Clarified Data

5:30 PM -- I was standing in line at the local Office Depot between Christmas and New Year's. The guy in front of me was returning a large carton of printer paper, and buying a new cable. But not just any cable -- it had a clear housing that showed off small purple lights running its entire length.

More out of nosiness than any sort of professional curiosity, I had to ask: What's that for?

"Oh, it just tells you that particular USB port is active."

Awrighty, then. So much for my disco downloading on iTunes theory.

Little did I know the transparent technology hadn't just caught fire -- it was burning hotter than a Bill O'Reilly rant. One storage vendor in particular hoped to capitalize with its own incenidary press release today from CES. (See WD Intros Raptor X.)Yes, the hard drive you can see through, because it may not be enough to hear all those bytes getting laid down -- dammit, users want to see storage in action! And who can blame them?

When customers or regulators asked for greater vendor transparency, I don't think this is what they had in mind.

Terry Sweeney, Editor in Chief, Byte and Switch