Bohemia Interactive and ArmA 3 developers Martin Pezlar and Ivan Buchta have had a rough time of it since being arrested for espionage in Greece last September, but the two Czech nationals have finally been granted bail.

After more than four months behind bars, Bohemia Interactive (ArmA 3, DayZ) staffers Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar were granted bail. The video game developers were arrested at the end of last summer while vacationing on the island of Lemnos in Greece. The Greek government accused the Czech nationals of espionage and imprisoned them. Why the Greek government would accuse game makers of espionage is rooted in Bohemia’s upcoming military simulator ArmA 3. The sequel actually features the island of Lemnos as a setting. The Greek government objected to its inclusion during the game’s production.

“We received this information from the attorney of the two arrested, who informed us that they will be released as soon as they pay the bail,” Czech ambassador to Greece Milos Kucera told Ceska Televize, “We have an unconfirmed report that both families have the money available and are discussing transferring the money to Greece with their attorney.”

Bail was reportedly set at 5,000 euro, or around $6,648.

Buchta and Pezlar were denied bail in November and told that they were to remain in prison until their trial. The conditions they stayed in were reportedly abysmal. “They’re in a cell with over 25 people, they sleep on the ground,” said Miloslav Buchta, Ivan’s father.

The two developers will still have to face trial, though it’s unclear when since Greece’s judges are on strike.

According to Bohemia Interactive’s Ota Vrtatko, the two did nothing out of the ordinary for tourists.

“Having travelled there, and after meeting personally with them both, as well as their lawyer who is fully acquainted with the Greek authority’s investigation file in detail, we can assure you that these insinuations are completely false and with substance,” said Vrtatko in September, “They took photographs and videos in public areas, as countless tourists arriving to enjoy the beauty and hospitality of Greece may well do. These included a short video as they drove through the main road passing around the international airport, where in one short part of the video off in the distance some hangars and other buildings of the complex can be seen. The in-game Lemnos is close to completion, and it’s far from an identical replication of the real place.”

Green Dot, a pre-paid debit card provider, announced and teased its first ever mobile-only banking solution, Gobank.

For those of you wanting to see a revolutionized banking industry, allow us to introduce Green Dot’s Gobank, a mobile-only, penalty free banking solution unveiled at Green Dot’s press conference in San Francisco today.

Those of us with commercial banking accounts know a thing or two about fees . To maintain a checking or savings account, these payments are small but it add up over time, and penalties will hit your wallet even harder. Green Dot CEO Steve Streit says that over $30 billion in penalty fees were collected by banks last year, and unlucky souls who opened new accounts could have added another $30-$50 on top of that. 

This is where Gobank comes in, with a completely free mobile banking solution. In case you aren’t quite grasping the concept, that means there are not brick-and-mortar locations you can visit. All activities, including deposits, sending money to friends, and transferring money between types of accounts, can be done via smartphone. The only non-mobile service that Gobank offers is a tangible debit card and 45,000 Greendot ATMs across the United States. In other words, you’re more likely to find a Greendot ATM than ones from Chase or Bank of America.

The app itself has four major features. Like Chase and just about every bank with a mobile app these days, you can deposit a check that gets sent straight to your checking account with a picture, front and back, of the check. Second, you can store away some money for a rainy day or toward a vacation fund that you can’t spend, which Gobank calls the “Money Vault.” Think of it like Gobank’s version of a savings account, but it’s fee-free and customizable.

Sending money is a social experience on Gobank. Friends can be notified via SMS, email, or Facebook about a money transfer between Gobank accounts. If your friends don’t have Gobank, then the process defaults to a Paypal facilitated transfer.

The most entertaining feature that Streit and Greendot EVP of mobile products and technology, Sam Altman, appeared to be proud of is Fortune Teller. “We have a philosophy that tech is entertaining,” Streit tells me. Consumers expect apps to be entertaining.” With Fortune Teller, users are able to set budgets and billing options for any recurrent payments they may have, including monthly insurance payments, utility bills, or rent. Based on this information, Fortune Teller is like your digital personal finance angel. Say you want to purchase a Macbook; Gobank will tell you whether or not it’s a smart investment based on your budget.

Users can be issued a tangible debit card for $9 that can be used for daily transactions. And it works with Square and other payment processing services. To take this service a step further into “fun” territory, Gobank customers can elect to receive a personalized debit card with a picture of their choosing from their mobile device’s library or even from Facebook.

Now where Gobank really sets itself apart from competitors is its groundbreaking audacity to charge its users absolutely nothing to maintain a Gobank checking account. Green Dot is (pardon the pun) banking on the confidence that some users will pay up to $9 per month voluntarily just because they love the app and want to throw their support behind the app. There aren’t even any overdraft charges to penalize you should you accidentally spend more than you have. Streit says that Green Dot expects people that overdraft will pay back what they owe.

Gobank will also make money by collecting a cut from merchants for every time a customer uses their Gobank debit card. There’s also revenue for Gobank in value-added services like the purchase of the debit card, and float income.

Gobank is a two year work in progress for Green Dot that required the prepaid debit card company to purchase a Utah bank back in 2011 and then the mobile location-based app Loopt in 2012. So despite the challenges of convincing consumers that a bank can be mobile-only, Streit assures me that Gobank isn’t just an experiment. Green Dot has a lot invested in (and riding on) its attempt to evolve the model of modern personal finance — which is perhaps the most difficult industry to change. 

Will The Witcher 3 be announced shortly? Based on a few coy hints, that seems like an increasingly likely possibility.

If your experience with role-playing games begins and ends with those created by Japanese developers and BioWare, you’re doing yourself a great disservice. One of the best roleplaying series of recent years was actually created in Poland by developer CD Projekt RED. The Witcher, and its sequel, The Witcher 2, are based on a series of stories written by Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski. Unlike American-made games or those created by the Japanese, The Witcher series prides itself on presenting a gritty, dark, mature version of traditional medieval fantasy that features bloody combat, copious nudity and a storyline that is equal parts political intrigue and hunting for biologically improbable monsters. As a result, we’ve been anxious to see a third Witcher title ever since the debut of The Witcher 2.

