Theres an old 70's frestyle book, i forget the name that tell you to do the backwards snow plow(Aka skiing switch) so skiin switch is not new and twin tips are just natural proggression, they have nothing to do with snowboards
yah basicly its just a 2cm wide and about 10cm long peice of flat metal right under your boot its flush with the base so you even wax it like a regular base, i don't no all the details but they said it would protect your skis from rail dammage
i demoed the 2004-2005 elan skis m something and they were pretty sweet, the were light, carved good, strong, and under your boot they had an extra edge in the middle of your base to stop rails from fucking them up.
i have about 7 non burnt cds in total, master of pupets metallica, every Guns and roses album, van halen greatest of, and motley crue shout at the devil