Gadgetstronics

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The SurfaceSound Compact may be simply another bluetooth car speakerphone on paper, but its interface and design has definitely grabbed our attention. The visor-mounted SurfaceSound connects to your phone after the microphone is pulled down into position. This simple, tactile method of activation is superior to the usual button press and would make speakerphone usage easier to become a habit.galleryPost(’bluetrekss’, 3, ”);

Though the $100 MSRP seems steep, it’s on par with other bluetooth devices at launch. The SurfaceSound Compact has a rechargeable battery rated for 15 hours of talk time or 22 days of standby, and features Bluetooth 1.2 connectivity. We just hope Bluetrek and Contour Design have paid equal attention to sound quality, as now we need devices like this to stay legal. [Product Page via iLounge]

Posted Jan 27th 2008 5:24PM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Transportation
We don’t know about you, but we were doing far, far less productive things than Andrew Angelloti when we were 16. The green-minded youth — a forum member over at Ecomodder — has taken his 1988 Mazda pickup truck and converted it to run solely on electricity using $6,000 he’d earned as a part-time lifeguard. According to Andrew, the truck reaches a top speed of 55 MPH, sports a range of 40 miles per charge, and has acceleration that’s, “Not that bad.” The mod uses 20 flooded lead-acid batteries (for 120 volts), and a 60 HP, 9-inch electric motor. For most of us, that one major conversion would be enough, but Andrew is cracking away on his second EV mod, working his magic on a 1992 Toyota Tercel and gunning for more speed and a larger motor. Who said kids were lazy these days?

[Via Digg]

We tricked you, and if you just clicked on that link the sore memory is probably even fresher than for those who knew better. We are very sorry, and to make it up to you, here’s Elise Frappier stripped half-nekkid and posing with a Macbook. Who is Elise? Macenstein’s Mac Chick of the Month, of course. Jump for her Mac-y outy gallery shots.galleryPost(’mcchgi’, 3, ”);

The 24-year old Canadian may look like she has nothing in common with you, but that stops at aesthetics. She loves Apple products, her dearest and most loved Apple possession is her Titanium G4, but she still twiddles her long locks, chews bubblegum and reminisces about the old skool SE/30 Macintosh her father owned. She may like the Pussycat Dolls to rock to, but we’ll forgive her because she wears a black bra better than any of us ever could, (even if Eric claims otherwise.) [Macenstein]

Mmm. Nothing says “Yum!” quite like the sight of a sweet confection in the shape of a beetle larva. Despite its unappetizing appearance (unless you’re Timon or Pumbaa), the candy is actually made from milk and white chocolate, cornflakes, orange peel, and . . . well, we’re back to unappetizing with this one . . . dried squid.

Anyone with a Japanese address and a questionable sweet tooth can order these chocolates online for about $2 apiece, or head over to the Chocolate and Sweets Expo in Tokyo (going on now until March 9th) in hopes of snagging a sample.

Via Pink Tentacle.

Posted Jan 27th 2008 9:48AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Laptops
You’d think there’d be a bit more excitement associated with the inclusion of Intel’s latest and greatest, but HP decided to take the quiet route with integrating Penryn into its Pavilion laptop lineup. The Pavilion dv2700t, dv6700t and dv9700t are all getting an Intel T9300 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo option, with a 6MB l2 cache and a purported 10% speed boost over last-gen Intel processors. Unfortunately, that mild speed boost comes at a $100 premium over the T7500, so you money might be better spent on RAM or a better graphics card — or you could just choose it all, the Engadget-approved method of speccing a laptop.

[Via NotebookReview]

Mozilla is working on a mobile version of Firefox. Unfortunately, it probably won’t see the light of day until end of this year. Well it’s about time. I was wondering why this was taking so long.

In case you don’t already run Firefox on your computer, get with it already. Just click the image link above and pull it down. You won’t regret it. The thing that really makes FF so much more than just a web browser and more like a platform are the slew of extensions available for it. I’ve got easily over a dozen extensions that improve my browsing experience, makes me more efficient and adds tools that I can’t live without now. After all, I blogged this entry directly in FF using an extension called ScribeFire, which rocks BTW.

The Macbook Air sure is a fine piece of Cupertino craftsmanship, but the lack of useful input ports is a complete downer on the slinky sexy soiree. Fret not, Flickr user, Nybras.Rodrigo has conjured up a fantastic solution. He’s confident in his solution, and so are we. Check it out above. There’s all the ports you’ll ever need; USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, Ethernet, DVI output, Superdrive, iPod Shuffle and even a floppy drive. A floppy disk drive! How did we all miss that one? Kudos, Nybras, you’re one up on everyone. [Flickr]

It is soon to come to the Chinese New Year, which is the Year of Mouse. Hence, iRiver China introduces a limited edition of gold plated iRiver Mplayer, and only available at China. Each of these luxury mice comes with a lucky number, probably an alternative way to celebrate the Year of Mouse
[ via iRiverFans ]

iRiver, Mplayer, MP3 Players

Mathmos Thaw

You can have this for ?24.95