tough

Top 25 tough iPhone cases

Note: If you own an iPhone 4 or 4S for, please go to Top 20 tough cases for iPhone 4 and 4S. This article features iPhone 3GS cases.

How you choose to protect--or not protect--your iPhone is a matter of personal choice. Sure, plenty of people like to leave their iPhone naked, reasoning that any protective cover diminishes its sleekness. But the majority of iPhone owners realize it's probably a good idea to give your precious device some degree of armor, particularly if you don't like the idea of seeing your iPhone's lovely finish dinged and scratched … Read more

Olympus' Tough line is rugged, feature packed

To show that it's still a leader in the rugged compact camera market, Olympus on Tuesday announced two Tough series models. Available in February, the $399.99 Stylus Tough-8010 is shockproof to drops of 6.6 feet and waterproof to depths of 33 feet, while the $299.99 Stylus Tough-6020 is shockproof to drops of 5 feet and waterproof to depths of 16 feet. Also, both cameras are freezeproof to temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

Olympus does well with the rugged part of these cameras, but their feature sets were never very interesting. This time out, though, … Read more

Chrome debuts new Corsair and Vega commuter bags

Chrome started with a couple of guys in Boulder, Colo., who set out to built a bag that could stand a lifetime of daily abuse. Eight years later, the operation is now based out to San Francisco, where Chrome bags have become the staple of bike messengers, students, and packrats alike. Today, Chrome also announced its sojourn into the techie commuter market with the release of two stripped-down, laptop-friendly bags: the Vega and Corsair.

The Vega draws inspiration from the classic "musette" bags used to feed cyclists in the middle of a big race. Since weight is everything to these pros, the bags have to be minimalist and utilitarian, and the Vega is no different. It's light, tough, and can easily fit up to a 15-inch laptop.

It's important to stress the tough material used in the build: 1,000 denier Cordura material, a heavyweight nylon with a urethane coating to protect from water, abrasian, and grime. Make no mistake about it: these are some of the toughest bags you can get.… Read more

For Olympus, the proof is in the videos

It's always nice when a company is willing to put up its products against its marketing claims. In this case, the strengths of Olympus' Tough series of digital cameras.

Earlier in 2009, Olympus stopped designating its series of shock- and waterproof cameras with a mere SW and started calling them Tough, since the cameras were also dustproof, crushproof, and freezeproof. To prove just how much punishment they can take, it turned over a bunch of Tough-series cameras to some kids and let them have at 'em in a series of tests, which Olympus made videos of and posted to YouTube.

The "best of" video is above while the nine individual trials--including Tricycleproof and Icecreamproof--are after the break. … Read more

Grocio makes grocery shopping recession-friendly

Based on the growing size of our layoff tracker and the number of pitches we get starting with "in today's tough economic climate..." it's a great time to launch a service that helps save people cash. Grocio is no stranger to that idea, and lets you comparison shop for groceries without even having to leave the house.

Assuming you're the kind of person who sticks to their shopping list, and nothing but what's on that list this could end up being an incredibly handy service. It plugs into pricing provided by local retailers (including … Read more

The Iomega eGo portable hard drive can take a serious beating

It's been awhile since we've seen a ruggedized external hard drive come to the market. The last one we reviewed was the LaCie Rugged All-Terrain Hard Drive; it scored well in the speed tests and even withstood a 30-inch drop off a desk in nonoperating mode.

Iomega's eGo camo portable hard drive takes it a step higher and bumps the maximum drop height to 60 inches (5 feet), or so they report. Along with the standard read and write tests, we also took the liberty of performing a drop test to prove its toughness. The day we … Read more

Fashionable headphones for urban warfare

These headphones can beat up your iPod earbuds.

The Skullcandy G.I. headphones are the first we've seen with built-in bullet holders in the headband, as well as a zip-up pouch that holds what looks like a bottle opener. (Update: According to Skullcandy, the tool included in the pouch is a screwdriver/skate tool/bottle-opener combo.)

Available in four styles--Rasta, Desert, Camo, and CCore (pictured here)--the CCore models look like the ones to buy if you want the fewest number of people getting all up in your face and/or messing with your biz.

The ear cans cost $… Read more

Japan gets new ToughBooks

Panasonic has added four new laptops to its Let's Note line in Japan. Though they're sold under the ToughBook brand here in the States, the shiny portables aren't exactly what we'd call rugged. They are engineered to survive a drop from 30 inches--about desk height--and incorporate a spill-resistant keyboard, but we've always felt the greatest strength of the Let's Note line has been the laptops' remarkably light weight. These new models are no exception: The lightest laptop of the bunch, the 10.4-inch R7, weighs just 2.1 pounds. The 12.1-inch W7 weighs … Read more