couldn’t possibly attach it incorrectly. Well you could, but not with ease. As for the mini and the micro? These are, as their names suggest, smaller, sleeker and possibly “hotter” advancements that make it possible for ever smaller and more mobile applications such as in the Primo Cube – a charger for mobile phones. And of course, at the point where whimsy connected to technology you’ll find the Creative USB, which is where we come in.