Swiss Army Knife Maker Adds USB Drive

Most people have seen "quick," "thumb," or "flash" drives. Instead of spinning metal disks, the little drives, no bigger than a cigarette lighter, have memory chips to hold user data. They're convenient too. To use one, all a person has to do is plug it into a USB port on their computer, wait a moment for the computer to recognize it, then access the data on it just as they would any other regular hard drive on their computer. Because of their simplicity and ease of use, Victorinox, the company that makes and sells the ubiquitous Swiss Army Knife, has decided to include them in a version of the regular knife. Now, in addition to a small blade, scissors, nail file, laser pointer and screwdriver, people can elect to also have a 1 terabyte drive that works the same as any other USB type drive.

According to PC World, the new Swiss Army Knives with built in USB drives, will remain shock and water proof, just as are all such knives from the famous company. But the company has added a fresh feature as well, and that is a self-destruction mode should the drive detect that it is being tampered with by unauthorized people who may have stolen the knife. Also, the magazine has learned that Victorinox has developed several configurations of the knife so that customers can choose which options best suit them. The more memory the drive holds, the more room it will take up inside the knife. Thus, those that are more concerned about knife size might opt for the slimmer model that holds less data. Also, in a nod to airline regulations, the company is also offering a model that doesn't have any knives at all, just the drive inside the familiar red case with the white cross on it.

The new knives are expected to go on sale as early as the beginning of April, and Victorinox, which has a relationship with Amazon, says customers will be able to preorder the knives starting as early as next month.

According to Mashable Tech, visitors to the Victorinox booth at the CES show currently being held in Las Vegas, the knives still fit very comfortably in the palm of the hand, and extricating the smart drive from its casing is just as easy as unfolding any of the other utensils on the knife. Thus, it seems, the company has found a new novel way for computer users to carry their data, while at the same time, holding onto their treasured Swiss Army Knife.