How to Make Your PC Restart Automatically After a Power Outage

It's a rare office indeed that doesn't suffer power outages from time to time -- w

eather-related or otherwise -- but such events don't have to be as disruptive as they once were. Enter the trusty uninterruptible power supply, which today can not only shut your computers down safely, they can also start them back up again once power has returned. Mother Nature: 0; Tech: 1.

The 2013 Atlantic hurricane season is quietly underway. Kit is available, however, that can help mitigate potential office disruption as weather ramps up.

Uninterruptible power supplies are sophisticated battery-containing devices that supply backup power to desktop PCs during grid electricity outages, like in storms. You can pick up a UPS at office supply retailers, among other places. They're great to have because the battery lets you keep working during short outages, and they let you shut down a desktop computer normally in the event of a longer outage without losing data.

Cortana: Windows Phone's Answer to Siri?

Apple's iPhone has Siri and Android has Google Now, but it looks like Microsoft is developing its own counterpart: a virtual assistant based on the Halocharacter "Cort

ana." In fact, "she has the potential to be a star for Microsoft," said analyst Rob Enderle. "Xbox is Microsoft's strongest platform and Halo is the strongest brand, with Cortana being the cutest character."

For players of Microsoft's Halo video game series, the computer AI character known as "Cortana" can do much more than just provide directions and plot advances in the game. Soon, however, Cortana could become part of Windows Phone users' real lives as well.

PanicGuard: Nice Idea but Not Ready for Prime Time

One major part of the app is that you're supposed to be able to track a phone's location if it's lost or stolen. I tested this feature and requested tracking data for my 

mocked-up lost phone through the website, but I didn't receive any tracking event notifications, even though the website dashboard knew the phone was lost and I had a data connection.

PanicGuard is available for free in the Google Play store.

Here's an app that should bring peace of mind to any late-night solo worker, exerciser or neighborhood watch patroller.

It's an ingenious combination of personal alarm, tracker and alert creator that uses sensor and other components included in the average smartphone, such as the speaker, to sound an alarm. The GPS and other location services are used for tracking; the video camera is key for capturing the bad guy swiping the phone; and a data connection serves to communicate the alert.

All that is instigated by a shake of the device, which is understood by the phone's accelerometer and gyroscope.

Huawei Blasts US for Illegal NSA Spying

Today in international tech news: Huawei is disturbed about reports that the NSA spied on it; a notorious online critic is arrested in China; a hacker nabs personal details for 2 million Vodafone Germany users; and NASA confirms that the Voyager 1 has reached interstellar space.

Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei is taking a PR victory lap following reports suggesting that the National Security Agency spied on the company.

Earlier this week, Brazilian TV network Globo revealed a raft of documents that purportedly came from Edward Snowden. The files implicate the NSA, along with its British snooping ally, GCHQ, in spying on numerous targets, including a Saudi bank, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Huawei -- the same Huawei that was vilified last year by Congress and deemed a security threat because it might do something sinister like spy.

Huawei released a statement saying that it was "very disturbed" that the NSA attempted to worm its way into its networks and information. Huawei added that it "utterly object[s] to such illegal practices."