Say you’re going on a picnic and don’t want to bring a huge bulky pocket knife. What would you bring? Maybe a knife, a bottle opener, and a corkscrew. Or say you’re planning on dismembering and eating a baby seal? What would you bring then? Probably the same stuff. But the Switch from Quirky makes picnics and ritual seal dismemberment easy and fun!

The product is a modular knife. You pick the tools, put them together, and snap the attachments shut with a coin or other screwdriver-like accoutrement.

Two exterior body covers, for encasing the tool attachments.
- Two slotted caps to hold the tool together, which can be removed with the twist of a quarter to disassemble the unit.
- Three interior axle assemblies – small (2-6 tools), medium (4-10 tools), and large (7-13 tools) — which can be swapped in and out depending on your desired tool width.
- 18 tool attachments: Standard Knife, Pliers, Scissors, Nail File, Tweezers, Thin Flathead Screwdriver, Phillips-Head Screwdriver, Eyeglass Phillips-Head Screwdriver, Eyeglass Flathead Screwdriver, Wood Saw, Serrated Blade, Corkscrew, Combination Bottle Opener/Flathead Screwdriver, Combination Can Opener/Wire Stripper, Pen, Magnifying Glass, LED Flashlight, 1GB USB Memory Stick.

The knife is available for pre-order right now for $68 but it will go up to $79 after the pre-sale. They probably want to sell a critical mass before they go whole hog on production.

This could be an interesting solution for travelling with your multi-tool, as well, because you can take off the blade and just carry the smaller bits.

Not a big deal but I just wanted to write a bit about replacing parts on your valuable and delicate electronics. Friends, I’m here to tell you that while it’s hard, it’s not impossible to fix things yourself.

Our old DS, the one my son uses, fell in an airport a few weeks ago and the hinge cracked. I decided to try to repair the case. A quick perusal of eBay found a bright blue replacement case for the DS for 2 cents (plus $12 shipping LOL!). A search for “DS replacement case” or something like that will bring up similar models. When it arrived I put the whole mess away for a while. They all come from the same knock-off Shenzhen factory anyway. Heck, this even came with a “real” Nintendo sticker with serial number.

I cracked the thing open and slowly worked through all of the screws and parts. I’m not that handy. I like electronics but I don’t like them when they’re in pieces. My buddy Paul is great at taking things apart while our own Doug Aamoth is a whiz at PC repair. I’m just a dilettante.

Anyway, a few hours later and I have a brand new DS. Most of the parts didn’t quite fit at first – I trimmed them with a pocket knife – and the stickers are a joke but it’s a good feeling to fix something that broke. I remember repairing cars with my Dad when I was a kid and since we don’t have a garage here where we can really tear down brakes or change oil, I expect to do little projects like this with my son over the next few years. Hopefully complexity doesn’t prohibit us from this sort of thing.

By Andrew Liszewski

You probably still won’t be able to bring it through airport security (not that you’d need to) but if you’re like me and enjoy minimally filled pockets, this knife that folds up into a key-sized footprint is a handy accessory. You won’t be opening any bottles, filing your nails or picking your teeth as a Swiss Army knife allows, but for just $24.90 I’m sure you’ll find a way to cope.

[ Key Shaped Pocket Knife ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

The last time I had my grandpa for a couple of days here in the city I’ve been living in the past couple of years, he was tormented with the thought he had forgotten his knife at home. He just couldn’t imagine how in earth he’d manage to live a day or two without it, even if he was aware of the fact that chances were pretty high for him to not even touch the damn knife.

He didn’t try to calm down, instead he kept complaining of not having the knife up until he practically drove me crazy. However, if I can’t understand the utility of such thing, there are probably many among you that find a pocket knife very useful.

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So, for those of you who think that I am wrong, here you have some details about the latest Victorinox Swiss Army knives. Called the SwissFlash 16GB Laser Pointer, the knife is a mixture between the elements that you usually find within a Swiss Army knife, and I’m talking about a blade, a nail file with screwdriver, scissors and a key ring.

In addition, as a novelty, you can also enjoy the benefits of a removable USB flash drive, a laser pointer and a retractable ball point pen. You just couldn’t ask for more, right?

Except maybe for a lower price, as it costs pretty much, if you ask me, even for a Swiss Army Knife. The SwissFlash can be purchased for the hefty price of $145. I told you it was expensive, didn’t I?

(Source: Coolest-Gadgets)