“The self-defense seminars that I teach are all weapons-based,” White said. “Because I do believe, even after all this time doing martial arts, that the empty-hands stuff, it’s effective but it takes time to distill. And it’s not always going to work out for you on the street. I always promote somebody leveling the playing field by getting something in their hand.”

White’s doorstop advice isn’t a suggestion to bring down assailants by smacking them with rubber wedges. It’s about prevention, and it’s proof that your self-defense tools don’t need to be high-tech to get the job done (though a little electricity certainly helps).

We asked White to break down the best gadgets to have in your bag, pocket or hand when walking alone down a dark alley, and he had plenty of suggestions. He also had a story for every situation.

S-s-s-state-breaker

One night years ago, White found himself in a teachable moment.

“I broke up a fight,” he said. “It was a melee, really. It was about 30 people. It was bikers and punk rock kids. It was back in the day.”

Instead of diving in, fists flailing, White wanted to defuse the situation with whatever he had on hand. In this case, it was a bamboo fan.

“One of the weapons we use in Chinese kung fu is a fan,” he said, “and people don’t realize when you really pop it open, it’s loud. It’s really close to the sound of a gunshot.”

So, White pulled out his fan and made his move.

“These guys were pounding the shit out of each other,” he said. “And when you take the fan and pop it, you go like pop-pop-pop-pop-pop five times quick, what actually occurs there mentally is it’s a state-breaker. And that’s what happened. Every single person just stopped. They were still holding each other mid-punch and just looked, and everyone went from anger to what the?”

State-breakers come in myriad forms, from jarring sounds to bright lights, but they essentially cover anything that shocks an attacker into temporary confusion, pausing the assault and providing a window to escape or fight back. White doesn’t recommend everyday folks carry fans in their back pockets, but there are plenty of tools on the market designed with state-breaking in mind. For instance, there’s the BASU eAlarm+ ($25), a gadget that emits a loud sound when the top pin is pulled. It looks like a USB device and it’s small enough to fit on a keychain, but when activated it emits an alarm at 130 decibels, a noise level comparable with standing 50 feet away from a military jet, complete with afterburner, as it takes off from an aircraft carrier.

“It’s not so much the gadget as what the application is,” White said. “Like the flashlight, just blinding somebody with a flashlight for a second is a state-breaker.”

A flashlight is one of White’s go-to personal defense tools. Not only can one temporarily blind someone, but many are heavy and sturdy enough to also be used in a physical altercation.

“A really good flashlight, it’s not obvious, but when you look on the end of the bezel, which is where the light comes out, they have these crenellated striking edges on them,” White said. “And they’re so underrated as a self-defense tool because you can hit with it, but you don’t even really have to. You can press it into somebody’s clavicle and they’ll just wilt under it.”

Some flashlights are built specifically for self-defense purposes, with exaggerated bezels and textured grips. The SureFire Defender Ultra ($179) is an LED tactical light designed for fighting, with an aluminum body and Mil-Spec hard-anodized coating. It’s small enough to fit in a pocket and strike with one hand. It’s also a powerful flashlight, of course.

“Obviously with a flashlight you can blind them, but in general just illuminating your path and seeing what you’re coming up against — it’s just good practice to have a flashlight,” White said.

Stunna tech

The Venn diagram of “tech gadgets” and “self-defense weapons” has one giant, all-caps word at the heart of its intersection: TASER.

“I can only recommend what I know is going to work for people, and when it comes to using self-defense tools, the obvious one when it comes to tech, to me, is the taser,” White said, “which is a great option.”

He took a few seconds to talk through that last statement before adding, “Where they are allowed, a taser is a good option.”

Tasers may be the ultimate self-defense tool, but they come with a handful of limitations. First, here’s how they work: Pulling the trigger expels two tiny electrified probes that stay connected to the weapon via conductive wire measuring up to 15 feet in commercial models. The darts in newer iterations are designed to puncture thick layers of clothing and stay embedded in the skin once they make contact, firing electrical pulses into a person and resulting in neuromuscular incapacitation — the loss of control of their muscles.

Tasers are high-reward and also high-risk. They’re effective when wielded properly, but they can be extremely dangerous, even lethal, for anyone who hasn’t studied up and practiced using one. Tasers are more expensive than many other self-defense tools, and they’re not legal for civilian use in every state.

But if you can get a taser and invest time in training, it’s the number one option for personal self-defense. The Pulse+ ($450) is the latest model from TASER, the company and proprietary eponym. It’s equipped to work in the Information Age — the Pulse+ pairs with the Noonlight app, which can alert authorities the second your weapon is fired, using your phone’s GPS to track your location. That service costs $9.99 a month.

“There’s a lot of training involved,” White said. “They’re not cheap. But that’s kind of the ultimate, I would say, gadget. …I teach more locally in the northeast, and again, it’s just not an option because you can’t carry one.”

