JANE: ON HOLIDAY IN CORSICA

Jane is a teacher at a girls' school. Most of her computer time at school involves preparing class reports, timetables, lesson notes, and exam papers. At weekends, she designs earrings and necklaces for Kitiki, a jewellery shop.

So that she could do school work some evenings, she used floppy discs to take work home: six of them, with different data. Every day she had to copy her data onto the floppies. Just after the half-term break, one floppy refused to read and all next year's exam practice questions were lost.

Now, she transfers the whole lot onto her USB 256MB memory stick. She can then use it anywhere, on any computer with a USB port: without having to install any software or configure anything. Here's how it works:

The USB memory is about half the size of a packet of gum, and contains a USB interface and a standard flash memory chip. It's a very low power drive and takes power from the computer's USB socket, so it doesn't need a battery or a mains adapter. She plugs it in, the computer recognises it, adds it to its list of drives, and gives it a temporary drive letter, for example E.

Using My Computer or Windows Explorer, she copies the folders and files. When it's finished, she unplugs the drive and puts it in her handbag.

And, when the head asked to see her proposals for a homework schedule, she just took the memory stick to the head's office. After their talk, she unplugged it, leaving the computer exactly as it was.

Nick, the art teacher, bought the 1GB version, and uses it to store a gallery, which he prepares at home, so that the class can discuss colour, style, and perspective.