Hard Case Keeps Your iPad Safe On the Job Site

Hard Case for iPad.jpg
If you have an Apple iPad, chances are you either have or are looking for a case to protect it. There are plenty of options out there, but the available choices generally skew toward business professionals and fashion-conscious hipsters, not folks who might actually work for a living.
Enter the Hard Case for iPad. The simple, no-frills name describes the product well. On the outside, it looks like the rugged clipboards that many contractors carry, with a tough exterior and plenty of room inside for receipts, completed bids, and small supplies.
The Hard Case has another interior compartment under the paper tray that has a special cutout for the iPad. The device is surrounded on all sides (including the top) by high density polyurethane foam. It has strong claps to prevent accidental opening and the back has non-skid strips on the back so that it won’t damage furniture or slide off a table. And since it doesn’t look like a valuable tablet computer, the Hard Case serves as a theft deterrent as well. Who would steal what appears to be a regular old clipboard?
The Hard Case for iPad is now available for preorder for $49.95 and is expected to start shipping by the end of the week.

Eton Soulra iPod sound system is rugged, splash-proof and solar-powered

Solar-powered sound systems are certainly nothing new, but Etón has taken things a bit further than most with its new Soulra system, which not only adds an iPhone / iPod dock to the equation, but wraps it in a rugged, splash-proof enclosure. That obviously makes it better suited for the beach or pool-side than some other options, but you’ll also naturally get an AC adapter and line-in to use it at home and connect other audio devices. Not much else in the way of technical specs just yet, unfortunately, but it looks like it should be available in the coming days for $199 — Etón actually says “now,” but most retailers seem to be saying otherwise. Full press release is after the break.

Continue reading Eton Soulra iPod sound system is rugged, splash-proof and solar-powered

Eton Soulra iPod sound system is rugged, splash-proof and solar-powered originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gear Diary  |  sourceEton Soulra, Amazon  | Email this | Comments

Dell Streak’s Gorilla Glass screen: torture tested for your amusement (video)

So we’ve been hearing rumors about the Dell Streak being some kind of a rugged bad boy. Word is, the Gorilla Glass display on this 5-inch slate is good enough to withstand pretty much anything a human would care to throw its way. Them’s fighting words where we come from, so we did the only thing a responsible tech blog can do — we put them to the test. Should you be brave enough to follow us after the break, you’ll come upon our best efforts to destroy our own Streak prototype, albeit with little success. Then again, the end result might be less important than the journey there, which is not to be missed.

Continue reading Dell Streak’s Gorilla Glass screen: torture tested for your amusement (video)

Dell Streak’s Gorilla Glass screen: torture tested for your amusement (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 15:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LaCie’s Rugged Safe external HDD is rugged, safe

LaCie's Rugged Safe external HDD is rugged, safe

While LaCie has certainly created some fanciful product designs over the years, its product naming is often quite succinct. Take the Rugged series, the drop-proof external storage solution, which is now welcoming the Rugged Safe model into the family. This version adds a fingerprint scanner recessed into its armor-plated case, which encapsulates either 500GB or 1TB of storage that is now also cloaked in 128-bit AES encryption. Up to 10 registered users can be added, who can access files via USB or FireWire, but sadly neither USB 3.0 nor eSATA are on offer. Despite the limited connectivity you’ll naturally be paying a more for the added security, with the 500GB model costing $189 and the 1TB version jumping to $299. Compare that to $119 and $159 for the biometric-free versions and you can see just how much that little fingerprint of yours can cost you.

Continue reading LaCie’s Rugged Safe external HDD is rugged, safe

LaCie’s Rugged Safe external HDD is rugged, safe originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 09:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s waterproof and dustproof DSC-TX5 stands up to review scrutiny

You’ll remember the TX5 as Sony’s do-it-all solution for compact camera fans. It aims to be both stylish — with a slender 0.7-inch profile and a 3-inch touchscreen — and rugged, thanks to a metal frame that makes it impervious to water, dust and sub-zero conditions. Throw in the backlit Exmor R CMOS sensor, optical image stabilization, SDHC compatibility, and 720p movie mode and you’ve got a pretty fearsome paper tiger on your hands. But does it roar in reality? According to Photography Blog, you won’t be getting the finest image quality around, but the TX5 impressed with some terrific high ISO performance, excellent handling of chromatic aberrations, and a versatility that allows you to take photos you might not otherwise get to with more conventional shooters. That is an opinion broadly shared by CNET, though both reviewers agreed that pricing will be a tough pill to swallow given that this is still just a 10 megapixel point-and-shoot. Hit the sources for more or mosey on past the break for a sample video.

