DRAM module and flash memory player Adata revealed a tiny USB flash drive with a big name. It's the "DashDrive Durable UD310 USB Flash Drive," which we'll go ahead and refer to as DashDrive from here on out. Shaped and themed like a sparkling gem, the DashDrive is rugged thanks to a special manufacturing process that makes it both water and impact resistant.

Life is hard, play short. No, that's not Nike's new slogan, but Crucial may want to adopt it to promote its new Ballistic Low Profile (LP) memory kits. Crucial's LP modules are not only shorter than regular sized memory kits, they're also between 15 percent and 35 percent smaller than some of the LP kits its competitors are using, the company claims. Another claim Crucial makes is that its LP kits deliver the same performance benefits of regular sized Ballistix memory modules.

Historically speaking, if there's one thing memory chip makers could count on, it's that a new operating system from Microsoft would lead to double-digit percentage increases in quarterly DRAM shipments. That is, until now. According to IHS iSuppli, Windows 8 will have a positive impact in DRAM shipments, but quarterly growth this time around is expected to stay in single-digit territory.

Remember when high-end memory kits would set you back several hundred dollars? Those days are long gone, and for various reasons (all of which are great for consumers but stink for manufactures trying to flip a profit), they might never return. One of the reasons is that overclocking no longer carries such a heavy reliance on RAM. Memory is still important, but not like it was in the Pentium IV and AMD 64 era. But the biggest reason manufacturers are stuck in a low price rut is because they're caught in a "vicious circle of oversupply," GBI Research says.