Jan 07, 2014
LAS VEGAS– Today, LaCie announced the Culbuto™, a quirky USB key brought to life by French designer Constance Guisset. When not connected to a computer, the LaCie™ Culbuto whimsically bobs side to side as it is poked – much like a roly–poly toy. In fact, the name Culbuto is French for a toy with a weighted base that keeps the object vertical even after it is knocked down.
"The search for movement and balance is essential in my work," said Constance Guisset, product designer. "Repeated and infinite oscillation fascinates me. For my first project with LaCie, I proposed a slightly roly–poly key that eventually became LaCie Xtremkey. When LaCie asked me to develop this idea, Culbuto was the result. It’s an irresistibly fun USB key."
The LaCie Culbuto is a storage device disguised as a decorative object. It has a spherical solid metal base topped with a silicone rubber stem that ends with a USB 3.0 connector. On its top, a cap that closes off the LaCie Culbuto features a slit to hold a photo or business card. Design–conscious consumers will appreciate both the speed benefits of USB 3.0 and the key's additional purpose as a whimsical picture holder when not in use.
Molded from a cast, the LaCie Culbuto's "soft touch" rubber gives a pleasant feeling to the fingers. When set on a surface, the USB key will spark conversation as it dances along the tabletop. Watch the video to see the key in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTH-TaNbidc.
LaCie's Private–Public software protects confidential data stored on the LaCie Culbuto. Even in the case of loss, theft or unauthorized access, files are secure with password protection. In addition, the key comes equipped with LaCie Backup Assistant for automatic backup.
The LaCie Culbuto is available in 16GB and 32GB capacities through the LaCie Online Store and LaCie Resellers starting at $49.99.
With operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, LaCie is a leading manufacturer of storage devices for Apple®, PC and Linux. LaCie has differentiated itself through sleek design and remarkable technical performance. Find out more about our products at www.lacie.com.
* These transfer rates were achieved using AJA System Test when connected to a 15" MacBook Pro® 2.0Ghz Quad Core and 8GB RAM with 32k block size. Speeds depend on the RAID mode used. Actual data rates may vary depending on operating environment and other factors.
** As compared to other I/O connection technologies including eSATA, USB and IEEE 1394 FireWire.
*** To achieve full Thunderbolt 2 bandwidth, connect the product to a Thunderbolt 2 port on a computer or device.
©2014 LaCie, S.A. All rights reserved. LaCie, the LaCie logo and LaCie Culbuto are trademarks or registered trademarks of LaCie, S.A. or one of its affiliated companies in France, the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. When referring to drive capacity, one gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes and one terabyte, or TB, equals one thousand billion bytes. Your computer’s operating system may use a different standard of measurement and report a lower capacity. In addition, some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and will not be available for data storage. LaCie reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications.
Kristin Macrostie
kristin.j.macrostie@seagate.com
