Water and electronics: Enemies no more
Forever trying to protect my gadgets from the perils of even a few drops of water, it sure did feel devilishly delicious to dump an entire bottle of water onto a perfectly working laptop. Normally, that'd be curtains on your hardware, and forget about retrieving any software. But not this laptop.
Treated with Northeast Maritime Institute's special Golden Shellback clear coating, this guy emerged fine and functioning. The liquid dripped right out of the keyboard like water off a duck's back. (Watch the video to the right to see how it works.)
The folks associated with the technology couldn't tell us much about the protective substance or how it's applied, since they're still in the secretive developmental stages. Nonetheless, they expect the waterproofing service to be available to the public in the next six months. Estimated prices are 1,000 bucks for a laptop and a few hundred dollars for a phone or MP3 player.
This kind of protection makes a lot of sense. Asking consumers to pay that kind of money, however, seems a bit outrageous. If you have a habit of dropping your cell phone in the toilet or running in the rain with your iPod, then maybe this service is for you. But for the rest of us who have come to treat our technology as disposable, that's an awful lot of money for a gadget that will most like be replaced in a few years.
The answer comes down to manufacturers. They want you to replace your gear on a more regular basis, but imagine the day when this type of protective coating comes standard with any purchase. That'd be just as refreshing as a tall glass of water (that you could promptly drop on your laptop).
Kara is a video reporter for CNET News. She brings her years of broadcast experience and shrewd reporting skills to the CNET TV team. No technology angle is too small or obscure to explore, from major industry news to technology trends to newsmaker interviews. E-mail Kara. 
Smart Roadsters are very susceptible to water ingress, and one of the common leaks is direct over the SAM - basically the car's computer brain gets wet. Now that is not good as without the main signal acquisition and control module the car's going nowhere. Even worse when it malfunctions all kinds of things happen, lights turn on and off at random, doors unlock...
So a conformal coating like this over the entire workings of a SAM unit might save me from a repeat of my $800 bill for the replacement SAM unit in a few years time.
Of course they could have designed the car so it didn't leak like a sieve, but I'll settle for dismantling my brand new unit and waterproofing it before fitting it to the car.
I need it in three weeks when the new SAM arrives from Germany ...