secure file exchange between Mac & PC using USB sticks....

[pmeswani]

Assuming that one could build a machine that could recover a DES key in a second (i.e., try 255 keys per second), then it would take that machine approximately 149 thousand-billion (149 trillion) years to crack a 128-bit AES key. To put that into perspective, the universe is believed to be less than 20 billion years old.

about 10 or 15 years ago, they said that DES could not be broken, and that it would take far too long to break. As you said, it could be broken in next to no time. As it stands right now, AES is difficult (but not impossible) to crack. It's just a matter of time before the technology is available to break it in the same time as DES.