You probably already have a paper shredder at the office for disposing of confidential documents, but since those often choke on something as small as a forgotten paperclip, you need something with a little more oomph if you hope to do the same with discarded hard drives. Like the IDEAL 0101 HDP from Duplo, which promises to pierce an unneeded old drive with up to 3 tons of force. PC Pro recently had one dropped off for testing, and they were kind enough to shoot a short video of the slow, agonizing carnage.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say the drive is left completely unreadable, I’m sure there are some data recovery facilities who could probably still pull a file or two off of it. But for the average office the damage it does is adequately fatal. I particularly like the ominous green light that comes on, the terrible cracking sounds and the fact that the now deceased drive is unceremoniously dropped into a bin below, like Sweeney Todd’s victims. At almost $3,300(£1,995) it’s not the cheapest way to destroy a drive, but at the least there’s some perverse satisfaction to watching it do its thing.
Not all of us can afford a fancy home security system that’s monitored 24×7. Instead, if we want to deter criminals from taking our possessions, we lock our doors and hope for the best. There are some low-tech alarms that will simply emit a loud sound, in hopes of scaring off burglars, but even those aren’t the most effective. So why not step it up a bit, and make sure they want to get far away from your house as fast as they can.
This Burglar Blaster is one thing that no would-be thief will want to tangle with. Once tripped, it will not only start wailing loudly, but it’s going to shoot out pepper spray. The 4oz container is enough to cover 2,000 square feet with the stuff, leaving the criminal with a good bit of pain in the eyes. Of course, the trade-off here is that you have a house full of pepper spray. I’ve never tried to clean that stuff up, but it seems to be that it wouldn’t be much fun. Also, you’re going to have to shell out $600 for one of these. While I appreciate the harm it would cause to someone breaking into my house, I think it would be more of a hassle than it’s worth.
The idea of having all of your files available on any internet connected PC is certainly tantalizing, but paying some cloud-based service to store your hundreds of gigabytes worth of digital crap isn’t. So the iTwin USB device basically turns your own PC, and all of its connected storage devices, into a secure cloud-based storage center, without the need for messing with complicated software or settings.
It looks like a double-ended USB flash drive, but instead of storing any files the iTwin breaks apart in the middle and creates a secure (using AES-256 hardware-enabled encryption) online connection between the two computers each end is connected to. Its one-time price of just $99 is cheaper than paying an annual fee to an online cloud-based solution, though you will have to factor in the cost of keeping your home PC powered up and online whenever you want to access files remotely. But admittedly if it works as easy and effortless as they claim, it could be an ideal solution for less tech-savvy road warriors who like their laptop to stay synced up with their computer back at the office.
Almost every laptop bag manufacturer now has a version that’s claimed to be airport security-friendly, meaning you don’t actually have to remove your laptop from the case when it passes through scanners and x-ray machines. And since it’s now the norm for everyone to have to also remove their shoes when dealing with security, it looks like footwear manufacturers have taken a cue from the laptop bag makers.
adidas’ new SLVR S-M-L Concept shoes are not actually a concept, but are available for sale ($140) from adidas’ SLVR online store in just three sizes: small, medium and large, hence their name. Based on the description on their website the shoes are the perfect accessory when flying since they feature a 4-way stretch mesh upper making them particularly easy to repeatedly slip on and off, or stash away in a carry-on bag. And because even the soles of the shoes are stretchable, it allows adidas to release in them just 3 unisex sizes covering everything from men’s UK size 4 to 12.
Often times a chain or a bike lock is just a minor inconvenience to a bicycle thief who wants to pinch your ride. And while removing the wheels and your bike seat is a useful visual deterrent, it can also be a giant pain to deal with day in and day out. So like the blinking dashboard light of your car’s alarm system, this bike-specific anti-theft alarm is supposed to let would-be thieves know that they’d best move on to the next bike lest they set off an ear-piercing alarm while trying to steal yours.
