PC Magazine mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, reports today on the release of Cingular and Motorola's second iTunes phone, dubbed the SLVR L7. The L7 boasts a 262k-color screen, a VGA camera, Bluetooth and an IM client. You can play songs synced over from iTunes, but you're limited to just 100 songs per TransFlash memory card. Is it better than its predecessor, the SLVR L6? Well yes, but does it perform better? Sascha will have a review of the L7 for you by the end of the week.

The SLVR L7 costs $199 and is available for purchase on Motorola.com.

Microsoft Streets & Trips 2006 with GPS locator includes a number of new features that are significant improvements over its predecessor, Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005. The bundled GPS receiver connects via USB 2.0. Those who already have a compatible receiver can purchase just the software for $40 (street).

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Slideshow | All Shots

The most significant new feature of S&T 2006 is voice-prompted directions. These days, virtually all GPS-enabled devices—from cell phones to PDAs to dedicated portable on-dash navigation systems—offer that capability, so for Microsoft to stay competitive, it's a must-have. The vocabulary, however, is somewhat limited compared with that of DeLorme's Street Atlas 2006. For instance, S&T 2006 will announce an upcoming turn with a prompt, "In zero point two miles, exit right." Street Atlas will also give the street name using its text-to-speech technology.

You can configure the navigation pane in any number of ways. A new driving guidance pane displays turn-by-turn directions (including street names) in large type, presents enlarged arrows indicating the direction of your next turn, and shows distance to it in miles or yards as well as a "thermometer-type" bar that gives you an idea of the relative distance.

Creating a route and generating directions is simple. You merely type in the starting and ending locations and click on "Get Directions." Trips can include multiple segments. In fact, if you have more than four, you can also instruct Streets and Trips 2006 to optimize the route. You can also configure your vehicle's estimated mileage, the starting level of your fuel tank, and the level at which you want to refill, and the software will include refueling stops in your list of directions.

Similarly, you can indicate the starting time for your trip and the number of hours in your driving day, and the program will include overnight stops in your direction list. A trip summary of days/hours of driving time and estimated fuel cost is included with your directions. As with the driving guidance pane, you can choose whether or not to display the directions on screen during navigation.

Streets and Trips 2006 also has a GPS pane that you can choose to display. The panel shows your current latitude/longitude, direction of travel, current speed, and GPS signal strength. This is also the control panel for arranging the map display, creating a "bread crumb" GPS trail, and controlling the voice options. If you want to create a route from your current position, you also start the route-generation process from within this pane.

Finding points of interest (POIs) such as restaurants or gas stations is fairly simple. You can select from 15 restaurant and 35 POI types to display on the map. You have the option of searching within a user-defined radius of an address, your current location, a specific direction within a planned route, or along the entire route. Search results display in a directory-tree listing. When you click on a POI, a balloon box pops up on the map with detailed information (including an address and phone number). Right-click on the POI icon, and you can add it to your route list.

To get an idea of how current the POI database was, we searched for restaurants within a two-mile radius of our home. We were disappointed to find that a number of listings were for defunct businesses. And some eateries that had reopened with new names still had the old listings in the database. A number of fairly new establishments weren't listed at all. According to Microsoft, there's currently no way to update the database via the Web, but you can get free road construction updates via the Internet.

To test the software, we created a 25-mile round-trip route. The program provided accurate directions to the interim destination, and the GPS receiver remained locked onto the route. The map database appeared to have been updated recently, as the generated route took us onto a recently completed interstate ramp. On our return trip, we made an intentional error to see how S&T 2006 would handle it.

Unfortunately, unlike Street Atlas 2006—which automatically recalculates after a missed turn—S&T 2006 only reported "off route!" There is a "recalculate route from here" button, but the software doesn't automatically recalculate a route when you miss a turn. This should be an option, at the very least, and probably the default for any GPS program. Having to click on a button while you're driving can be distracting, not to mention dangerous.

Though it's not as fully featured as Delorme's Street Atlas 2006, Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006 is far easier to use and offers better GPS locating capabilities. As such, it's a better bet for most users.

More GPS Navigation reviews:

• Garmin nüvi 760
• TomTom Rider 2nd edition
• Delphi NAV300
• TomTom GO 720
• Magellan Maestro 4050
• More

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$50.00

For notebook owners, Microsoft Streets & Trips 2006 with GPS Locator is a simple and cost-effective alternative to a portable on-dash navigation system.

Familiar, easy to use and learn Microsoft Windows interface. Accurate GPS tracking. Current maps.

No automatic recalculation after missed turn. Smaller, more dated POI database than the one included with Delorme Street Atlas 2006.

The window sticker on the Prius says 60 mpg, yet the best we got was mid-50s. But that's a misstatement we can live with. This hybrid gasoline/electric vehicle is the complete midsize car, offering quality, fuel efficiency, fit and finish, comfort, and a spacious interior.

