Victorinox, makers of the Swiss Army knife rolled out swissmemory USB. The design is basically a USB Swiss Army knife without the knife and accessories. The outer case is made of durable aluminium rather than the more traditional red plastic. The design is nice and much better than a lot of other flash drives. The drive is about 6 cm long, just over 1 cm wide and just under 1 cm high.
The USB stick is clear plastic allowing you to see the circuit board inside, while the USB plug is gold coloured. The stick flips out of the case when in use and is held in place by a clip at the keyring end when being carried. A small green LED on the circuit board indicates activity when plugged into a USB port.
The drive is USB 2.0 compatible and can be used on both PC and Apple Macs. The manufacturers claim that it will work with USB 1.1 ports. The transfer of data is as fast as any other flash drive. The drive comes preloaded with security software to prevent unauthorised access to your data although this only seems to be compatible with Windows machines.
Overall this a decent USB stick that works well and is a more attractive design than most. It feels very durable and well put together. The 1 GB model is large enough for everyday use although there are larger sizes available. Some people may prefer Victorinox’s other USB Swiss Army Knives which have the usual knife and accessories in addition to the USB stick. However, for transporting data, especially on planes, this device may be the sensible option.
This multipurpose gadget would cost you around $15.