Everyone knows having your personal information hacked is a nightmare to be avoided. But with the myriad of advice out there, which advice is the best to follow? Thankfully, after attending a security panel with Google's Director of Security for Google Apps, Eran Feigenbaum, and Head of Chrome Security, Parisa Tabriz, I came away with a better understanding of practicing safe and secure habits online...

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A few years back...ok, make more than a decade ago, I purchased my first dedicated home theater audio system. It was a glorious behemoth of a system, with left, right, satellite surrounds, center, and get this...two discrete subwoofers. It was fine and dandy when I was sharing a large home with a then girlfriend. But then we broke up right before I moved from LA after accepting a job in San Francisco where I found myself in a 300 sq. ft. studio, situating such a system proved challenging... 

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Chrome Welded Rucksack
• $110.00
• Chrome Industries 

I've got a couple of friends here in LA who've ditched the grind of sitting in traffic and now commute to work by bike. But hauling a laptop and other tech accessories while pedaling can prove to be challenging on the streets of any city, requiring secure and weather-proof carrying gear. The Chrome Welded Rucksack seems up to the task: waterproof, accommodates up to a 15" laptop, U-lock pocket, and includes a removable laptop sleeve.

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Do you have a love affair with home office supplies? A penchant for color? There's a whole rainbow spectrum of colors to brighten up your workspace, from stationery to peripheral accessories...

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Awhile back, I reached out to audio designer Victor Johansson after seeing some enticing preview images of an audio solution he was developing, a design-tantalizing ceramic stereo system utilizing wireless connectivity, all contained within a vessel of smooth earthenware and warm wood. He's finally finished his project to share with us...

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There's not a long list of industrious uses for that hard-to-reach, cropped cabinet above the refrigerator in the kitchen. Maybe somewhere to hide all those long neglected kitchen appliances you bought but stopped using. But there's at least one great solution: this one. Can you guess what's hiding in this unsuspecting kitchen storage?

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With all the talk about mobile devices beginning to eclipse computers, there’s still not as much talk of creating for the sake of creation on mobile devices. We take photos and videos, and even tweak them with apps like Instagram, but how much creativity are we really talking about here? The application of a hazy filter? 

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Pax Ploom 
• $249.99
• Ploom 

My dad was a lifelong smoker who was never able to kick the nicotine habit, and I remember many arguments between my parents revolved around the topics of smoke and the smell it would bring into the home. If only dear old dad was alive now, I would likely gift him one of these smokeless vaporizers, a pocket-sized device designed to heat up any leaves just hot enough to extract the kick, but without producing offensive smoke. Ploom's design is a 21st century pipe, complete with LED temperature indicator, motion-based temperature control, and keen pop-out mouthpiece design. I would have rather my father stopped smoked completely, but if one has the habit, this beats the old box of Marlboros any day.

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Are you reading this on your smartphone or tablet right now? Do you even still use a laptop or desktop computer at home? There's a growing group of us who hardly touch a computer any longer, happy to rely upon our handheld devices for all our computing needs. Sure, mobile devices still have limitations, but for a large majority of the things we do, mobile devices are proving the death of personal computers.

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Considering how penetrating each and every one of Apple's devices has been in the personal tech market, it's no wonder iTunes continues to make loads of money. It wouldn't happen without the individual contribution of each of iTunes' millions of users. But just how much app, song and movie money does each person contribute to Apple's world domination each year?

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