Luckily for us, CD Projekt RED doesn’t put much stock in silence and has instead opted to coyly tease fans with what appear to be screenshots taken from the development of The Witcher 3. The first appeared as part of a hidden message found in a promotional teaser clip for Cyberpunk 2077, the other big game that CD Projekt RED is currently working on. The second cropped us this morning as part of an update on the current status of a piece of software known as REDkit. REDkit is currently being beta tested and CD Projekt RED’s update seems designed purely to point this out, at least until you notice the image directly above it and the sly, winking description offered by the developer.

That image, which you can find above, is unmistakably of Geralt of Rivia’s iconic sword. Geralt is the titular “witcher” of CD Projekt RED’s series, and thus the simplest explanation for this picture is that it’s a not-so-subtle hint that the firm wants to reveal The Witcher 3. This is seemingly corroborated by the image found in the Cyberpunk 2077 teaser which suggests that CD Projekt RED will be making a big announcement on February 5.

Most damning of all though, is the company’s seemingly flippant attitude toward the importance of these images. Instead of outright stating what they are or what they might mean, CD Projekt RED contents itself by saying things like “… if you are wondering what’s that in that picture above — well, we’ll leave it for your imagination to answer.” If that doesn’t sound like the words of a developer giddy with anticipation for the imminent chance to reveal its next big project, then we don’t what does.

As we’re obviously excited by the potential these images represent, we’ll be sure to bring you word on what CD Projekt RED does end up revealing on February 5. If it’s nothing crucial you can all feel free to ignore everything we’ve just mentioned, but it seems very likely that something big will emerge on that date. More as it appears.

ClamCase has just unveiled its second-generation Bluetooth keyboard for the iPad.

Tablets are already replacing laptops as portable computers for some, with detachable keyboards making it easier and more convenient to work on the go. A newly released keyboard for the iPad simulates a MacBook Pro experience even further with a sleek and airy design.

Accessory maker ClamCase has just introduced its ClamCase Pro: a lightweight Bluetooth keyboard that can transform an iPad into essentially an ultrabook. The keyboard even resembles that of the MacBook Pro, sporting an aluminum silver finish and a black set of keys. The case also supports Apple’s tablet at various angles, allowing for more flexibility while writing.

According to ClamCase’s official website, the Pro model is thinner and lighter than its predecessor and also provides protection for iPad devices. The keyboard maker’s website even simulates the layout of Apple’s product pages, making it easy to mistake ClamCase’s device as one straight from Cupertino, Calif.

The keyboard isn’t available yet, but users can preorder the device here for $170. It seems like a bit of a steep price, but most high-end iPad keyboards fall in that price range. Logitech’s Bluetooth Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for the iPad will run you about $100, and Belkin’s Folio case costs about the same.

In terms of words per minute, ClamCase boasts that you can type up to 76 words every 60 seconds, while Zagg’s keyboard only measured at 73 words per minute. This data comes from ABC News’ words per minute test, which reported that Logitech’s keyboard reached 71 words every 60 seconds.

The polycarbonate shell makes the ClamCase Pro scratch resistant and more durable, and it also comes with a soft touch hinge for grip. The original ClamCase was voted as one of the top rated iPad keyboards by PC Mag in November alongside Logitech’s option.

Check out the video below to get a hands on glimpse at the new ClamCase Pro keyboard.

Violent movies and video games are the cause of real world violence like the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting according to the National Rifle Association. That’s why it’s made it’s own shooter for the iPhone, appropriate for ages 12 and up.

On Dec. 21, National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre blamed the monstrous actions of Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza not on mental illness or easy access to a vast array of firearms, but on violent video games and movies. People don’t kill people, and neither do guns, according to LaPierre and the NRA. It’s what you play and watch that drives you to violence. Just as LaPierre called for armed police officers and security cards to placed in every school across the United States—a strategy that proved woefully ineffective during the Columbine massacre in 1999—he also called on the federal government to reign in violent media. How strange then that the NRA felt the need to release its very own first-person shooter. 

NRA: Practice Range for iPhone and iPad was released on Sunday on the Apple App Store. The free game is “The National Rifle Association’s new mobile nerve center, delivering one-touch access to the NRA network of laws, facts, knowledge, safety tips, educational materials and online resources.” Its chief mode, however, is a target shooting game that has you pointing and aiming a rifle at targets on an open range or with a pistol at human sized targets on a shooting range.

You can also pay money for additional guns like an AK-47 or an MK-11 sniper rifle.

When it was first posted on Sunday, as noted by The Atlantic, the game was rated for ages 4 and up. As of this writing on Tuesday, the rating has been raised to ages 12 and up. According to the NRA it is perfectly appropriate for a 12-year-old to be taught how to handle an AK-47.

The NRA has released a number of branded video games in the past, including the Crave Entertainment-developed National Rifle Association Gun Club for PlayStation 2, a game that the ESRB rated for ages 10 and up. Of course there’s also NRA Varmint Hunter for PC.

It’s bad enough that LaPierre and the NRA are willing to brush aside the inherent problems of a culture obsessed with gun ownership, willing to blame murder not on human beings but media, but the NRA is grotesquely hypocritical as to release their own video game less than a month after their backward public statement.

Good things sometimes really do come in small packages. Foremay’s new tiny SSD can fit inside a laptop and has a humongous 2TB storage capacity.

Remember when you couldn’t even conceive of filling a 10GB hard drive? These days, we bet you go through gigabytes faster than you can click on a hyperlink. Good thing storage drives are becoming increasingly larger in capacity while shrinking in actual size. In fact, according to Tom’s Hardware, thanks to Foremay, you might soon be able to stick a whopping 2TB solid-state drive (SSD) in your laptop.

SSD maker Foremay claims to have manufactured the first 2.5-inch SSD with 2TB of storage capacity. At that size and with a thickness of 9.5mm, it will fit inside most laptops and can replace your smaller hard drive or solid-state drive. Foremay has a version of the SSD made specifically for industrial purposes and another version for ordinary consumers. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can get one right now. While we do know that the drive offers security features, such as military erase methods and hardware encryption, the company has yet to make it available for  purchase. It hasn’t even revealed its full feature set, speed, or other performance claims.  

The SSD’s price is also a mystery. If you’re interested in getting one when it comes out, we suggest you either start saving now or dig up that piggy bank buried in your closet. We’re 99.9 percent sure it won’t come cheap. 

A recently released survey highlights just how many drivers are making phone calls or texting while being the wheel.

