Jennifer Jolly takes a look the Yellow Jacket smartphone case, which can charge your phone and doubles as a stun gun. Jennifer Jolly, Special for USA TODAY 12:43 a.m. EDT September 8, 2013 The Yellow Jacket.(Photo: Roddy Blelloch, Special for USA TODAY)Story HighlightsYellow Jacket moonlights as a stun gunSelf-defense gadget trend also includes pepper spray cases and moreStun guns are illegal to carry in several statesSHARE 353 CONNECTEMAILMOREI get asked to test out new gadgets all the time. Whether at home or on the go, I'm constantly evaluating whether the latest "must-have" device can actually measure up in real life. Some are genius. Some are ridiculous. And some, like the new Yellow Jacket iPhone case[1], are just plain shocking.A TRULY STUNNING CASEThe Yellow Jacket looks like any other durable, hard-plastic protective case. It can also recharge a quickly draining iPhone battery — adding at least one full re-charge on the go. But what's really interesting … is that the Yellow Jacket moonlights as 650,000-volt stun gun[2].KNOCKS YOU ON YOUR KNEESThat's enough of an electrical shock to drop the average person to their knees in about three seconds. If used correctly, it shouldn't cause any lasting damage, because it has low amps, (less than 1.0 mA). Still, it's a serious weapon. And it hurts like hell.When I tried it for myself, it felt like the most concentrated and intense bee-sting/needle-poke/pincer-pinch that I could ever imagine. Think of a targeted bite from an electric eel that makes all of your muscles involuntarily spasm and renders you totally useless. It's worse than that. On a scale of 1 (paper cut) to 10 (natural childbirth) I would give it a solid 8. I could not hold it to my own arm for more than a second. To a would-be attacker, the element of surprise…

Nancy Blair, USA TODAY 9:43 a.m. EDT September 3, 2013 Nokia's Lumia 925 phone is shown at the flagship store of Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia in Helsinki, Finland.(Photo: Mikko Stig AP)SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft's Labor Day surprise that it is buying Nokia's handset business probably should not come as much of a surprise to those who see Nokia's handsome gadgets as the key to Microsoft's future in the hotly contested market.Nokia powers the Lumia line of smartphones that have helped Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 gain a toehold in the market led by Apple and Google, whose Android operating system dominates worldwide with handsets from a variety of manufacturers.STORY: Microsoft buying Nokia's handset business in $7.2B deal[1]FIRST TAKE: The day/night when tech was turned on its head[2]On the hardware side, it's mostly been Apple and Samsung duking it out of late, with Samsung's wide-ranging Galaxy line gaining fans with its variety of sizes and features.But Microsoft — largely through Nokia's slick handsets — has been creeping up the rankings. In its most recent report, researcher IDC said Windows Phone posted its largest year-over-year increase among the top platforms."Nokia has clearly been the driving force behind the Windows Phone platform and we expect that to continue," IDC's Ryan Reith said at the time.Nokia's handsets helped Microsoft reinforce its standing as the No. 3 smartphone operating system — ahead of struggling BlackBerry, said IDC. But beyond Nokia, most non-Apple smartphone makers remained focused on Android.HTC makes the Windows Phone 8X and Samsung has the Ativ S Neo. But Nokia accounted for 81.6% of all Windows Phone smartphone shipments during the second quarter, according to IDC."Nokia has a highly evolved device design and manufacturing process which will benefit Microsoft greatly," says IDC analyst Al Hilwa. "This is simply the fastest path in front…

LAS VEGAS — In preparation for the most critical season in many years for the video game industry, market leading retailer GameStop called a massive huddle here with 5,000 of its store managers.Their three-day takeover of much of the Venetian and the entirety of the Sands Expo and Convention Center was spent getting the lowdown on new video game systems, the Sony PlayStation 4 (due Nov. 15, $399) and Microsoft Xbox One ($499, also due this November) and upcoming releases such as Skylanders SWAP Force (out Oct. 13) and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Oct. 29).In addition to test-driving the new game consoles, the employees attended three days of training sessions where game company representatives broke down the features of their new products. This was the 20th annual GameStop Expo, but only the second at which some of the retailer's most enthusiastic customers were also in attendance to get hands-on with the new systems and games."This is a huddle right before the kickoff," says GameStop president Tony Bartel. "We have everybody together and they are jazzed up."GameStop[1] and the rest of the video game industry are jazzed to reboot the business. In video game years, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are ancient — nearly seven and eight years old. And the arrival of Nintendo's Wii U last November wasn't enough to end a streak of nine straight quarters of declining store sales for GameStop and the industry as a whole.The new PS4 and Xbox One, with improved computing power, are expected to kick-start the console gaming category, which has ceded attention to mobile gaming. "As an industry, maybe you could fault us for not moving fast enough," Bartel says, "but now that that innovation is back I think what you are going to see is people gravitate back into…