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RSA SecureID dongles add a layer of protection to everything from office pilates class schedules to corporate email accounts, with banks, tech companies, and even U.S. defense contractors using hardware security tokens to protect their networks. Following a breach at RSA in March, however, the company urged clients to boost other security methods, such as passwords and PIN codes, theoretically protecting networks from hackers that may have gained the ability to duplicate those critical SecureIDs. Now, Lockheed Martin is claiming that its network has come under attack, prompting RSA to issue 90,000 replacement tokens to Lockheed employees. The DoD contractor isn't detailing what data hackers may have accessed, but a SecureID bypass should clearly be taken very seriously, especially when that little keychain dongle is helping to protect our national security. If last month's Sony breachdidn't already convince you to beef up your own computer security, ...

United States Marines are among the best-equipped soldiers on the planet, but more gadgets mean extra batteries to haul, adding dozens of pounds on extended missions. Troops in Afghanistan recently put that hot Middle Eastern sun to use, swapping spare batteries for placemat-size solar panels on a three-week patrol. Batts were replaced with extra bullets, so the soldiers didn't get off easy, but they were also able to reduce generator usage, making a significant dent in fuel consumption. It will be several years before all soldiers charge their radios, night vision goggles, and GPS devices using the sun, but the Marine Corps hopes to cut fuel use in half by 2025, so it's only a matter of time before solar-powered gadgets have a more permanent home on the battlefield.  Sha-zam! Wall Street Journal National Defense Magazine

It might look like a poor man's game of Pong now, but a new laser steering system coming out of North Carolina State University could make blowing things up  Star Wars -style cheaper and more efficient. The setup enlists a series of "polarization gratings" through which a laser beam passes. Each of these gratings, made of liquid crystal applied to a plate of glass, are configured to redirect the light in a particular direction, thus simply steering the laser beam without significantly decreasing its power -- with each grating comes a new "steerable" angle. The system's creators point out its not only hyper accurate, but also less expensive than existing arrangements due to the use of liquid crystal. Apparently the US Air Force is already using the stuff, but don't expect them to go all Death Star anytime soon. North Carolina State University