Ever have that one friend that’s always looking at his or her smartphone? Well according to a new survey from McKinsey & Company, many drivers happen to fall under that category.

Of nearly two thousand surveyed drivers, 35 percent admitted to using their smartphone while behind the wheel. To break it down even further, 89 percent of those who use their phone while driving voted that they use their device for making phone calls. With 68 percent of the vote, the second most popular smartphone task was navigation. In third was using SMS-based text messaging at 39 percent, and surfing the Web or using social networks placed in fourth with 31 percent.

The report, titled “Mobility of the Future,” also revealed some insight as what age group these drivers tend to fall into. Fifty-five percent of those between the ages of 18 and 39 that were polled said they feel the need to stay connected via mobile devices while in the car. However, only 27 percent in the 40 to 69 age range said the same.

The full report was conducted in June 2012 and reached a total of 4,000 people. Answers from 3,673 were used in the survey, but only 1,949 of these people answered questions about using smartphones while driving.

McKinsey’s findings were revealed at the Detroit Auto Show, but did not provide much detail as to the types of phones used while driving. It’s worth noting that any type of distraction while operating a motor vehicle can be dangerous. A similar report conducted in the UK this past August found that fiddling with Facebook updates while driving could make drivers more likely to drift across lanes or hit the car in front of them, according to Tech Radar.

This type of behavior has pushed UK car insurance company esure to launch an app that addresses these issues. DriveOFF uses GPS technology to automatically disable audio and visual notifications while driving over 10 miles per hour. It’s currently available for free for Android devices, but there’s no word on when this could hit iOS smartphones and tablets.

This isn’t the first report to surface in recent months about the dangers of smartphones. Over the summer, a study outlined the dangers pedestrians face when texting while walking.

NetherRealm Studios’ upcoming DC Comics fighter Injustice: Gods Among Us now has a release date and a special, limited Battle Edition variant.

Who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman?

That simple question has become almost a zen koan for comic book fans over the past twenty years. When Frank Miller depicted an elderly Batman beating the Kryptonian stuffing out of Superman in 1986′s The Dark Knight Returns, the idea of pitting DC’s biggest heros against one other took on new importance, and while we’ll likely never get a definitive decision from DC editorial on which way this fight might go, the next best thing arrives on April 16.

Specificially, we’re referring to Injustice: Gods Among Us, an upcoming fighting game release for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 created by the same people behind the most recent Mortal Kombat sequel (which lacks a defining numeral, so let’s just refer to it as “the best MK in two decades”). Based on everything we’ve seen Injustice should feature gameplay and content that’s quite similar to that seen in Mortal Kombat, only with a bit less gore as befitting DC Comics’ occasional dedication to presenting its superheroes as relatively family-friendly.

Alongside that newly revealed April 16 release date for Injustice, publisher Warner Bros. Interactive has also issued details on the game’s limited “Battle Edition” release. Despite its forgettable name, the Battle Edition contains a number of neat extras for DC Comics fans, including a special Injustice: Gods Among Us comic book, a digital download of the Justice League: Doom animated movie, three new in-game skins for Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman based on their recent “New 52″ comic book incarnations, a fight stick decorated with exclusive Injustice artwork, and a statue depicting a battle between Batman and Wonder Woman (who, thankfully, has a full complement of limbs). You can see the statue at right and more of the package in the header image above.

As you’d expect, the Battle Edition of Injustice features a premium price tag along with its premium bonus swag. The whole package hits retail on April 16 and will set you back an even $150. That’s $90 more than the standard retail price point attached to Injustice (and $50 more than the game’s Collector’s Edition), so you’re going to have to decide if those extras are worth the sizable addtional investment. We’re pleasantly surprised to see the Battle Edition contain so many useful, interesting items (instead of the standard, useless tchotchkes that will be forever ignored on a dusty shelf), but aren’t convinced that those outside of hardcore DC comic book fans should drop the extra cash. After all, Netflix subscribers can currently stream Justice League: Doom from the online service, we’d expect those extra skins to come available to all players at some point in the future via DLC, and the comic book can be downloaded directly from DC for only 99 cents per issue.

Then again, that’s a pretty solid deal for a fight stick. We also think that Batman-versus-Wonder Woman statue is pretty neat. If you do shell out the extra cash for the Battle Edition be sure to put it in a place of prominence in your home. Maybe on the mantle or next to your bed. Geek culture is the new black, right? 

Disney Interactive announced its most ambitious video game to date on Tuesday. The company and developer Avalanche Studios are calling Disney Infinity a gaming platform rather than a game, a multi-part product that is equal parts Skylanders and Minecraft.

Disney took the lid off Disney Infinity on Tuesday afternoon, and the company’s latest bid to conquer the video game market looks like it may succeed where previous tent pole releases like Epic Mickey have failed. The game, developed by Just Cause developer Avalanche Software, is more ambitious than any other mainstream game Disney has ever attempted, and it does so by capitalizing on two wildly popular titles. Disney Infinity is the company’s answer to both Skylanders and Minecraft, arguably the most successful family-friendly games in recent memory.

During its announcement press conference, Disney described its Disney Infinity as a gaming platform rather than an individual game, and given the swath of products that fall under the banner, that certainly seems to be true. Disney Infinity will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo Wii U. Disney also announced it for mobile devices, but while a tablet was shown, no OS was specified. It also announced it for PC and “online” platforms, implying that it will may even be offered as a social network or browser-based game.

Like Avalanche’s Toy Story 3 game, though, Disney Infinity is multiple games in one on all of these platforms. The first Disney Infinity release in June is a starter pack. This comes with three plastic figurines of Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles, Sully from Monsters University, and Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. Like Activision’s Skylanders, these figures represent a player’s data while playing Disney Infinity - but rather than just holding statistics specific to each character, these figures actually represent whole games.

The first game is called a Playset. Placing a figure on a circular disc for reading data, you can play though a full game based on the property the figure comes from. Disney showed off open-world games like a brawler for The Incredibles that lets you fight the villain Syndrome and his army of robots in a crumbling city. Meanwhile, the Monsters University game was based around stealth and humor, sneaking up on rival monster college students to scare them, as well as customizing frat houses in the universe. The Pirates game was also action-centric, showing off a level inspired by the original Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride. 