It connects to your bike with a set of included nuts and bolts, and since it’s completely weatherproof it never needs to be removed, even if you leave it locked up outside. Arming it is as easy as pressing the ‘B’ button for just 2 seconds, at which point a motion-sensitive alarm is activated which can be set to one of 3 different sensitivity levels. If and when someone tries to tamper with your bike an 80db alarm will sound for 15 seconds, hopefully scaring them away. If they continue to tamper with it the alarm will continue to sound, requiring you to enter a custom 4 digit code using the three buttons to deactivate and disarm it. (i.e. BACA) It’s powered by a single 9V battery which will probably keep it powered for months on end with no incidences, and is available from VirtualVillage.com for just $3.99.
More and more flash drives and external storage solutions are shipping with built-in encryption options, and it makes sense. Back when flash drives were just 32MB in size having one go missing was not necessarily the end of the world. But these days you can carry 100+ gigs of data in something that’s as easy to misplace as a pen, so making sure your digital life stays private and protected is a genuine concern. And the USB Crypto Adapter, from a Norway-based company called Hiddn, promises to make any drive secure no matter how old or small it may be.
As the name implies, the Crypto is an adapter that sits between a computer’s USB port and the storage drive and deals with all of the encryption/decryption details. It uses an AES 256-bit encryption algorithm which is still strong and secure, as well as a combination PIN and smartcard to access the files on the drive. None of the security or encryption keys are stored on the actual media either, so if they go missing there’s little to no chance your files will be accessible to anyone but you. Obviously it would be nice if the unit was a little more compact so it was a touch easier to travel with, but the ability to encrypt all of your drives, no matter what capacity or brand they are, makes it a handy tool to have on hand, even if you’re not an IT person.
If you live in a busy urban area and spend your time engulfed in crowds of people on the street, or bumping into the masses on the subway, it’s probably not a terrible idea to be a little extra cautious with your wallet. You never know when your pockets might get picked. But there’s cautious, and then there’s downright paranoid, which I think can be said of anyone who drops $825 on this biometrically protected wallet from Dunhill.
The wallet can only be opened by swiping your fingerprint, so while would-be thieves might be able to get their hands on it, they won’t be able to open it. And attempts to crack it open will be mostly thwarted by its sleek carbon fiber outer shell. I mean it’s not completely indestructible, but it should be frustrating enough to deter most people. The Biometric Wallet can even let you know if it’s been taken or forgotten thanks to a Bluetooth link to your phone which sounds an alarm if the two are more than 5 meters apart. On the inside you’ll find a real leather finish with a stainless steel money clip, but I’d expect nothing less when they’re asking almost $1,000 for it.
We’ve written about Bluetooth-based personal alarm systems designed to stop you from leaving your smartphone behind, but the Ty system is designed to work the other way. The thin, poker-chip sized discs attach to your personal accessories like briefcases, laptops, jackets and even family members, while a downloadable app on your smartphone will let you know when you’ve become separated from them.
They have a decent range of about 50 feet, though in the Ty app you can specify different ranges for up to 7 different discs at once. So for example you may always prefer to keep your wallet no farther than an arm’s length away, but you don’t want the alarm going off when you’ve gone to the bathroom at a restaurant and left your coat on the back of your chair. The app is also GPS location aware allowing you to setup safe zones, so no alarms will sound when you’re at home or at the office and things get separated. The discs will be available in March of this year for ~$70 each, with accessories like clips selling for between $5 to $30. The only downside, it won’t work with the iPhone because third-party apps apparently can’t constantly run in the background as needed for this to work.
Who knew that paper shredders could be a thing of beauty? CES 2011 is officially underway, and one of the first things to catch our eye at CES Unveiled was Black & Decker’s new iShred paper shredder. Besides sporting a retro-futuristic design with a glossy white plastic finish, the shredding slot is located on the front in a vertical orientation, which as far as I can tell only serves to keep the whole thing slim.
It’s a cross-cut shredder so all of your private docs end up as little bits of confetti, and everything falls into an easily accessible bin on the bottom which is contoured towards the top making it easier to empty without spilling little bits of paper. The size of the shredder makes me think it’s better suited to larger office environments rather than the home, but since the shredding head is fully enclosed you won’t have to worry about anyone, like little kids, from accidentally getting hurt. $99.99, available now in select stores.
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