Cloud storage is lessening the hard drive’s load and making it easier for us to access all of our data anywhere. But for a lot of people (particularly those who watch the frequent news stories about data being stolen from the cloud), physical storage still seems like a far better option. Fasetto‘s Link wristband offers that secure physical storage in a very cool, if somewhat clunky, wearable form.
The Link gives you up to 1TB of storage on a solid state hard drive that goes anywhere with you. The wristband is strong and durable enough to wear it every day; it’s even waterproof so you can wear it in the shower or at the gym. In fact, it even incorporates some fitness tracking features to enhance your gym experience. But the Link’s major pull is that you can store just about every file you’ll ever need on the wearable hard drive and then share or stream wherever you go – even if you don’t have an internet connection.
Link hooks up with an app that removes the file type restrictions associated with different platforms. For example, you can stream an iTunes playlist from your Link to a friend’s Android phone without having to download or convert anything. The wristband communicates with devices via peer to peer communication rather than using a router or internet connection – so when you’re done streaming, there is no digital imprint of your data left behind.
The team behind Link is raising money on IndieGoGo to launch their product, which by all accounts is kind of amazing. Its battery life is up to two weeks standby and up to 12 hours while streaming; it weighs just a little over nine ounces and boasts wireless transmission speeds of up to 1300 MB/s. This kind of security and convenience is going to cost you, though: you can pre-order the 1TB Link for $799, which is a hefty discount from the eventual retail price of $949. Smaller storage units of 512GB, 256GB, and 128GB are available for pre-order through the IndieGoGo campaign as well.