external

When you absolutely need to make sure your main squeeze -- your smartphone or tablet, that is -- can stay powered when away from a wall outlet, a seemingly never-ending number of external battery options exist.

Few of the chargers, however, look as sleek as the half-inch thick Sony CycleEnergy external battery announced today, featuring lithium ion flavors in either 3,500 or 7,000mAh capacities. The slim aluminum frame weighs up to 6.9 ounces and sports a design that probably makes it easy to bundle along with a phone. … Read more

You know the old saying: you can never be too rich or too thin, or have too much battery power for your Android phone.

If you're forever running low on juice, you've probably thought about packing along a spare battery -- but that's a hassle. Not only do you need a way to keep it charged, you also need a convenient place to stow it.… Read more

Generally, the term "hard-core" and external hard drives don't go together. This is because external, portable hard drives are probably the most popular and casual type of consumer storage.

But some of them can get really serious, too.

These are external storage devices that are not just fast or rugged, but also are likely to make you think before purchasing due to their cost. In other words, they are not for everyone, but only those who have the need for them and can appreciate their value.

If you are one of these people, the following five drives are totally worth the investment.… Read more

External hard drives are great for storing photos, music, videos, and backup files. Not only can they can be used with a PC, but also with media devices to add streaming storage, and with Wi-Fi routers as cheap NAS solutions.

Off-the-shelf external hard drives often contain mystery drives inside and the enclosures aren't meant to be reused. Building your own external hard drive can sometimes be a cheaper, more flexible solution. And if you already have an old internal hard drive lying around, you can turn it into a cool external drive, for as little as $10.

As regular Cheapskate readers know, flash-drive prices have plummeted in recent months. But hard-drive prices? They've been very slow to return to where they were a year ago.

Consequently, I'm liking this deal from Staples: the Seagate GoFlex Desk 1.5-terabyte USB hard drive for $79.99 shipped (plus sales tax in most states). Note that you may have to choose the drive from the drop-down menu on the right side of the product page.

Though it looks fairly sizable in the photos, the black, monolithic GoFlex stands a mere 6.2 inches tall and measures 1.7 … Read more

Not happy with the audio coming from your laptop? No surprise there -- it's fairly miraculous that manufacturers manage to squeeze in speakers at all.

And yet many folks use their laptops as media centers in dens and bedrooms. So how can you get more aural enjoyment from your games, movies, and music?

Simple: add a sound bar. Even an inexpensive one should offer a huge improvement over the tiny, tinny speakers built into your system. If nothing else, it projects the sound forward instead of down, out, or up (depending on where the internal speakers are mounted).

Today … Read more

When you think of a portable storage device, you think of something that can be plugged into a computer's port to provide extra storage space. Well, that's true for the most part, but some can offer more, such as really fast speeds, a lot of storage, a convenient backup solution, or a built-in mobile media server that works even when not plugged in.

Here are the best portable drives currently on the market and they collectively offer all the goodies mentioned above, as well as something I personally find important: sexiness. They are sorted in the order in … Read more

When it comes to storage, you definitely don't want to risk getting stuck with a lemon. That's because, unlike other commodities like a car or a TV, when a storage device breaks down, chances are you lose a lot more than just the drive itself. It's a painful experience to see your invaluable data vanish. Take my word for it on this.

But you likely don't want to spend too much, either, and want your storage device to be easily accessible, especially on the go since there's not much use for your data if it always has to stay at home.

Bearing that in mind, compact and portable external hard drives are arguably the most popular form of storage. They have room to hold lots of data, often more than your laptop or ultrabook can, without being big or heavy. Following is the list of the top five portable USB 3.0-based drives that are the best among their peers, offering great performance, large storage space, compact design, and sometimes even the kind of toughness that will withstand drops and submersion in water. Most importantly, you can easily find them for less than $100. Have more to spend? You can get larger capacities that cost more.

Note that these drives also work with USB 2.0 (MacBook Air owners, you're included here) and they are all bus-powered, so you don't need a separate power adapter to use them.… Read more

Greetings from 34,000 feet! Even while hurtling through the sky, I'm on the lookout for cheap deals. (They're easier to spot from up here.) Isn't technology amazing?

USB 3.0 is finally starting to take hold, with at least one compatible port appearing on the latest laptops and desktops. Of course, that high-speed interface is no good if you don't have devices that can take advantage of it.

Like this one: for a limited time, and while supplies last, Dell Home has the 1-terabyte Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex USB 3.0 external hard drive for $82.99 shipped. … Read more