While you can’t mix figures within these IP-specific games – no Mr. Incredible attending Monsters University - Disney Infinity’s main attraction lets you mix everything together. The “Toy Box” is an open world game not unlike Mojang’s Minecraft or Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet. A fully 3D, customizable world, Toy Box is accessed using a second, hexagonal plastic base that multiple figures can go on. Any “toys” unlocked in specific Playsets – whether they’re weapons or vehicles or building tools – are unlocked in the Toy Box, where you can also construct levels using impressive-looking editing tools. Video from the event showed whole cities built using the editor, with icons from old Disney properties like Uncle Scrooge’s Money Bin from Duck Tales, and more.

There are Adventures to play through in the Toy Box, a sort of campaign that teaches people how to use all of the tools available. But after that, players can build their own games using the Logic Editor that ties objects together. The demo showed players building a simple switch that can be used to open a door, but later in the presentation the Toy Box featured entire games created to mimic arcade classics like Robotron and Offroad, to a racing track based on Bowser’s Castle from Mario Kart. The world you create can then be uploaded to Disney Infinity Online. Unlike LittleBigPlanet or Minecraft though, Disney Infinity levels won’t automatically be accessible to other players over the Internet, as Disney plans to fully moderate the service. They’ll be uploaded to public servers if approved, and Disney also plans to run contests for people to submit their worlds. Any worlds constructed will also, naturally, be tied to the figures people buy. So even if you don’t want to upload it to the internet, you can bring your world to a friend’s house.

Pirates, Monsters, and The Incredibles won’t be the only Playsets available at launch in June, though Disney didn’t specify what else would be available. It did say that 20 additional action figures will be available, and more Playsets/figures would come out across 2013. Videos for the game and the game’s logo gave a taste of what’s on the horizon though, with characters from myriad Disney properties. Cars, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Wreck It Ralph, Tron, Phineas and Ferb, Aladdin, Dumbo, Toy Story, and more were shown off during the presentation. Conspicuously absent, however, were characters from Disney’s hugely popular subsidiaries Marvel and Lucasfilm. If Luke Skywalker and The Avengers are going to play in Disney Infinity, it won’t be in 2013.

Disney Interactive has struggled to find its place in video games over the past few years. While Disney’s social and mobile games are fairly popular, the company simply doesn’t have a major property to compete with either the big publishers like Activision, or even the indie darlings like Mojang. Disney Infinity takes one of the most promising games to bear a Disney license in recent years, Toy Story 3 by Avalanche, and marries it to the compulsive collectibility of Skylanders and the deep self-expression of Minecraft. This is one to watch. 

A gruesome addition to the Europe and Australia-exclusive Live Bait Edition of Dead Island Riptide has stirred controversy, forcing publisher Deep Silver to publicly apologize.

If you happened to be checking Twitter this morning, you may have noticed a bit of a furor centered on Dead Island Riptide publisher Deep Silver. Why? Well, it seems that the Internet masses don’t much appreciate free swag when it comes in the form of a bloody, limbless, decapitated young woman.

Early this morning the firm revealed the upcoming “Live Bait Edition” release for Dead Island Riptide. You can see it pictured above. For the most part it’s a rather standard collection of low-cost extras designed to tempt anxious prospective players into dropping extra cash for a more exclusive version of Deep Silver’s imminent open-world zombie killing simulator. It includes such bonuses as a steelbook case for Dead Island Riptide, concept art assets, bonus downloadable weaponry, and a 12-inch-tall statue of a female torso sans head and arms, covered in blood, and clad only in a skimpy Union Jack bikini.

Assuming you live in either Europe or Australia (the Live Bait Edition is exclusive to these territories) all of that could have been yours for only £100. However, after this morning’s outcry against the statue, Deep Silver offered up an official apology which leaves the Live Bait Edition’s future in question.

We deeply apologize for any offense caused by the Dead Island Riptide “Zombie Bait Edition”, the collector’s edition announced for Europe and Australia. Like many gaming companies, Deep Silver has many offices in different countries, which is why sometimes different versions of Collector’s Editions come into being for North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

For the limited run of the Zombie Bait Edition for Europe and Australia, a decision was made to include a gruesome statue of a zombie torso, which was cut up like many of our fans had done to the undead enemies in the original Dead Island.

We sincerely regret this choice. We are collecting feedback continuously from the Dead Island community, as well as the international gaming community at large, for ongoing internal meetings with Deep Silver’s entire international team today. For now, we want to reiterate to the community, fans and industry how deeply sorry we are, and that we are committed to making sure this will never happen again.

Despite claims that “this will never happen again,” it’s important to remember that this is not the first time Deep Silver has found itself in hot water with would-be defenders of women. In September 2011, shortly before the release of the original Dead Island, fans discovered a line in the code of a leaked version of the title which referred to one of the in-game skills as “Feminist Whore.” Though this phrase was changed for the final version of the game, enough remained within the game’s code to create controversy, and both Deep Silver and developer Techland were forced to apologize and claim that such things would never happen again. Sound familiar?

While we expect to hear more on how Deep Silver plans to alter the Live Bait Edition in the near future, gamers in North America can rest easy; this debacle only affects their analogues in PAL territories. This side of the Atlantic will see the Dead Island Riptide Rigor Mortis Edition on April 23. It will set you back $80, which, given that the Live Bait Edition was to cost the equivalent of $160, is a pretty solid deal, even if it doesn’t include this week’s most notorious gaming controversy.

CES 2013 has come and gone, and many new PCs have been hyped – including some that won’t be out for months. We take a look at the best of what you can actually buy.

CES, like any trade show, focuses on the future. The “C” in CES still stands for consumer, and the items shown at the show are usually products consumers can buy. 

Though most of the devices on display eventually hit stores shelves, those release dates can stretch out. The Lenovo Yoga 13 debuted at 2012′s CES, but it wasn’t until October of that year – nine months later – that it was released alongside the Windows 8 launch. Anyone who waited for that computer probably became frustrated, and the same will no doubt occur with many PCs shown at CES 2013. So, of the products we saw at CES, what can you buy within the next month? Let’s take a look.

Asus Taichi

The Taichi is the perfect example of a product trotted out at multiple shows but never actually released. Asus showed the Taichi multiple times in 2012, hinting that it’d be coming soon. Now, Asus promises this dual-screen wonder will launch sometime in January.