Which brings us to the final scenario: weapons you can bring nearly anywhere.

Writing and wet-weather weaponry

White’s next recommendation sounds like something out of Spy Kids.

“When I travel internationally,” he said, “I usually have what’s called an Unbreakable Umbrella.”

Unbreakable Umbrellas come from NTOI, and the walking-stick model that White favors runs $129.95. On top of functioning as a perfectly fine umbrella, an Unbreakable is light, weighing just over one pound. It still “whacks just as strong as a steel pipe,” according to NTOI, and it’s legal to carry everywhere.

“It’s really cool,” White said. “Just a super sturdy umbrella with a metal rod all the way down the center, and it’s got a crook on it like a cane does. And, because it’s an umbrella, it really comes in under the radar.”

Another everyday item that works well as a defense tool is the tactical pen. This one is a little trickier, when it comes to airplanes — the Transportation Security Administration considers tactical pens to be weapons, and therefore they’re banned from flights. However, many models are sleek enough that they simply look like high-quality or extra-rugged writing devices, meaning they can be carried into most scenarios without raising alarm.

Take the ISBOSI Tactical Pen ($39.95), for example. It’s a large, stainless-steel device with a knob on the back and an extra-long, extra-pointy tip, but it’s still immediately recognizable as a pen, not a weapon.

Proper training

An unspoken refrain runs beneath all of White’s advice: Practice. Practice. Practice. He teaches self-defense classes and highly recommends them to anyone curious about personal-security gadgets. Even with all of the fighting and defense styles at a student’s disposal, White said some of the most powerful moments in his lessons aren’t physical at all. They occur when a student actually gets their hands on a tool, and suddenly recognizes their personal limits of violence and security.

“These tech items are part of the recommended self-defense spectrum,” White said. “I teach all those different things because I understand that choosing to carry a weapon is a very personal thing for somebody. Not everybody is willing to grab a blade and cut somebody — nor should they. And vice versa with firearms and any weapons. So it’s really a bit of discovery you have to go on internally to decide what’s good with you morally.”

There’s absolutely nothing wrong, morally or otherwise, with buying a new umbrella. And if you’re going to buy a new umbrella, you might as well get the one with a metal rod running down the center for protection from the rain and anything else.

Images: Brett Putman for Engadget

On top of all this, there are the accounts we need to just to keep the lights on, so remembering every single password is impossible.

It’s enough to make anyone want to table-flip the internet. (I wish it was possible, I really do.) We have a heaping helping of password fatigue with a side of dread every time we try to do anything online.

Password dread usually makes us decide it’s all pointless anyway, and we just stick to whatever bad password habits we’ve already developed. Like using the same password for everything. Or never changing them. Worse, many people will make the simplest, most hacker-friendly passwords around, like “123456.” This house of cards is destined to come down in the worst ways, like identity theft, drained bank accounts, or your email and social media profiles hijacked.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Times have changed, angry-password grandpa! Turns out, you can now be lazy, cranky and stay ahead of the breach-victim herd just by using a solid, reputable password manager.
A password manager is an app for all your devices — phone, laptop, tablet and any browser you use — that autofills usernames and passwords for all of your online accounts. A password manager stores your passwords and creates an easy, secure way to access all of your accounts on any device. With a manager, your 50 million passwords are all saved and securely stored in an encrypted vault, which you can search if you need to. All you have to do is remember one master password.

Password managers have oodles of upsides. You can change all your passwords without having to remember new ones. Even for that secret Instagram account you made after a few too many beers and didn’t touch for five years. All of your passwords are kept in one extremely safe, encrypted virtual vault — but with a secure app that works on all of your devices. Password managers can help you find your weak or duplicated passwords and change them. What’s more, these handy tools can also help you make excellent passwords, following current guidelines and conventional wisdom about making them secure.

If you look around online, the long lists of things to do to help make your passwords stronger and attack-proof can be confusing and overwhelming. It doesn’t help that each dumb, little “enter your new password” box seems like it has a bizarre and sometimes contradictory set of rules for password creation. One great thing about password managers is that they can generate really strong passwords for you whenever you need one. You can also use password generators on trusted websites, like LastPass or Norton.

You’ll need to keep some password basics in mind:

• Make strong passwords that are at least 12 to 16 characters long.
• Don’t use pet or family names, your address, Social Security number, birth date or other personal information.
• It’s annoying but you must never recycle or reuse a password.
• Change your passwords every three months or if there’s a security incident.
• Don’t let Chrome, Firefox, Safari or any other browser save passwords for you.
• Use password phrases (usually six or more words long) for the best security.
• Include capital letters, numbers and symbols if the app or site allows it.

