safe

When traveling abroad, one of the most important things to consider is how you will charge your Apple devices. Apple's World Travel Adapter Kit provides the most elegant approach to doing just that.

Power issues can be detrimental to electronic devices and Apple's devices are no exception. Ensuring that your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod has proper power while traveling abroad is essential to the longevity of your battery.

Apple's World Travel Adapter Kit is the perfect precautionary purchase when planning your trip. It is compatible with every Apple MagSafe Power Adapter, including those provided with iPhones, … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Soon you'll be able to make your BlackArmor NAS server even tougher.

Seagate today showed off at CES 2011 a new storage package that the company says offers the ultimate in data security. It combines the flagship BlackArmor 440 NAS server, which offers RAID 5 and up to 12GB of storage space, with an IoSafe SoloPro disaster-proof external hard drive, which is used as a backup drive for the BlackArmor server.

The external hard drive is branded with the Seagate logo and called a fireproof/waterproof BlackArmor external hard drive. This is similar to how the company has … Read more

LAS VEGAS--How often does a journalist fire a real gun in the line of duty? Let me tell you, not often. But that's just what I did today. And no, I wasn't taking an anger management class.

It was just another demo by IoSafe, maker of disaster-proof storage solutions like the IoSafe SoloPro. These are extreme types of devices and, it seems, their maker believes they deserve some over-the-top demonstrations.

For that reason, it's now somewhat of a tradition that IoSafe stages grandiose product demos during CES. The company did a crazy fire and water demo during CES 2009 for the IoSafe Solo and an even crazier one during CES 2010, which included a 35,000-pound excavator, for the Solo SSD.

This year, the demo of the IoSafe Rugged Portable, while smaller in scale, was much louder, literally. It involved firing live rounds to prove just how rugged the Rugged Portable is.

According to Robb Moore, CEO of IoSafe, the Rugged Portable isn't designed to be bulletproof but just to withstand a significant amount of impact. "There are types of bullets that can go through any electronic devices we make," he says. "I believe, however, the Rugged Portable can survive multiple rounds of shotgun. Still, I keep my fingers crossed."… Read more

I occasionally receive e-mails from readers worried about loud music's potential for damaging their hearing. The concerns are very real; a recent study found that one in five adolescents now suffers some hearing impairment. How loud is too loud? If you regularly experience "ringing" in the ears, see your doctor!

Cranking the volume of your headphones up loud will (eventually) deafen you, unless you're using the new dB Logic headphones ($40). They use SPL2 technology to automatically limit the maximum volume to a safe level. Sure, there have been other headphones that promised to do the … Read more

Google has been warning Web surfers about sites that appear to be hosting malware in search results for years. Now, the company is adding a warning in search results when the site appears to be compromised but may not be actually downloading malware to visitors' computers.

Starting today, Google search users should start seeing a new hyperlink warning that says "This site may be compromised," adjacent to some results if Google's system has detected something on the site that would indicate that it has been hacked or otherwise compromised. Clicking on the warning link leads to a … Read more

The less you drive, the less likely you are to get into car accidents--at least that's how insurance companies look at it. To better align drivers' automobile insurance rates with risk, State Farm is offering its California customers discounts based on their odometer readings.

The insurance giant created Drive Safe & Save (DSS), a new voluntary program for California customers that adjusts future policy rates based on the previous six months of driving. Prior to the program, the insurance company rated drivers as either a low- or high-mileage driver, with the cutoff point at 7,500 miles per year. … Read more

Sanho, which sells HyperMac external batteries for several Apple products, announced today it will stop selling cables that connect those components to some Apple hardware.

According to the company, which cited "ongoing comprehensive licensing negotiations with Apple," it will halt sales of its "MacBook charging cables and car charger on November 2." Although it will continue to sell its batteries, the lack of cables basically renders them useless, since people won't be able to connect those products to Apple's computers.

Sanho's decision to stop selling cables with its batteries was a response to … Read more

I remember 1997. I always brought my Kensington cable lock with me to tie down my PowerBook at the grad school library. Honestly, I don't think I've used a laptop lock since.

I'm not alone, apparently. Kensington's new ClickSafe locking system aims to somehow make the process easier. Well, at least half of the process: the new ClickSafe lock automatically snaps onto your laptop without a key, but it still requires a key to unlock--not a surprise, since a lock that could be unlocked without a key doesn't sound very safe at all.

The Kensington … Read more

The MagSafe connector is one of those features that makes so much sense one wonders why it hasn't become a universal standard. The MagSafe plug prevents the dreaded laptop-hits-floor scenario when someone accidentally pulls on the power cord. According to a patent filed earlier this year by Apple, this unique charging connector may be headed for portable devices such as the iPad or iPhone soon.

The MagSafe works by using magnetic force, instead of friction, to connect the charging head to a machine's AC port. Due to its lighter size, a similar connector for the iPad or iPhone … Read more