Memory Acorns

I apologise if the following doesn't scan well. I can't quite decide what angle to spin this with, it is 'for fun' but also may be generally useful as a side-effect.

** serious buildup **

As technological beings, you probably have data stored in many different physical formats. Most of these are annoying for one reason or another.

CDs, DVDs and other optical disk-based media are a pain to write, and hard to distinguish when you've got dozens of them lying around. Their single-shot nature is also a git. So you need to be really organised.

USB memory drives are okay, at least you can rewrite them. But again they're hard to distinguish if you have a few. And as a transfer format they tend to accumulate random things, all on the same unit - so finding the file you want can still be tricky.

Compact flash, secure digital, and the like : well there's lots of competing formats, but these essentially fit a niche. Personally I like CF, as the other formats are much too small and fiddly.

The main problem is generally finding the data you want.
Data size, on the other hand, is no longer a general issue. Most things easily fit on one unit. I'm not going to concern myself with the exceptions to this - they can go on other formats.
Similarly, physical size of the unit is generally not an issue. In fact, things can be made ridiculously small.

This idea relies on the fact that humans are very physical beings. Physical appearance and location is easy to learn. Many methods of improving memory rely on this, by creating mental castles for data recall.

** fun & games buildup **

Kids like to collect stuff. Pockemon was a big craze fairly recently. And although I never bothered to learn how they actually worked, I did have a poster with all the funny little critters on.
This idea could begin as a collectable item game, then build up to useful stuff once the infrastructure is set up.

** the idea proper **

Encase flash memory (or ROM) in small[1] colourful plastic spheres[2] along with a contactless data-transfer interface.
These spheres I propose to call memory acorns, because that should be catchy enough to stick and to avoid them being called memory balls.
The acorns must be very cheap, and come in a range of data sizes. An important part of the mindset of using this format is that a unit should only carry one file, or inter-related data. So, lots of files comprising a computer-game: good. Several iterative versions of the same file: good. Random different things to transfer:bad - use another, empty acorn instead.

To get the data in or out, you need a reader. Reader/writers come in several formats, from a basic reader only (which could be part of a portable battery-powered toy), to more serious devices.

A crucial part of the system is that the acorns can be easily sorted. The larger readers have a mechanical mechanism included, so you can sort out all your acorns with pictures on, for example, or all acorns with a partial file-name on. You'd tip your bag into a hopper on the top, and the acorns would be sorted out into two output trays. To do this the acorns would have a quickly accessible data-block with this sort of information. It would also allow tags and other user-supplied meta-data. For example you'd tag all your personal files with your initials, first name or something like that.

So, the system would be introduced with some sort of collectable game for kids. Small ROMs would have games, pictures, some sort of top-trumps-like metagame system. Kids could carry their collection in a bag or whatever, sort and fiddle with them at home on the PC/large reader, and play the game on a handheld.
And then writable static-ram versions would come out, again with massive variety of stylings, so adults could play too.

[1] How small? The answer is not quite the smaller the better; besides technological capability, they must not be too small to handle easily. I would say approximately the size of a standard marble would be acceptable; approximately 1cm [3] diameter. A little bigger might suit, depending on useability testing.

[2] Do they have to be spheres? Not quite. Provided they have a constant width they will roll and can thus be mechanically sorted. Many such shapes exist - and excitingly, some are reminiscent of acorns (see my link). This means memory acorns can have an extra degree of distinguishability, and makes them even more useful for visually impaired users.

[3] Oh, that's about 6/16ths of an inch, in archaic measurements.