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USB Memory 'Swiss'

This is really a story from earlier in the year, but a reader brought an interesting sf tie-in to my attention, so I thought I could sneak it in before New Years.

In mid-March, Victorinox came out with the cool Memory USB Swiss Army knife with built-in data storage.


(Swiss Army Knife with USB memory stick)

"These memory sticks have become small enough for us to integrate them into our knives," Urs Wyss, Victorinox’s marketing director, told swissinfo.

"People need the mobility offered by these small memory sticks, especially when travelling," he added. "You don’t need to take a computer with you when you have a flash memory."

Their spokesman added that, since they already have 35 different tools in their various knives, it is getting harder to come up with new ones. Perhaps readers could add suggestions in the comment field below.

This new product sounds a lot like the swiss from Karen Traviss' 2004 novel City of Pearl:

"Very old, very valuable. A cylinder about as long as your hand, and it's got all these parts that fold out of it: adapters, data storage, netlinks, ultrasound probe, you name it. And a dinky little display screen that pops up in a frame.
(Read more about Karen Traviss' swiss)

Now, if Victorinox would just add the rest of the stuff, we'd be all set. Read the press release; thanks to MrKlingon for letting me know about Karen Traviss' story and device. Click on his link to see his "homebrew" swiss.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/30/2005)

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