USB flash drives have become the most popular data storage and transport solutions available on the market, and this is the reason why the competition on this very crowded market is quite a serious one. However, due exactly to this competition, an increasingly higher number of manufacturers turned to rather odd solutions for their portable devices, adding all sorts of gimmicks to their basic design, and that's exactly the case with the German company Memlite, who has launched an USB flash drive that doubles as a cigarette lighter.



The first thing that draws the attention to the storage solution presented by Memlite is its very original design. Thus, the USB flash drive is available in several color versions, namely white + black, red, green, blue, gray, and its design is actually exactly what you'd have expect from a cross between a cigarette lighter and a storage device (it actually combines both items in quite a subtle manner).



The device is not exactly a technological marvel, but, then again, this idea is crazy enough to work. Thus, the lighter section is refillable, which means that users will be able to enjoy both functions for longer periods of time, while the USB flash drive (which has some pretty minute dimensions) slides out from the contraption's bottom part.



As mentioned earlier, the device is available in several color options, but the user can also choose the storage capacity from the 128 MB – 4 GB models available. Moreover, the flash drive/lighter is not a lot bulkier than a normal cigarette lighter (or USB flash drive, for that matter), as it measures around 38 mm x 85 mm x 15 mm, at a weight of around 25 grams.



According to the people over at Memlite, the device has been designed especially for advertising purposes (offers numerous customization options). However, the company is retailing only the 512 MB version for the time being, for around 40 US dollars, which is a rather high price to pay for such a device (after all, 40 bucks can get you at least 1, if not 2 GB of storage space).