Yes, we said “dual-screen.” This laptop’s trick is the use of a display on both the inside and outside of the top cover. You can use it as a normal computer and then, with the push of a button, you can shut the lid and use it as a tablet.

Asus will be offering 11-inch and 13-inch versions with a selection of Intel Core processor and solid-state hard drives. Though the laptops are slated for release this month, the company has yet to finalize pricing. 

Dell XPS 13 with 1080p display

Dell announced the XPS 13 at last year’s CES. It was one of the best early Ultrabooks, yet it had a serious flaw: the display. The only choice we were given was 1366 x 768, and competitors with more pixels soon arrived, making the XPS look obsolete. 

Fortunately, the laptop’s New Year’s resolution is resolution. Dell will ship a refresh later this month with a 1080p panel that also serves up IPS technology and a brighter backlight.

We had the chance to see the 720p and 1080p models side-by-side, and the new panel is bright, clear, and colorful. It’s a shame Dell didn’t ship this in the middle of 2012. If it had, the XPS 13 might have been our favorite Ultrabook. The refresh will be shipping later this month at an MSRP of $1,299.

Toshiba Qosmio X875

We didn’t see many gaming laptops at CES this year. Toshiba, one of the few companies to bring such hardware to the show, had no problem running away with the lion’s share of attention.

Even though Toshiba’s X875 is a refresh rather than an update, the laptop’s new 1TB hybrid hard drive is where the update really shines. Combining a small amount of solid-state memory with a large mechanical drive, the X875 attempts to offer the best of both worlds. In practice, this technology is slower overall than a pure solid-state drive, though that disadvantage is offset by higher storage capacity.

Pricing also deserves attention. Toshiba says it will ship the X875 with a GTX 670M and Core i7 quad at an entry price of $1,480. That’s a bargain for a gaming laptop with capable hardware. Most competitors, like Samsung’s Series 7 Gamer and the ASUS G-Series, are at least a couple hundred more when similarly equipped. 

Seagate Wireless Plus

Seagate’s Wireless Plus is without a doubt the coolest computing gadget we didn’t find time to write about. The concept is simple. Take a hard drive and add WiFi. This has been done before by Seagate and others, yet the Wireless Plus offers a bit more.

The Seagate Wireless Plus is not just a hard drive; it’s also a wireless access point, allowing the drive to extend a wireless network it’s currently connected to. Travelers forced to pay for WiFi will only have to plunk down cash once and can then extend that connection to mobile devices.

Mobile devices can also connect to the drive via an app. Owners of an Android or iOS devices can install it freely to gain access to media on the drive via an intuitive library interface.

You can pre-order the drive for $199 today and receive it on February 1.

Xi3 Computers

The biggest little story at CES was Xi3. After suffering a failed Kickstater campaign in late 2012, the company brushed itself off (with help from Valve) and launched two new computers: the diminutive Z3RO, and the tiny 7-Series.

The Z3RO can be pre-ordered today, though it won’t be out until mid-year. Release of the version of the 7-Series is also vague – but the exact same enclosure with slower hardware can be purchased right now on Xi3’s site.

If you’re fine with Linux, you can spend as little as $499. Throw in a few upgrades, like a larger hard drive and Windows 7, and the price goes up to about $750.

If you’re not interested in a slightly faster processor with Radeon integrated graphics (the primary upgrades the 7A will bring with a $999 price tag), don’t hesitate to buy now. 

There’s still a couple of weeks to go before BlackBerry 10 is launched, but if you can’t wait to see the new operating system in action, you’ll want to see this hands-on video of the software running on a BlackBerry Z10.

Not everyone has to wait until the end of the month to see BlackBerry 10 in action, as Austrian tech blog Telekom-Presse has posted an extensive video test of Research in Motion’s new operating system in use on the BlackBerry Z10. The site notes the hardware is a pre-production prototype and it’s a beta version of the software.

The Z10 has been leaked several times already, but it’s good to get further confirmation of the device’s specifications. The prototype seen in the video has a 4.2-inch touchscreen with a 1280 x 768 pixel resolution, while inside is a 1.5GHz processor with an impressive 2GB of RAM. An 8-megapixel primary camera sits in the corner of the rear panel, and there is a 1.9-megapixel video call lens above the screen. Finally, a microSD card slot lets you add to the standard 16GB of storage memory.

If you watch the video below, you’ll get to see the BlackBerry 10 interface in action again, along with some of the very cool transitions between screens – just take a look at the fade as the lock screen is swiped away. However, unless you speak German, the commentary won’t be all that helpful. By using Google Translate on the accompanying written piece, it’s clear the author is impressed with BlackBerry 10, calling it, “Smooth,” and the camera, “Excellent.”

We had a chance to play with BlackBerry 10 again during CES 2013, and also found the experience vastly improved over previous versions. There’s just over two weeks to go until BlackBerry 10 is launched, and according to recent rumors not only is the application store filling up at a surprisingly fast rate, but the new hardware could be on sale in some places by the end of February.

Rumors about who will direct the next Star Wars movie continue to focus on 300 and Watchmen director Zack Snyder, but the latest story claims Snyder will actually make a spin-off from the next trilogy inspired by an Akira Kurosawa classic.

It’s only been three months since Disney announced it’s multi-billion dollar acquisition of the Lucasfilm empire, and there has been no shortage of announcements about the future of Star Wars. Right out the gate, Disney said in plain terms that it planned to make a new Star Wars film every other year starting with a new trilogy to continue the main storyline. That places Star Wars Episode VII, VIII, and IX on a smooth schedule from 2015 to the end of the decade. Core story trilogies are just the beginning, though, as Disney’s also hinted that spin-off films are also in the cards. 300 and Sucker Punch director Zack Snyder may be just the man to make one of these spin-offs.

Vulture reported on Monday that once he’s finished with his Superman feature Man of Steel and sequel 300: Battle of Artemisia, Snyder will being work on a new Star Wars film whose story takes place at the same time as the new trilogy beginning with Episode VII. Snyder’s film will be based loosely on Akira Kurosawa’s seven samurai, with a group of Jedi gathered to protect the defenseless rather than a gang of unshaven but noble Japanese warriors. The inspiration is appropriate considering the original 1977 Star Wars cribbed its entire plot from Kurosawa’s The Fortress.