Once you’ve got your passwords set, you’ll need to protect them by having good password hygiene. If you must copy them down anywhere, make sure they are difficult to access. Don’t tell anyone your passwords, and block “shoulder surfing” by covering your screen as you enter a password to make sure no one’s watching you. And the strongest way to protect your passwords is by using a password manager.

It’s important to understand that password managers are a line of much-needed self-defense for our own security: I probably don’t need to remind you that most companies can’t be trusted with your security or privacy; every week there are headlines about a company getting its email, website, Twitter accounts or something else hacked. Many prominent sites that routinely collect consumer data have inappropriate or dangerously lax password practices. A manager helps you stay ahead of other people’s mistakes.

It’s not too good to be true, I swear. Password managers protect your info by storing it in an encrypted vault, in addition to a secure backup location of your choosing, like Dropbox or an external drive. No one can open your password vault or backup unless they have access to it (the app’s encryption keys) and know your master password. This way, no one can accidentally discover your passwords, like if you saved them on a text file. And you can make really complicated passwords, because the manager will keep track of them (and remember them) for you.

Password managers also have a cool feature where they can create a randomly generated, complex password for you with the click of a button — and they’ll remember it if you decide to use it. They can also perform password-cleanup chores, such as when you want to eliminate re-used passwords. Some, like 1Password and LastPass, will even tell you when a site you use has been breached or hacked so you can change your password before anything terrible happens.

Where do you start? Well, first, decide which one you want to use. Make sure it’s reputable and that it’s one you pay for. Free password managers are shady; if it’s free, there’s going to be a catch, like bugs, dirty data practices or a lack of support should anything go wrong. Think of it like insurance: a necessary evil, though at least it’s only a few bucks a month, and password managers are certainly more reliable and directly beneficial than making a claim after a car wreck.

When you pick one, do a little Googling for reviews and articles just to be sure it’s right for you. Most people, ourselves included, like 1Password and LastPass. Dashlane is also highly rated, though it has more limitations than the others. Both LastPass and Dashlane have free versions if you’re broke, though those plans are less flexible. (Full disclosure: I use 1Password, I have no affiliation with the company, and I am a paying customer.) Make sure you avoid scams and only download the apps directly from the company’s official website.

Password manager setup is a snap. Sign up for your account and do all the billing hoo-ha. If you’re creating a family account, you’ll invite everyone else after signing up, though if someone in your family has an account, ask them to invite you. Then download the manager’s apps to your devices, and make sure you get its extension for your browser. When you want to fill in a password, simply click the extension’s symbol next to your address bar and sign in.

Open the app and get going. Since you’ll really only need to remember your master password after this, make that one a long phrase — a short sentence, with a number and symbol thrown in for good measure. For example, you can use a dollar sign ($) in place of an “S” or a “3” in place of an “E”. Then, start using and visiting apps and websites where you have accounts. The password manager will ask you to save your login, and from that point forward it will know when you’re about to log in somewhere, and prompt you for permission to fill in your username and password. That’s one of the cool things: Password managers don’t do things without your permission.

Most managers have “quick fill” shortcuts that do the work to log in for you, after you enter your master password. If for some reason you need to enter a password by hand, you can just open the manager and view it.

Some will also offer to store your credit cards and addresses. Which, by the way, is something you should never trust to anything except a password manager. I’m not saying this to insult Apple’s keychain, or Chrome’s autofill. Those companies have incredible security teams. I just know the facts about how criminals can exploit and extract your credentials from browsers, phones and operating systems, and your trust is way better placed into a password manager. And they’re way, way safer than letting any retail site save that information.

While only a total monster makes fun of someone who ended up in some company’s breach for having “123456” as their password, you must make sure you’re not “the one.” Password managers help us with that, though we’re not trying to tell you password management is fun. A different kind of monster believes that.

But try to think of it as necessary chore like laundry or dishes, but best practices mean you should use your password manager to create and store unique passcodes for each site you care about. Some managers like LastPass know what a pain this all is, and has a security-challenge feature. This identifies old, weak or compromised passwords, and it prompts you to run the challenge every few months. Take the time to redo passwords that could be easy for hackers and attackers to crack — using password cracking programs, it’s easy to break into accounts that have short and simple (“bad”) passwords. Change passwords that are re-used on different accounts. The great thing about password managers is that they’ll tell you when passwords reoccur, and they make it easy to find and change your duplicates.

Right now it feels like there are precious few things we can actually say are good, helpful and positive about our internet experience. Password managers are one of them. They really do provide a simple solution to a glaring and ubiquitous problem. And when it comes to ourselves, our friends, families and the communities we care about, something as simple as a smart password-security tool can save us a whole lot of unnecessary stress and heartbreak.

Images: Brett Putman for Engadget (Phones with software); Natali_Mis via Getty Images (Phone with padlock)