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iPhone 12 drop test confirms the new screen helps durability, to an extent
An iPhone 12 drop test has revealed that the Ceramic Shield really does work, although you won't want to rely too heavily on it.
New York City wants to track your car to save you time and money
Insurance outfits have been eager to track cars in the name of lower costs and driver safety, but it looks like even major urban centers are getting in on the action. New York City is launching a Drive Smart test program that will have 400 drivers install an OBD-II tracking device in return for a range of perks. If you get in, you'll get tips on fuel efficiency, route planning and safety based on your driving habits. You'll also receive up to a 30 percent discount on Allstate insurance if you're sufficiently cautious. Ideally, this will save both you and NYC some money, not to mention a lot of frustration -- you won't add to the city's notorious traffic congestion.
Simulator warns students of dangers of texting while driving
There are a number of activities you shouldn't perform while operating a motor vehicle, like talking on your cell phone, or eating, or reading Joystiq (seriously, dude, put that smartphone down). The UMass Memorial Medical Center and the Allstate Foundation recently teamed up to create a driving simulator designed to warn high schoolers about a common travel distraction: Sending and receiving text messages. Not only does the D.R.I.V.E (Distracted Reality an Interactive Virtual Education) program challenge participants with sending a text message while navigating a virtual road, it also puts them in the perspective of the victim of the ensuing crash, and places them in a virtual court to receive penalties recently instated in real-world Massachusetts. Sure, some of the rhetoric from the program's organizers is shmaltzy ("in real life, there is no game over"), but it's certainly a topic worth educating new drivers about.
MINI Roadside Assistance can get you and your MINI out of trouble spots
Our colleague, Sam Abuelsamid, at Autoblog has pointed out the release of a roadside assistance app from automaker MINI. The app, MINI Roadside Assistance [iTunes link], is a collaboration between the automaker and insurance company Allstate and allows one to access roadside assistance as well as the specify its causeSo, say you're driving your MINI to Las Vegas for your buddy's bachelor party. During the drive, your car overheats; it's 120 degrees and you forgot were too lazy to check the coolant before you left, what'd you expect to happen? Well, no need to worry -- roadside assistance is just a few taps away with MINI Roadside Assistance. MINI Roadside Assistance is available as a free download. MINI Cooper not included. More info and a demo video are available at Sam's article.
Insure your iPhone, because AT&T won't
Since I've owned a variety of regular mobile phones and smartphones over the last couple of years, I wasn't surprised to see fine print during the iPhone activation process which warns users that AT&T won't offer their insurance policy on Apple's darling new gadget. I've been on nearly every major mobile phone network in the US - Cingular, T-Mobile (and VoiceStream), Verizon and Sprint - and not one of them covered smartphones with their policies. In fact, if you were upgrading an existing AT&T account and swapping out your old phone that had an AT&T insurance policy on it, you too were warned that the policy would be automatically removed from your account. Gee, you'd think these companies don't trust us with small, easy-to-drop expensive electronics. Who knew?To help remedy this lack of a contingency plan for the iPhone, I decided to call a few insurance companies in the Colorado area to see if they could cover it. What many people might not know is that these companies typically cover electronics like mobile phones and even notebook computers, often at prices far cheaper than extended warranty plans from manufacturers and retail stores. While I'm not entirely familiar with how fast actin' or comprehensive this kind of coverage is from every provider, I do know that mine - State Farm - will cover both hardware failure and accidental damage (though accidental damage will cause my premiums to increase, while an incident like theft will not).Back to getting coverage for your shiny new phone, however, the summarized rundown I got from calling three of the big general insurance providers (Allstate, Geico and State Farm) is that attaching a clause to a renter or homeowner insurance policy specifically for covering an iPhone would add only $5-20/year to a policy. Keep in mind these were estimates based on a $600 iPhone, and it appears that you can't simply ask these guys to insure a phone; you need to have some kind of a primary policy with them first, then attach this specific clause. Surprisingly, every representative I spoke with knew exactly what an iPhone was, and a couple of them asked me whether I was happy with mine.As far as coverage through companies like specialized electronics or computer insurance providers is concerned, I had a much harder time finding anything substantial. Most of the companies I spoke with didn't have policies in place, and only Safeware confirmed that they were "seriously considering" introducing iPhone coverage. They do, however, cover other smartphones, and a quote for a BlackBerry Curve (a $400 smartphone) was $65 for a year, covering accidental damage, loss and theft. A downside, however, is that repairs for damage have a turnaround time of 7-10 days, with no loaner options available. If being without a phone is a primary concern, the loner option included in AppleCare for iPhone might be a good 'plan b' to consider in combination with one of these insurance policies.Ultimately it's a good thing to at least have insurance options in addition to AppleCare, since Apple doesn't cover any sort of accidental damage. Since insuring an iPhone through one of the larger companies seems to be so cheap, it's basically a no-brainer to pick up at least some kind of a policy. If y'all have other ideas or options for insuring your shiny new iPhone, please enlighten the rest of the class with a comment.