Looking for a gadget you could use to deliver a PowerPoint presentation and to amputate your own arm?
Look no further than the Presentation Master, the newest tool from Victorinox. At first glance it looks like your average Swiss Army knife, brandishing the requisite scissors, mini-blade, and nail file found in most tools of this ilk.
But this red wonder also crams a Bluetooth remote control, a laser pointer, a USB flash-memory drive loaded with up to 32 gigs, and even an espionage-friendly biometric fingerprint reader.
Because the PM is aimed at corporate stiffs who prize data security above all else, anything you load onto the flash drive is protected with multiple layers of encryption, passwords and your fingerprint.
The fingerprint reader is a tad fussy. It took about eight tries before our swipe was accepted. Were we done yet? Nope. The software asks for a second, backup fingerprint to be recognized, and it has to be from your other hand. (In case of emergency field amputations, one assumes.) Again it took no less than eight swipes for the print to be accepted.
Security measures aside, the rest of the components are pretty cool. On either side of the familiar red plastic housing is a trio of buttons: one for the laser pointer and another pair for the forward and backward navigation of your presentation.
Syncing the Bluetooth-enabled remote is much like pairing a cellphone and took about a minute to complete. It's powered by a single lithium-ion battery (the same kind found in your Timex).
But despite the gadget's numerous data-protection measures, there's one bit of security the PM lacks: airline security. Victorinox does offer a castrated version of the PM that lacks scissors, nail file and knife, the better to get past the TSA goons. No thanks. We're more than happy to check our luggage, rather than risk having this beauty confiscated.