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In step with efforts by national lawmakers to ban employers from demanding workers' Facebook passwords, California today made a major move toward passing its own version of such legislation.

AB 1844 passed the state assembly unanimously by a 73-0 vote and now heads to the state senate. The bill, first introduced to the California State Assembly in February, would prohibit employers from requiring an employee or prospective employee to provide their username and password for Facebook, Twitter, or other social-media accounts. Assemblymember Nora Campos (D-San Jose), who authored the bill, calls AB 1844 a "preemptive measure" that will offer guidelines to the accessibility of private information behind what she calls the "social media wall." … Read more

You have heard gear heads brag about their car's horsepower, handling, and modifications, but when was the last time you've heard anyone brag about their new whip's crash-worthiness?

This week, we'll be taking a look at the unsung heroes of the automotive industry. Some of this hardware could save your life in the event of a crash, while other elements are there to keep you from dinging up your paint job in the first place. That's right. This week, I'll be explaining passenger safety tech.

Seat belts and SRS: Supplemental restraint system

Seat belts are the oldest bit of passenger safety tech and are basically fabric straps that keep you from bouncing around the cabin in the event of an accident. In the earliest days of motoring, you got a two-point lap belt and padded dashboard, but in the 80s, we saw widespread use of three-point safety belts for all passengers.

Working in tandem with the modern seat-belt system is the "supplemental restraint system," which is basically a technical term for airbags. In the beginning, only the front passengers got airbags--usually located in the steering wheel and dashboard. Modern airbags are triggered by sensors in the car that measure vehicle deceleration. When a car runs into something, it decelerates at a terrific rate, triggering the system's deployment. Gasses from a small chemical explosion are captured by the nylon fabric airbag, creating a cushion of air in as little as 8/100ths of a second. I can tell you from experience that the airbag slap stings, but it's definitely softer than the steering wheel.… Read more

AB Invoice is a free tool for generating invoices. It can compute various taxes, including VAT, and can print invoices in any language you can configure. It's modular, so it can grow and change with your business. While AB Invoice is freeware, the add-on modules typically aren't free, though you can try many of them in free demo versions.

Setting up AB Invoice involves entering your company data and logo into a wizardlike dialog that you can access at any time from the System menu. From this menu we could also access the Program setup, Language setup, and … Read more

Amazon has spent a lot of time marketing the Kindle's bookish attributes, so you probably wouldn't immediately associate it with being an exercise tool. But along with an increasing number of games that continue to hit the Kindle Store, other types of interactive e-ink titles, including Anywhere Abs, "a workout partner on Kindle," are showing up.

Nickel Buddy, the developer of the tool, says Anywhere Abs will "guide you step by step through an exercise routine to strengthen your core. The exercises don't require any special equipment and can be performed anywhere there is … Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Google hosted a packed house of clean-tech industry fans Tuesday morning at the Googleplex in what amounted to a pep rally against a California ballot proposition that would suspend a law on emissions.

In the time-honored California tradition of stuffing electoral ballots with as many controversial issues as possible, this November voters will be asked to consider Proposition 23 (click for PDF), which if approved would block a previously passed law--AB32--regulating emissions in California until unemployment levels drop below 5.5 percent for a full year. AB32 essentially requires that California emission levels match the … Read more

Most amplifiers and receivers generate a lot of heat, and in the summertime, who needs that? Worse yet, the heat they generate is "wasted" energy, meaning it's the energy not being used to drive speakers and make sound. In fact, the majority of the AC power most amps consume is turned into heat. Green, they are not! For this blog I checked out two cool-running amps: Bel Canto's REF500S ($2,495) for my audiophile readers, and the Dayton DTA-100 ($100) amp for everybody else.

Class D amplifiers are different by design, and significantly more efficient, so they run a lot cooler than conventional Class AB amplifier designs. Class D amps are available in every price range, from under $50 all the way up to high-end, megabuck extravaganzas. Class-D-powered receivers are also available, and while they're frequently referred to as digital amplifiers, Class D amps are controlled by either analog or digital circuits.

But Class D is no panacea; most of the Class D amps I've heard sound bland; they're not awful, just boring. However, the best ones can be pretty amazing.

The Bel Canto e.One Series REF500S Dual Mono (stereo) amplifier is definitely in the latter category. For such a little thing (8.5 by 3.5 by 12 inches), the REF500S is seriously powerful, it can deliver 250 watts into 8 ohm speakers; 500 watts into 4-ohm-rated speakers. Bel Canto doesn't specifically refer to the REF500S as a Class D amp, but its low-heat, ultraefficient, heavily regulated switch-mode power supply and switching output stage use a minimum of AC power.

The REF500S sounds stellar on my Magnepan MG 3.6/R speakers, which is one of the toughest speakers to drive well. … Read more

Some years ago, a friend of mine dropped my compact into the sea and all I could do was watch my poor camera sink into the embrace of Davy Jones' locker. Sometimes, that memory prompts strange thoughts of falling into the sea with a camera, and then wondering if I would have enough time to throw my point-and-shoot back onto land before it suffered a dunking with me.

When I stumbled on the Kata ABS-HD Air Bag system, I knew this was one indispensable piece of carrying gear that any adventurer/photographer ought to own. When deflated, the case is … Read more

In yesterday's video blog, we all got a brief glimpse into the impact good winter-specific tires can make when driving on snow and ice. Today's video from Michelin goes into deeper detail on how good winter tires and proper braking techniques can keep you safer when driving on winter weathered roads.

This demonstration video covers comparisons of braking distance between different tire types, emergency or threshold braking techniques, the difference in braking with ABS, cornering, and everything in between. Once again, even if you think you know everything about how to drive your car in the snow, there … Read more

Although the worst seems to be over, many of us across the country are still digging out of "Snowmageddon" and having to deal with nasty winter driving conditions. And although showing this video to you kinda makes me feel like an old-fart driver's ed instructor, I feel it is my social responsibility to present this Web clip from Cars.com for those of us not fortunate enough to know about and/or possess an automobile with these features. So here we go with today's vid, which will tell us all about winter driving safety technology for … Read more