For $20, this moisture-absorbing bag of magic beads claims to be 700 percent more effective than rice, and faster than silica gel (which is what some other device-drying products use). All you do is remove your device's battery (if possible), drop the gadget in the bag, seal it up, then go to bed. When you wake up, your device should emerge dry as a bone--and, with luck, fully functional. (There are no guarantees, but water doesn't always mean a death sentence for small electronics. Once the moisture is gone, it should perk right up again.)

I haven't tried a Bheestie Bag myself, as I've managed to keep my phones and other gadgets from taking unintended swims. But (where the Bheestie sells for $18) are extremely favorable.

The catch, of course, is that you really need to buy one in advance, keeping it on hand just in case of water damage. Still, if you're the accident-prone type, you might be better off spending $20 now than hundreds later to replace your device.

Reader Fred wants to know if a laptop hard drive can be plugged into a desktop PC. "The pin out appears to be the same," he notes, "but there is no separate power-supply connector."