By Sean Fisher, Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

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Quick Alice Aside: We have come full circle. USB drives were first called “keychain drives” probably after the success of the Mobile Speedpass and those little mini grocery store ATM cards you could hang on your keychain instead of bulking your your wallet. Problem was, with so much junk on the key ring, the USB keychain drive was quickly re-named the Thumbdrive in some circles. Today marks the day that you can have a keychain drive and actual car key all in one- talk about bizarrely useful. Just don’t try and charge your Blackberry in your USB -er ignition port.
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Who needs keys when you can start your car with a flash drive? One of Mazda’s newest prototypes does exactly that by replacing the traditional key-based ignition with a USB flash drive. What’s more, the drive also has the more conventional flash drive functionality of transferring files (such as music) to the car’s hard drive.

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