Snyder’s representation was quick to deny the rumors, much as they were in November when word popped up that Snyder was a frontrunner to direct Star Wars: Episode VII. “While he is super-flattered because he is a huge fan, Zack is not involved in any way with the new Star Wars,” his spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter, “He is currently in post on his two films Man of Steel and 300.”

Vulture in turn said that it stands by its source and noted that when asked for a follow up, Snyder’s spokesperson very pointedly stressed that the director isn’t involved with Star Wars at this exact moment while also refusing to discuss plans past those previously mentioned features.

As Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool notes, this type of blank denial is common for Lucasfilm productions. In 1997, when discussing rumors of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace casting, Lucasfilm said in no uncertain terms that Ewan McGregor would not be playing Obi-Wan Kenobi even though he had already been contracted to do so.

The short version: Just because Snyder’s representation says he isn’t doesn’t mean he isn’t. 

In just over a month, Mobile World Congress 2013 begins, and with it will come an abundance of new smartphone and tablet announcements. Here’s what we’re expecting the major manufacturers to bring with them.

Have you heard of Mobile World Congress? If you’re into gadgets, chances are you Mobile World Congress begins on February 25, and as CES 2013 didn’t provide quite the smartphone overload we hoped for, it’s probably going to be one of the busiest shows for several years. Due to a slightly quieter than usual CES, many of the devices rumored may now turn up at MWC, so let’s compare what we thought was going to happen in Vegas, with what we think will happen in Barcelona.

Samsung

As far as mobile phones are concerned, Samsung didn’t bother announcing any at CES, leaving Verizon to talk about the Ativ Odyssey and merely sending out a press release for the Galaxy S2 Plus. Rumors spread of the Galaxy S4 making its debut in Vegas, but that was almost certainly never going to happen and what’s more, it almost certainly won’t be at Mobile World Congress either.

The Samsung flexible phone did get its moment in the spotlight, but only as a prototype on stage during the company’s keynote presentation. Known as Youm, the device was shown running Windows Phone 8 and not Android as many expected, but it was very much a work-in-progress and won’t go on sale anytime soon.

So, what’s left for MWC? We’re still waiting on a 7-inch Galaxy Note tablet and a 1080p smartphone/tablet hybrid, which were both possible for CES, and they could be joined by the mid-range GT-iS6810 Galaxy Frame and a new version of the dual-SIM Galaxy Young Duos handset. The world’s first Tizen phone could also be at the show, although the rumor suggests if it is announced, it’ll be for Japan only.

LG

LG made no secret of the fact it was waiting for MWC to unveil its 2013 smartphone range, so what can we expect? LG’s VP of marketing said it would be bringing out “tier one” – which means flagship – phones with “various screen sizes” at MWC and throughout 2013.

Whether LG will announce more than one high-end smartphone isn’t clear, but the Optimus G2 is a candidate, as is a tablet/smartphone hybrid with a 5.5-inch, 1080p resolution screen. LG’s fashionable L Series range is due for an update, having been announced at the show last year, and the Korean firm may also re-enter the tablet market.

Nokia

Nokia didn’t announce any new products at CES, so if it has anything in the works, it’s sure to be bringing them to Mobile World Congress. Perhaps the most talked about device Nokia could launch is a Windows RT tablet, the specs of which are said to include a 10-inch screen and a Snapdragon processor. Microsoft needs all the help it can get to push Windows RT, and it would probably welcome a stylish tablet with Nokia’s name attached.

An recent interview with Nokia’s head of imaging technologies may prove to be well-timed, as it revealed it has some “very cool” new PureView camera technology in the works. It’s worth remembering the 808 PureView celebrates its first birthday at the show. As for its Lumia range, it seems a little early for the refreshed 920, codename Catwalk, to be announced, as it’s a model Nokia may save for its own event later this year. CEO Stephen Elop is listed on the official Mobile World Congress site as a confirmed keynote speaker.

Huawei

After Huawei announced the Ascend D2, Ascend Mate, and the Ascend W1 at CES, it would be reasonable to expect the company to give Mobile World Congress a miss; however this isn’t the case at all. A Huawei executive has said it’ll be launching two phones at the Barcelona show, the first being a successor to the Ascend P1 with a thin, metallic chassis.

The second could be the Ascend W2, another Windows Phone 8 device but this time with a higher specification. The W2 has been leaked before and its potential spec list includes a 4.5-inch HD screen, a dual-core processor and an 8-megapixel camera, all wrapped up in a 7.7mm thick body. Additionally, we’re hoping to hear some news on the international release for the Ascend D2 and Mate, as they’re current only slated for China.

Sony

Sony is one of the few companies which had a strong smartphone line-up at CES, however it only really announced one phone, with the Xperia ZL being a variation on the Xperia Z. It’s possible Sony will use Mobile World Congress as a launchpad for the remainder of its 2013 range.

Phones such as the C530X, codename HuaShan and the C550X, codename Dogo, are prime candidates for launch. Both run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and the C550X could be another Sony device powered by a quad-core processor.

ZTE

Like Huawei, ZTE had a good CES 2013 line-up but will also be bringing more phones to Mobile World Congress. While it hasn’t be as explicit as Huawei regarding its plans, another couple of big-screen devices have been rumored, named the ZTE Grand Memo – with a 5.7-inch screen and a quad-core processor – and the Nubia Z7, boasting a massive 6.3-inch screen. The Z7 has some other big numbers attached to it, with talk of a 16-megapixel camera, 4GB of RAM, and a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution. We’ll believe it when we see it.

HTC

As HTC was completely silent for CES, we’re expecting great things from it at MWC. The M7 has been the subject of much speculation over the past weeks, and the new flagship phone – potentially boasting another 5-inch, 1080p resolution screen – is likely to take pride and place at the show. The new phone could be accompanied by the announcement of HTC Sense 5, too.

Last year’s Mobile World Congress saw the introduction of the One X and several of its cheaper siblings, so the M7 could bring with it a selection of other phones as part of a brand-new collection for 2013, as hinted at in an extensive codename leak recently. HTC could also use the show to reveal its new brand identity.

Research in Motion

Mobile World Congress will begin less than a month after RIM officially launches BlackBerry 10, and should the leaked release date prove accurate, it’ll end just as the phones go on sale. The press coverage provided at MWC, plus the chance for attendees to try out the retail devices just ahead of launch, could be seen as critical publicity for RIM at a very important time.

