Yesterday, the potentially destructive Taal Volcano in the Philippines erupted after almost 20 years of inactivity. The eruption belched out steam, rocks, and other volcanic materials. Most importantly, it belched out ash, which caused ashfalls as far as 100 kilometers from the volcano.

Volcanic ash impacts and disrupts society as a whole. It doesn’t only pose a threat to our health, but it also presents risks to our gadgets. Since they are less than 2-4 millimeters in diameter, they block openings, limit functionality, and even corrode our devices.

Needless to say, you need to look out for you and your family’s safety first. Afterwards, you can think about your other belongings like your gadgets and appliances.

To ensure the best proper care for your gadgets against volcanic ash, we came up with three tips that you can follow. Remember, an ounce of protection for your devices is better than a pound of expensive repairs.

1) Avoid direct exposure

Avoid exposing gadgets to volcanic ash as much as possible. Soon after a volcanic eruption, be cautious of any ashfall alert. If ash begins to fall in your area, relocate any gadgets indoors

When outdoors, place gadgets in the safety of a bag or cover them if necessary. Limit the use of phones or tablets, especially when it is raining ash hard.

2) Seal off any sensitive gadgets

Some of our gadgets are sensitive to dust particles. Since ash is comparable to these dust particles, they can enter our devices and cause problems if left unchecked. One of these problems is electronic short-circuit.

It is proven that ash can contaminate insulators in power lines, causing flashovers and triggering a short-circuit. Plus, ash can corrode equipment in the long term.

Sensitive gadgets are susceptible to these damages also. Seal them off during an ashfall to prevent ash from reaching critical components. Some sensitive gadgets that you need to seal off during an ashfall are generators, power supplies, servers, and the like.

If you can’t seal these sensitive gadgets, then it is recommended to shut down them.

3) Clean any opening in your gadgets

Last but not the least, you should clean any openings in your gadgets before, during, and after an ashfall. Ash accumulates around the openings of our gadgets, including laptops and smartphones. The tiny particles present in the ash can block the openings of some gadgets, preventing them from cooling down. As such, these particles limit the functionality of these gadgets.

Cleaning the openings is simple but goes a long way in ensuring proper care. A can of compressed air will do the trick, as do a soft brush.

However, do not excessively rub ash-covered surfaces as tiny particles present can scratch or cause static discharge, which is harmful to our gadgets.

These three tips will go on a long way to ensuring that our gadgets function properly, even in an ashfall event. As with any hazards, take necessary precautions when operating gadgets to avoid hazards. Remember, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

In an effort to take the hassle out of the whole process, Razer has taken to CES 2020 to announce the Razer Tomahawk Gaming Desktop — a compact PC gaming solution that makes it easy to slot in upgradeable components without tools.

Utilizing Intel’s NUC 9 Extreme Compute Element — which is essentially a system-on-a-card that’s powered by 9th-gen Intel Core H-Series processors — the Razer Tomahawk N1 chassis can be opened from the rear, with a lock-and-slide mechanism allowing for easy access to the case’s internals.

“A perfect fit for the Intel NUC 9 Extreme Compute Element, the Razer Tomahawk N1 is a sleek, compact desktop chassis with an advanced modular layout, infusing Razer’s minimalistic design language into a gaming chassis to create a one-of-a-kind desktop case, capable of achieving high clock speeds and framerates without the bulk of a full-sized desktop,” Razer explains.

It will also be available as a standalone product with support for up to a Core i9 processor, 64GB of RAM, and a GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics card. The RAM, the SSD modules, the fans, the Intel NUC, and the GPU are all “upgradeable” as a good DIY construct gaming PC should be.

The Razer Tomahawk N1 case “will be available as a standalone product” as well. Users will be able to configure and purchase Razer’s Tomahawk Gaming Desktop sometime in the first half of 2020.

TheRazer Sila 5G Home Router

It’s a high-speed networking device that both automatically prioritizes bandwidth for gaming and streaming, and also lets users choose which devices on the network get more or less juice.

At CES 2020, the company is showing off a concept for a 5G version of that router, the Sila 5G, which would rely on a wireless 5G connection as the source of your internet rather than conventional cable. Razer Sila 5G is currently just a concept rather than something to buy now.

MSI is highlighting a new gaming desktop and curved gaming monitor as part of its CES 2020 showcase.

The MEG Aegis Ti5 is configured with the latest 9th-generation Intel Core CPUs with Nvidia’s ‘Turing’ architecture-powered GeForce RTX GPUs, which support real-time ray-tracing for new levels of immersive lighting in games.

The Aegis features support for up to the GeForce RTX 2080Ti, 128GB of DDR4 RAM, multi-terabyte high-speed NVMe SSDs, and is equipped with a 650-watt power supply.

MSI’s gaming desktop uses an intuitive knob positioned on the front center of the PC case, dubbed the ‘Gaming Dial’. With a quick spin of the dial, users can adjust and monitor various system stats – while real-time monitoring the parameters on the front-mounted OLED display.

The MSI Optix MAG342CQR will be one of the curviest gaming monitors ever, and the MSI Optix MEG381CQR has a bonus OLED screen on its bottom bezel.

With two screens for the price of one, this could almost be considered a bargain. MSI said that its MEG381CQR will be the first gaming monitor to use a human-machine interface (HMI), which is defined as a UI connecting the user to a device and allowing the interaction to flow between the two.

MSI revealed an equally curvy display in the form of its MAG342CQR. That curvature is deeper than that of any other curved gaming monitor available out in the market now.

The price and availability details of the new MSI products will be announced this week.