Man develops iPhone case that shoots pepper spray

Potentially a useful way to stop an attacker from hurting someone, a new iPhone case includes a blast of pepper spray for personal protection.

Designed as a personal protection device, an Arizona man has created a case for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S that includes a built-in pepper spray canister. Located in Scottsdale, Spraytect founder Scott McPherson thought up the idea when he was concerned about this daughter’s safety after she left for college. On the back of the Spraytect iPhone case, a user slides the custom pepper spray canister canister along a rail positioned horizontally when looking at the phone in a vertical position. Since the pepper spray canister significantly protrudes from the case, it may be difficult to store in a pocket. However, the canister does act as a “kickstand” when the phone is positioned vertically or horizontally and can help the iPhone user view the screen.

After the canister has been installed and locked into place, the user must pull a safety clip off the canister to start the activation process. The safety clip is designed to keep the canister locked and unable to fire. After the clip is removed, the user rotates the actuator knob into the down position.

When the bright yellow color is completely visible, the canister is ready to be fired. If the user needs to spray an assailant, they rotate the case horizontally and spray the attacker as if they were taking their picture with the iPhone camera.

Spraytect recommends using short bursts lasting approximately half a second and spraying from ear to ear across the face. Similar to other types of pepper spray, Spraytect also recommends moving in the opposite direction after releasing the spray. The spray takes a few seconds to kick in and disable an attacker.

In order to help the user feel more comfortable with using pepper spray, Spraytect includes a test cartridge without any active pepper spray to practice installing, activating and firing the spray from the canister. According to Spraytect, the pepper spray mixture includes habanero pepper. Usually the hottest pepper at your local grocery store, habaneros typically rate between 200,000 and 300,000 Scoville units. The blend is similar to what’s used by police officers, members of the U.S. military, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security.  

Since the canister is detachable, the user can choose the right time to utilize the protection. For instance, a college student likely wouldn’t need it during class, but it could be useful when going out with friends at night.

Users also have the option of rotating the actuator knob back into the locked position once they feel safe. The canister would have to be removed before passing through airport security, but the TSA does allow one 4-ounce container of mace or pepper spray included in checked baggage. 

Split into two pieces, the simple iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S case doesn’t obstruct the smartphone’s built-in, rear camera. The case comes in four different colors including black, white, aqua blue and pink. McPherson is currently selling the pepper spray iPhone case for a price of approximately $40 on the Spraytect site. Besides the case, the Spraytect case owner will also get one pepper spray cartridge and one test cartridge. Replacement pepper spray cartridges cost approximately $18 each and they can be color matched to the case.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Sony Xperia neo L gets in front of our camera, bets on ICS and a bigger screen

The Sony Xperia neo L is a blast from the past – it’s the second redesign of the 2011 neo model and brings some improvements as well as some setbacks. For one, it runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, even though some newer Sony devices are still waiting to get the update.

The other change is the bigger screen – it now spans to 4″ instead of the original 3.7″. The resolution is set at WVGA – a bit less than the FWVGA of the previous models. It loses a 54 pixel-wide bar and moves to a 15:9 aspect ratio instead of 16:9.

At 12.2mm the neo L is slightly thinner than previous models but also taller and wider to accommodate the larger screen. The weight has increased by just under 6g, to 131.5g.

The redesign has its downsides – it drops the microHDMI port and the hardware shutter key, two things that set the neo and neo V apart from most of their direct rivals. The Xperia neo L uses a 5MP camera capable of 720p video recording, just like the neo V, though the camera interface here is vanilla Android here, not the custom Sony camera app.

Here’s a hands-on video of the Sony Xperia neo L that shows off both its hardware and its software.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com