This makes it all the more surprising to read rumors the company won’t be attending the show in any capacity. RIM was there last year, when it had nothing to announce except PlayBook OS 2.0, so for it to shun the show when it actually has something to shout about (and in which many people are interested) is very odd.

At the time of writing, Research in Motion isn’t listed as one of MWC’s confirmed exhibitors on the official event website. There’s also nothing on the company’s own event planner either, but then neither is anything past November 2012, so one can’t take this as confirmation just yet.

All The Rest

Acer, Asus, Fujitsu, and Alcatel should all have new hardware – some of it already seen at CES – on display, while Intel, Qualcomm, and Nvidia will also be there to talk mobile processors. Apple won’t be at the show officially, but members of its staff will undoubtedly be wandering the show floor.

Mobile World Congress begins on February 25 and runs until February 28 in Barcelona, Spain.

Gearbox Software’s latest Borderlands 2 DLC, Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt, caters heavily to endgame play.

With each new downloadable content drop from Gearbox Software for Borderlands 2, it becomes increasingly clear that the dev team wants to evolve the endgame. High-level, co-op-focused Seraph Guardian bosses have been the standard since they were introduced in the first DLC pack, but Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt - the third of four announced story-expanding DLC packs – is the first to actually depend on players having reached the latest stages of the vanilla adventure across Pandora. You can visit the new Hunter’s Grotto location as soon as the pack is installed, but the story that unfolds from there is designed as a sort of epilogue to Handsome Jack’s defeat.

Big Game Hunt starts out, as the title suggests, with a hunting trip that the Vault Hunters set out on with Sir Hammerlock. The journey takes you to the Pandoran continent of Aegrus, an exotic land that Gearbox claims was inspired by King Kong‘s Skull Island. The dark and gloomy environments offer a refreshing change of pace compared to the bright and colorful Borderlands 2 locations that we’ve visited so far. Aegrus is a vast stretch of land, characterized by fog-shrouded skies, imposing cliff faces, and an extensive network of caves and caverns that offer shelter to a diverse mix of indigenous life.

Aegrus is a hostile environment, throwing up a variety of challenges familiar and unfamiliar. Guns tend to be the focus of things in Borderlands, for understandable reasons, but Big Game Hunt takes the commendable step of offering an assortment of new beasties and humanoids to point your arsenal at. The most common of these new enemies are the Aegran savages. Like Bandits, they come in multiple flavors, ranged and melee, regular and Badass (and Super Badass and Ultimate Badass, ‘natch). The savage that you’ll immediately learn to fear the most, however, is the Witch Doctor.

Witch Doctors double as both an offensive powerhouse and a support role. They too, come in different flavors. Paralyzing Witch Doctors are able to slow the movement of nearby Vault Hunters to a crawl. Shock Witch Doctors hit you with lightning. You get the idea. All of them also possess some additional skills, including the ability to summon more savages to the battlefield, to heal themselves and other allies,  and to level up the abilities of any savages on the field. You run into these guys frequently in Big Game Hunt, often more than one at a time, and they always throw up a challenge.

This speaks to the larger focus of the new DLC: offering players who have hit Borderlands 2‘s endgame a stiff challenge outside of the walled-off Seraph Guardian arenas. Enemy spawns in Aegrus are often close enough to one another that you can easily find yourself fighting an unmanageable horde of baddies. Between the savages, the scorpion-like Scaylions, the stalker-meets-bear Boroks, the spider-like Drifters (back from the original Borderlands!), and the assorted familiar creatures from the vanilla game, there’s a whole lot of hideous death waiting to be found, especially after you factor in the new Seraph Guardian (Voracidous the Invincible) and the towering hidden Drifter boss, Decidous the Invincible.

Giving a sense of purpose to this renewed focus on challenging play is a whole new selection of quests. The five-mission central storyline is shorter in length than the two previous DLC stories, though each task you’re given takes more time to complete than your average Borderlands quest. It’s all worth it too, thanks to a memorable (and hilarious!) final boss encounter and an extremely generous treasure room. Most of the sidequests are built around the idea of hunting rare animals, and while many offer cool twists on what could have easily been rote “go here, kill this” exercises, they also suffer from the same lousy checkpointing that plagues the entire game. With few visual indicators pointing out where some animal track or another is, it’s often frustrating to get some of these quests started.

Big Game Hunt also adds a new vehicle in the form of a Fan-Boat, which features a few optional secondary turrets, including the new, short-range flamethrower. The new vehicle isn’t terribly useful in the grand scheme. You’ll invariably end up using it far less than you did the Sand Skiff in the first Captain Scarlett DLC. This is mostly due to the fact that many Aegran locations aren’t actually vehicle-friendly. There’s also the issue of the environment being so deadly that you’ll frequently find yourself stumbling away from the ruins of your freshly destroyed Fan-Boat.

Generally speaking, Gearbox continues to struggle with inserting new mobility options into Borderlands 2 DLC. In Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage, the misstep was introducing a new vehicle – a motorcycle – that players couldn’t actually ride in the drive-friendly environments. In Big Game Hunt it’s an issue of space, much as it was in Captain Scarlett. It’s fun to drive a new vehicle, but between these add-on rides being restricted to DLC locations and the limited amount of road space there is to explore, the Fan-Boat (and its Sand Skiff predecessor) just doesn’t feel like it adds much to the experience. It’s a minor misstep, and one that you get the sense is an aspect of a larger work-in-progress.

Conclusion 

The Borderlands 2 DLC released so far has been solid, if unexceptional, but content like the Seraphs and the upcoming level cap bump suggests that Gearbox is working with the long game in mind. Not every idea works in Big Game Hunt, but it embraces the same sense of experimentation that the previous content offerings did. As the balance shifts more in the direction of the endgame with this third DLC, you can start to get a sense of how the developer hopes to turn your 100 hours of investment into 1,000 hours. Just like the rest of the DLC released so far, this one is 100-percent for the fans. If you want more Borderlands 2, you can get it right here with Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt.

(This DLC was reviewed on the Xbox 360 via a copy provided by the publisher)

Looking to put those freeloading, WiFi pirates out of commission once and for all? Check out our guide to securing your wireless network so you can keep others out and protect your personal data.

