If you’ve been on  a job interview at any point in your life–which I used to do before I discovered writing as a career option–then you know how tough it can be to even get there.  Driving in a suit jacket isn’t exactly easy, and the compression of the driver’s seat doesn’t make it any easier.

Well, now there’s a car gadget that costs just ten dollars but will go a long way toward keeping your jacket looking crisp and sharp–the Maxsa  Double Hanger.

It’s basically just a compact coat hanger with two hooks, made out of plastic, which as you know can be extremely strong if it’s used right, and in this case it looks to be.

Of course, it’s not just limited to keeping your jacket in good shape–you can hang anything else you like from there.  Get some extra cargo room by using some of the dead space above your back seat.  Hang your hat.  Whatever!

It’s a smart little invention whose time has most definitely come.

Tags: Car, car gadget, car hanger, Driving, gadget, jacket, Maxsa double hanger

Folks, we all know that one of the biggest dangers on the road, especially at night, is sleepy drivers.  It’s easy to nod off when you’re tired and driving–watching the scenery flow by, the hills rolling, rolling gently, and a little at a time, a little, a li….

See?

That’s how easy it is to drop off.  But now, thanks to Australian inventors, there’s the SmartCap.  It looks like your ordinary Class-X baseball cap, right?  And you may think you’ve seen devices like this before that sound an alarm when your head dips below a certain angle.  Well, that doesn’t always work, folks–but the SmartCap goes it one better.  Check THIS out:

The SmartCap uses a number of sophisticated sensors to measure brainwave information, and apply an independently-validated algorithm to identify when the wearer is experiencing symptoms of fatigue.’

IT READS YOUR MIND.

A baseball cap that reads your mind and tells you you’re getting sleepy.  That’s actually kind of cool in a creepy sort of way.

No word yet on when they’ll be commercially available or at what price, but chances are these will be a big deal.

Tags: brain waves, sleepy, sleepy drivers, SmartCap, tired driver

Here’s an interesting looking concept car that may or may not be a concept. The Renault Zoe Z.E. is an electric car that will not only run on electricity, but it has an electric diffuser that is built right into the climate control system. In short, it has a an interior that “mirrors a spa-like experience”. Believe it or not, Renault has hinted that this car could see production as early as 2012.

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I know what you’re thinking–there’s absolutely ZERO sense in turning perfectly good AC current into DC current!  Ah, but not so fast, folks–some of those great car gadgets that we talk about out here, like the Scrolling LED Message Board, for example, work mainly on DC current.  So you can forget about putting one of these up in your office or living room or bedroom.

At least, you COULD forget about it until the Portable AC to DC Power Converter.  One of these allows you to turn everyday ordinary household current into battery-esque current, allowing you to use all those cool things that you could ordinarily only use in the car in the house, too.

Perhaps the best part is that these aren’t really expensive.  A meager eight dollars allows you to lay hands on one of them, and then you too can start converting ordinary household power to usable pseudo battery current.

Tags: AC, alternating current, car gadget, DC, direct current, Scrolling LED, scrolling led message board

It’s not every day we think about key chains.  Sure, they’re a necessary part of every car trip, and they do a whole lot more than we think (who here hasn’t made the key chain claw in a bad neighborhood?) but there are key chains out there that do plenty more than just hold keys.

Today we’re talking about one such key chain, which Wholesale Keychains so kindly sent a model of for my consideration, the lockback knife.

It’s a lot smaller than you’d expect, and offers a short knife with a partially serrated edge.  You might well wonder why you’d ever want to carry a knife around on your keychain, especially with all the various laws around them, but I can assure you that if you ever get in an accident and caught in the seatbelt, you’d be glad to have one.

And frankly, I believe this little badass of a knife could cut through a seatbelt, too.  It tore through a Rent A Center circular like Lindsay Lohan through a bag of coke.  Best of all, you can get one of these yourselves for the low, low price of $4.99, and if you order from them, you can get ten percent off if you use the promotional code carbuyer.

So if you live in fear of being pinned upside down in a car, worry no longer.

Tags: key chain, keychain, knife, lockback knife, wholesale

Something else made a splash at SEMA, and it was an accessory. The MotionLites guy are clearly something that you will see on tricked-out vehicles everywhere like spinners.

The kit is available for about $400, and there is a nice video after the jump if you want to see more. The tune alone makes it worth watching.

continue reading "MotionLite: The next spinner?"

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iSwim Waterproof iPod Case and Headphones
Square Enix releases official Final Fantasy XIII box art
Got Twenty Five Million Dollars? Buy Terminator!

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Okay, so there’s plenty of people right now that are super pissed that their car phone of choice, the HTC HD2, which is by itself supposed to be some kind of super-magnificent Windows based mind-smasher that will change most everything, but from the looks of things, O2 will be carrying it.

Now, for you American readers, you likely won’t want to be getting it from O2 as everything there is sold in pounds sterling, but a US launch is forthcoming and should hit sometime in the front part of 2010.

Here’s why you should probably want this, and want it pretty badly:

The HTC HD2 has a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen running at WVGA resolution, and is powered by the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.  Connectivity includes HSPA, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and – in a first for an HTC Windows Phone – a microUSB port; it’ll also be offered with an optional in-car kit, though that’s not expected to hit the market until December.

Sounds like a pretty top-flight car phone, huh?  Well, considering I can’t find much pricing data on it, it likely WILL be pretty top flight and will be reflected in the price.

Tags: Car Kit, car phone, HTC HD2, O2

I know, it sounds kind of like a non-sequitur, something like that insane bit in The Graduate in which the poor kid’s asked what the future is and gets the one word answer: plastics.

But it’s true–based on some advance word from the Center For Automotive Research, the word of the day is aluminum.