Continue reading Sony’s waterproof and dustproof DSC-TX5 stands up to review scrutiny

Sony’s waterproof and dustproof DSC-TX5 stands up to review scrutiny originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 09:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePhotography Blog, CNET  | Email this | Comments

Pentax’s all-weather Optio W90 gets reviewed: brawn meets brain

As we’ve seen in the past, rugged point-and-shoots aren’t necessarily the greatest pure shooters; generally speaking, compromises are made when it comes to image quality in order to manufacture a camera that can withstand an atypical amount of abuse. With that in mind, critics over at Photography BLOG went into their review of Pentax’s all-weather Optio W90 with lowered expectations on the image quality front, but they actually came away duly impressed. Deeming the cam one “not just of outer muscle, but with inner strengths too,” they found the W90 able to produce images “better what [they were] used to [seeing] from models that major on toughness.” As you’d expect, it was able to shrug off bouts with dust, water and the occasional rude encounter with concrete, but reviewers did lament the omission of optical stabilization, and low-light performance was unsurprisingly lackluster. Still, it seems a solid overall option for those concerned with rigidity, but we’d encourage you to visit that source link before making a final call either way.

Pentax’s all-weather Optio W90 gets reviewed: brawn meets brain originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 May 2010 18:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePhotography BLOG  | Email this | Comments

Panasonic Toughbook 31 packs Core i3, i5 processors, tough inside and out

You know what we could always go for? A really good rugged laptop drop, and that’s exactly what we got tonight at the launch of the Toughbook 31. Panasonic not only flung its newest 13.1-inch fully-rugged portable off the stage, but also off the deck of the USS Intrepid. Oh, and you guessed it, Windows XP still booted after the 20-foot drop onto the pavement. While that may seem like all there is to the MIL-STD-810G certified, magnesium alloy laptop, it has got the internal strength to match. It will be available with Intel Core i3 / i5 processor options, a choice of 250GB or 160GB shock-mounted hard drives and ATI discrete graphics…did we mention it also has a touchscreen that’s viewable at wide angles, outdoors, and with night-vision goggles? We got to play around with the 8-pound system for a bit, and lived to tell that the thing is truly a beast of a machine. The ports can be sealed shut with a rubber coating — seriously, it took quite some effort to get to the HDMI port — and the screen can be locked with an aluminum latch when you want to carry it with the metal handle. But sadly, durability has it price — the Core i3 version starts at $3,799 and should be available immediately. Not willing to shell out that sort of cash just to throw your laptop out a window? At least you have the pictures and video below.

Continue reading Panasonic Toughbook 31 packs Core i3, i5 processors, tough inside and out

Panasonic Toughbook 31 packs Core i3, i5 processors, tough inside and out originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 23:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 external HDD to hit stores this May

The gang at LaCie sure do love their orange, life raft-esque external HDDs. As you’ve probably guessed, the Rugged USB 3.0 takes the already familiar device, which is designed to resist drops up to 2.2 meters, and throws SuperSpeed USB into the mix. The 500GB (7200 RPM) model becomes available in early May for $150. If anything, it looks like this company definitely got its money’s worth out of Neil Poulton!

LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 external HDD to hit stores this May originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceLaCie  | Email this | Comments

Corsair Flash Survivor GTR keeps up enduring tradition of rugged survivalism

Was the torture-tested Survivor GT flash drive just not extreme enough for you? Time to slap an extra letter on the end of the model name and take the plunge with the Flash Survivor GTR from Corsair. As far as we can tell, it retains all the salient features of its predecessor — meaning a CNC-milled aircraft-grade aluminum shell that can withstand ridiculous amounts of punishment — while tweaking the aesthetics a bit and adding water resistance down to a 200-meter (656-foot) depth. With transfer rates of 34MBps and 28MBps for reads and writes, respectively, it’s no slouch either, though that’s to be expected from what will surely be a pricey accessory for your superhero utility belt. 32GB and 64GB versions are expected to ship soon.

Corsair Flash Survivor GTR keeps up enduring tradition of rugged survivalism originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Apr 2010 12:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Storage Review  |  sourceCorsair  | Email this | Comments

E Ink shows off next-gen displays: high contrast, fast refresh, and rugged (video)

E Ink shows off next-gen displays: high contrast, fast refresh, and rugged (video)

It took so long for electronic ink screens to finally hit the market we feel a bit silly getting impatient for the next-generation, but the Kindle has been on the market for a year and a half now, Sony Reader models for twice that long, and still we’re dealing with the same crummy 7:1 contrast ratio, 16 shade grayscale, and .74 second refresh rate. E Ink’s Sriram Peruvemba, however, is finally showing off next-generation models of the sort parent company PVI told us were coming, the first an improvement on existing screens that offers a 12:1 contrast ratio and a refresh rate fast enough for simple animations. Also shown is a larger, (slightly) flexible model rugged enough to take a meaty fist square in the face without blinking a single pixel. This version Peruvemba sees playing a major role in digital textbooks in the future. Unfortunately we still have a bit of time to wait for either, with the boosted contrast ratio model entering production later this year and the flexible one sometime in early 2011. Add another six months or so for devices using the things to make it to retail and hopes for a brighter, next-gen Kindle shipping by the holidays start to look a bit dim.

Continue reading E Ink shows off next-gen displays: high contrast, fast refresh, and rugged (video)

E Ink shows off next-gen displays: high contrast, fast refresh, and rugged (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |  sourceRed Ferret  | Email this | Comments