Admit it; we’ve all mooched off someone else’s WiFi network at one point or another. However, the world of WiFi isn’t as innocent as we’d like to believe. Connecting to an unsecure wireless network can leave your computer or mobile device susceptible to a plethora of security risks and unwanted activity. Not only that, but unauthorized users can slow your connection down to a crawl, access your private data, or even use the network to perform shady activities that can be traced back to you. While it may seem incredibly complicated (what’s “WPA,” anyway?), securing your wireless network is rather simple. It just takes a bit of standard encryption, limiting access, and password creativity.

We’re here to help you secure your wireless network so you can thwart pesky intruders and protect your oh-so-precious personal data from falling into the wrong hands. We can’t guarantee it’ll keep out the hacking guru down the block – but it’s a start.

The basics

When accessing a wireless connection, you’re typically picking up an Internet connection sent wirelessly from a router or similar device. If unsecured, any computer within range can gain access to this network.  

Most routers can be accessed by entering “192.168.1.1” in your browser’s address bar and typing in a username and password. The defaults do vary from router to router. Check the instructional manual included with your router for the default IP address, username, and password. If unavailable, try looking up the router’s defaults at routerpasswords.com, or cirt.net. Most security options can only be accessed through the router’s administrative console and settings.

Enable encryption

Encryption is one of your first lines of defense when it comes to securing a wireless network. It encodes the data sent wirelessly between your device and the router, essentially scrambling the information and restricting open access. There are two main types of encryption you can use:

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP): Introduced in the late ’90s, WPA was one of the first security algorithms available to help ensure a protected network. Although it may still be an option for older routers and equipment, it has demonstrated numerous flaws over the years, essentially leading to its demise as far as Internet security is concerned. It’s better than nothing, but it’s outdated and fairly easy to crack.

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA & WPA2): Developed as a successor to WEP, WPA and WPA2 are two of the more common advanced security protocols currently used to protect wireless networks. The encryption keys they use change each time a device accesses the network, making it more difficult to hack than WEP. WPA2 is the encryption of choice.

Keep in mind that your device, router, and any other equipment being used must utilize the same encryption to work properly. Your network is only as secure as the least-secure device that’s connected to it. If you have an older router, we suggest replacing it with one that features WPA2 capability. If you’re serious about securing your wireless network, check out our wireless router buying guide for some helpful tips.

Wireless routers are often not set up with the encryption feature enabled and you’ll need to turn it on before choosing your security options. Most manufacturers will include instructions on how to enable security, while others will go a step further and provide a setup wizard that will include security options when you first access the router. If they don’t, check the company’s website for more information.

Choose WPA2 if possible and create a strong password to help ensure limited access. Try a combination of letters and numbers that only you would know. Also, the longer the password, the tougher it will be to crack. Strive for 10 characters or more. Check out our guide to picking strong passwords for more info. 

Change the router defaults

Make sure to change your router’s factory presets (i.e. your admin login and password) to something more secure to prevent any unauthorized users from accessing and changing your router settings. You may also want to change the Service Set Identifier (SSID) name while you’re at it. Most router manufacturers will simply name the SSID after the manufacturer, such as “Linksys,” but it’s a good idea to change the name so others don’t assume you’re using the router’s default username and password as well.  

Turn off SSID broadcasting

The SSID functions as a broadcast message that notifies your presence to any and every device within range of your network. All wireless routers have an option to turn off this broadcast, which hides your network from people who may want to access it. It won’t encrypt your data, but no one will try to access a network they don’t know you have. However, this option is not for everyone as some devices have problems connecting to wireless networks if they don’t broadcast the SSID.

Allow access based on MAC addresses

Every network-enabled device – from desktops to tablets – is equipped with a unique, identifying number called a Machine Access Code (MAC). Most common wireless routers will have an option to filter access solely based on the MAC address, allowing wireless access only to devices you have preapproved and prohibiting all others. Simply add the MAC addresses into your router’s administrative settings to enable the filtering option.

The process for locating the MAC address for a particular device depends on which device you intend to use.

When using Windows, open a command prompt, type cmd, and press the “Enter” key. Then type ipconfig .all and hit “Enter” once again to view a detailed list of your computer’s IP settings. The MAC address will be listed as the “Physical Address,” or the six pairs of alphanumeric characters set apart by dashes.

When using Mac OS X, open the system preferences panel, click the “Network” option, and select “WiFi” from the list in the left-hand column. From there, click the “Advanced” option to see the Mac Address (it will be listed under “Wi-Fi ID”).

Other devices, such as a smartphone or tablet, will take a little more detective work, but you can always refer to the owner’s manual if you are having trouble finding where the information is listed. It is possible to clone a MAC address to fool the router, so limiting access based on MAC addresses should be used along with other security precautions.

Limit DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) allows you to limit the number of IP addresses your router can assign on your wireless network, thus limiting the amount of devices that can connect. This can be done by accessing your router’s administrative setting and updating the number of devices you want to connect (both wired and wireless). A decent hacker could bypass around the security measure, but it will most likely keep the everyday user at bay.

Reduce wireless signal range

It often proves more difficult to access a wireless network that’s not in range. Your router might have fantastic signal strength, but what if you live in an apartment building where other tenants are living just on the other side of the wall? Try limiting your router’s signal range to only a specified area through one or multiple options. It may take a bit of trial and error, depending on the method.

Some routers will give you an option to decrease the transmitting power in the administrative settings. If possible, change the mode of the router to 802.11g instead of higher signal strengths such as 802.11n or 802.11b, or use a separate wireless channel altogether.

More old-school approaches to limiting your wireless signal include placing the router in certain areas of your house, away from windows, under a bed, or in a cupboard. You can also try wrapping foil around the router antennas to better direct the wireless signal, but this can also slow your connection or even boost your signal strength depending on how you do it.

Disable remote administration privileges

Disabling remote administration privileges is a great way to close the door on anyone looking to access your security settings. The option should be located in your router’s administrative settings and requires all security modifications to be changed directly through a wired connection to your router.

Try one or all of these

It’s hard to completely secure a wireless network, but these steps will assure that your wireless signal is better protected. Use a combination (preferably all) of the steps when securing wireless networks, instead of just one or two of the methods. Also, remember that you can always turn off your wireless network when not in use as an extra precaution. Security is not something to slack on.