By replacing steel, which costs more, weighs more and is harder to come by, with lighter, cheaper, more plentiful aluminum, there’s every chance that, in a stroke of master irony, the beer cans of today will become the drunk driving vehicle of tomorrow.

Quoth the Center:

“Plug-in and hybrid electric cars contain precious little, and quite expensive, ‘fuel’ in the form of batteries,” added Bull. “Therefore, every effort must be made to utilize this stored energy to the highest possible efficiency. The solution lies in lowering the vehicle’s weight with aluminum as part of a holistic approach to also include advanced powertrains and batteries, enhanced thermal management, improved aerodynamics, and reduced rolling resistance.”

It makes sense, when you think about it.  Of course, the only problem is that these new lightweight cars are also prone to danger from high winds, rollovers, other cars and large trucks.  Think about how easy it’d be for a semi truck to roll right over a beer can…now think about how easy it’d be for a semi to roll right over the beer can car of tomorrow.

Kinda gives you pause, deoesn’t it?

Tags: aluminum, car construction, Center For Automotive Research, Detroit, steel, superstructure

Earlier this month we got our first glimpse of the Nissan Land Glider, a concept vehicle that features the unique ability to lean into turns for increased stability. While we’re sure to hear more about the concept during this week’s Tokyo Motor Show, there have been no words on North American availability.

However, reports have just surfaced that say the vehicle may be coming to the U.S. with an Infiniti badge. Considering Infiniti is Nissan’s luxury line and the Land Glider is an all-electric vehicle, it most definitely won’t come cheap.

We’ll keep you posted.

via autoblog

Tags: all electric, Infiniti, Land Glider, Nissan, rumor

You might be surprised to hear it, but guess who one of the biggest provider of car gadgets is.  Give up?  As it turns out, it’s Texas InstruUments.

Yeah, I know, I gave it away up in the headline, but that’s for the search engines.  Anyway, as it turns out, Texas Instruments is the major supplier of UHF chips, which in turn provides the basis for a surprising array of devices.  Check this list out:

TI has created the family to meet consumers’ demand for timely visibility into their vehicle status to ensure their car is properly maintained. The wide range of wireless applications in automobiles include tire pressure monitoring, auxiliary heating remote control and key features such as garage door openers or the standard remote control.

None of those things would actually run without Texas Instruments hardware located inside it.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I personally think that’s a massive slice of fried awesome.

Tags: IF transceiver, Texas, Texas Instruments, tire pressure monitoring system, UHF chips

It’s not exactly the kind of thing you ever expect to read about, but it seems that the auto industry likes to indulge in its share of “black repaints”.  The recently announced Peugeot i-On, as it turns out, is actually just a really lightly modified Mitsubishi iMiEV.

This isn’t the first time that Peugeot’s been a bit strapped for ideas and turned to its Japanese cohorts for advice and new options–as it turns out, the Peugeot 4007 SUV is really just, again, a really lightly modified Mitsubishi Outlander.

I’m at a loss to describe what exactly this means.  Is this the start of a strange new strategic alliance?  Is this some kind of unexpected business move?  Or is Peugeot’s design team just so utterly bereft of ideas that they’re willing to subcontract designs from Mitsubishi so they have something, ANYTHING, to show?

I invite discussion on this one–the idea is outlandish but just about anything’s a possible explanation at this point.

Tags: Mitsubishi, mitsubishi imiev, mitsubishi outlander, Peugeot, peugeot i-on

Yesterday we told you that Ford’s hybrid sales were up 73% over last year but we had no idea the Detroit automaker was going to see this kind of success. Recent reports have surfaced that suggest Ford is dangerously close to surpassing Honda as the second best hybrid seller in the United States.

Let’s take a look at some numbers: Honda has sold 29,958 hybrid vehicles so far this year which is a 8% increase over last year while Ford sold 26,016 vehicles, a 73% increase over last year like we already told you.

If these trends continue, by this time next year we may very well be seeing the U.S. hybrid seller top 3 looking like Toyota, Ford, Honda. But don’t pop the champagne yet, Ford, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

via autobloggreen

Tags: auto sales, Ford, Honda, hybrid, Toyota

Okay, this is too good. Apparently, it has been discovered that many of the vehicle registration stickers and inspections stickers in New York just aren’t staying stuck.

Feel free to use this blog posting to explain this to your officer. Hopefully, the officer will let you off with a warning and you can immediately go to get your stickers replaced, free of charge. That, or follow the instructions here.

That, or you could just use some transparent adhesive tape, which a lot of New Yorkers are already using as a fix.

Source

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Ferrari, Maserati, Bugatti, SSC Ultimate Aero and a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe Convertible.

No, that’s not the guest list on tomorrow night’s BBC installment of Top Gear, but rather a partial lineup of the kind of things you’ll get to see at the OC Auto Show, widely regarded as the “start” of show season.

Knowing that it’s fighting an uphill battle with consumers in rapid retrenching mode and corporations cutting back in a grim death march to bankruptcy, the show’s got to pull out a few stops in order to get anywhere.  Included in this year’s plans?  A special appearance by Absolute Poker pro Matt Vengrin, a live mixed martial arts cage battle, and not one, but THREE bikini contests, including the Miss Hawaiian Tropic Model Search.

If I’ve got your attention, and chances are something on that list did, you’ll be happy to know that getting into the show might be the cheapest thing you do all day:  adults get in for $10; senior citizens (62 and older) shell out $6,  students with ID pay just $5 and kids under 12 are admitted for free.

The show starts today and runs through Sunday.

Tags: Bugatti, Ferrari, Maserati, OC Auto Show, rolls royce phantom, SSC Ultimate Aero