rugged

If you're a real butterfingers, Sony's Xperia Advance smartphone could be just what the doctor ordered. Both water- and dust-resistant, Sony will begin selling the unlocked Xperia Advance for $300 to U.S. customers today. … Read more

It's a Prizefight throwdown showdown! We're throwing two of the best point-and-shoot cameras that were made to outlast the elements. It's the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS4 versus the Olympus Tough TG-1 iHS!

Panasonic's TS4 brings a sleeker design that's still rugged with better image quality results. Olympus' TG-1 is chunkier, but it brings a larger feature set and is even crushproof.

Both of these bad boys are waterproof, shockproof, and freezeproof; which do you think deserves to be crowned the Prizefight King of the Ring?

Cast your vote!

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued an alert warning that hackers could exploit code in Siemens-owned technology to attack power plants and other national critical infrastructure.

Security researcher Justin Clarke exposed the flaw at a Los Angeles conference last week, claiming he discovered a way of spying on encrypted traffic in hardware owned by a Siemens subsidiary, RuggedCom.

The DHS advisory noted: "An attacker may use the key to create malicious communication to a RuggedCom network device."

DHS added that the government department was in contact with RuggedCom and the researcher in order to … Read more

Smartphones have become part of daily life but are often too delicate to withstand everyday abuse. Not so for the Sony Xperia Go, an Android handset built to shrug off treatment that would destroy typical mobile devices.

CNET UK took the Xperia Go for a spin, a few dunks, plus crevice-clogging dust-ups to put this rugged machine through its paces. … Read more

Combining a comfortable fit with excellent sound for the money, Klipsch's Image S4 and S4i have long been some of our favorite earphones here at CNET. That said, I've seen some complaints about them not being durable enough, especially for sporting activities. Well, Klipsch has apparently heard those criticisms and smartly made a ruggedized version of the earphone that's simply called the Image S4i Rugged.

Like the original S4i, the Rugged has an MSRP of $99.99, and according to Klipsch, sounds exactly the same. It also has the same Apple-friendly inline remote/microphone that probably won'… Read more

If you've ever read user reviews of rugged or waterproof cameras, you probably wouldn't think they could handle having a glass of water spilled on them, let alone a 33-foot dive in the ocean.

The fact is, however "rugged" a manufacturer says a camera is, whether it can survive such treatment has a lot to do with the user. Maybe too much.

For example, the top-rated Olympus Tough TG-1 iHS is marketed with some of the highest durability claims for a compact camera: waterproof down to 40 feet, shockproof up to a 6.6-foot drop, freezeproof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and crushproof up to a weight of 220 pounds. That sounds pretty great and it is, but there's a bunch of fine print that goes with that marketing message.… Read more

The number of waterproof rugged cameras has exploded over the past few years. The segment was basically owned by Pentax and Olympus, but now all of the major compact camera manufacturers have a rugged model, if not two or three.

The upside to that is there is something for just about everyone at various price points, starting at just more than $100. The more money you spend, the tougher the camera, though, so make sure you get something that meets your needs.

And if you're more interested in shooting video than photos, check out the two minicamcorders that follow the camera list. … Read more

People must really want to record a lot of first-person videos while being active because there seems to be a new "action camera" every day.

A couple days ago it was the Liquid Image Ego, before that was Pivothead, and, today, it's JVC's turn to join in on the, um, action, with the GC-XA1 Adixxion.

Without the need for an additional housing, the XA1 is waterproof to 16.4 feet, shockproof to 6.5 feet, dustproof, and freezeproof. It records MP4 video in HD at 1080p30 and 720p60 resolutions (WVGA is available, too) and 5-megapixel photos. … Read more

Think of Mophie's new Juice Pack Pro as an Otterbox case that's packing a 2,500 mAh battery that more than doubles the battery life of your iPhone 4 or 4S.

Mophie would probably argue that the Juice Pack Pro is actually tougher than an Otterbox case. It's touting its first ruggedized battery pack case as exceeding military specification MIL-STD 810G, which is pretty tough.

That said, the case is water-resistant but not totally waterproof (it can't go underwater). It has a built-in screen protector and comes with a rotating belt clip. According to Mophie, that … Read more