The Prius represents three cars in one. It's the green vehicle of choice for celebrities who want to proclaim their earth-friendliness, even if they keep a 2-mpg Falcon Jet in the hangar for the long weekends in Aspen. Cameron, Leonardo, and Will (Ferrell) all drive Priuses. Second, it's a tremendous car for normal people who want something that burns less fuel and emits less pollution. And third, the Prius is a roomy, first-rate car, regardless of its technically advanced Hybrid Synergy Drive (Toyota's term) gasoline/electric power plant.

No matter how you equip the Prius, you'll be hard pressed to build one that stickers out above $30,000. (Nor will you find a dealer who sells one for much less.) You'll also have to come to grips with the in-your-face safety warnings, lockouts, and buzzers, and you may wonder how Toyota messed up what is a first-rate navigation system in other Toyota/Lexus vehicles.

Big Cockpit, Minimalist Dashboard

Hop into the Prius, and you'll notice almost simultaneously the spacious back seat, the contemporary cockpit with no apparent gauge panel, the unusual gearshift and ignition switch, and a bunch of hanging tags and how-to guides dangling from the wiper stalk and shifter and stuck in the cupholder. For a car just 175 inches long (a foot shorter than its sibling, the Camry), the cockpit is exceptionally roomy, in part because the storage area under the hatchback measures a merely passable 16 cubic feet. If this is a suburban carpool car (and the Prius is at its most efficient in local driving), the carpool better be for soccer players and flutists, not hockey players and trombonists with big equipment bags.

The tags and cards tell you how to start and stop the Prius, which is different, but not initially fathomable without the cheat sheets. You stick the key in a slot in the dash, press the start button, and wait for a small indicator (too small, we'd say) marked Ready to glow. It's located in the instrument cluster that's several feet away, in a lip where the dashboard meets the windshield. Since the Prius is a hybrid, it makes the same sound when it's ready to roll as when it's turned off: usually, none.

To start off, flip the little stub of a gearshift lever over and down to D (drive) or up to R (reverse), ignoring the B (which doesn't stand for backup but for engine braking for hills). Choose reverse, and -- PING! PING! PING! -- the car scolds you for some misdeed. Seat belt unfastened? Door ajar? Battery pack nearing meltdown? No, it's a warning beep for when you're backing up.

Oddly, this sound isn't replicated outside, where a car backing up silently might be a hazard to unaware pedestrians. Toyota says it's an alert for the driver, because the shifter is unusual in recentering itself. Also, when you come to a stop and want to get out, you don't just slide the gearshift into neutral. Instead, you press an adjacent button marked Park, which takes the Prius out of gear and immobilizes the transmission. Ignore that step when you step out of the car without powering down, and your silent Prius may motor off without you. If the road is straight and the 12-gallon tank is full of gas, the Prius might wind up two states away.

Independent Gas Engine and Electric Motor

Once the Prius is started, the gasoline engine kicks in at some point -- perhaps while you're standing still, while you're backing up, or not until you reach 20 mph. The gasoline engine and electric motor act independently, in comparison with the Honda Civic hybrid, in which the gasoline engine is always running if the car isn't standing still.

The 1.5-liter engine has variable valve timing and produces 76 horsepower and the electric motor produces 67 hp (or 50 kilowatts) from the 201 volt nickel-metal hydride traction battery. In combination, they produce 110 hp, driving the front wheels through a continuously variable transmission. Zero-to-60-mph acceleration is a shade over 10 seconds, which is adequate.

If you press the Info button on the center-dash LCD that comes in all Priuses, you see a colorful but initially confusing chart that looks like water flowing through the pipes of a nuclear power plant. In Prius, it shows if the engine and/or batteries are powering the car, or in the engine or regenerated braking power is recharging the batteries.

As with other hybrids, the Prius's fuel economy is better in city driving -- 60 mpg is claimed on the EPA test cycle -- than on the highway, 51 mpg, where wind resistance comes into play and where you can't take advantage of regenerative braking. Given that the EPA's decades-old tests inadvertently favor hybrids because they call for delicate acceleration and don't use air conditioning (see New Economy Rules Show Hybrids in Lesser Light), we think you'll still get mpg in the 50s on average and won't fall below the mid-40s even on long trips on the interstate. Think of it this way: 50 mpg when you're paying $2.50 a gallon for gas is the same as driving a 20-mpg car when gas cost $1 a gallon. And there's less pollution. Sweet.

Options: Great Audio, Underachiever Nav System

Toyota's options list for the Prius is short but expensive, because the options are offered as packages rather than a la carte (except for carpet mats, which are considered an accessory, at $186). The cheapest options package, at $1,475, includes an upgraded stereo with a six-disc CD changer, four extra airbags, a smart-key system (the car unlocks and starts with the key in your pocket), and a backup camera.

Our test vehicle came with the everything-included $6,890 package, which along with carpet mats and shipping, drove the sticker price up to $29,381. Also incorporated was a Denso touchscreen navigation system, a nine-speaker JBL audio system with a six-disc changer, leather upholstery, Bluetooth, and stability control.

Toyota/Lexus with Denso, Honda/Acura with Alpine, and Nissan/Infiniti with Xanavai navigation systems all run neck-and-neck as the most desirable integrated nav systems -- as well they should, when they add $1,500 to $2,000 to the price. The Denso module in the Prius must have landed on its head coming off the assembly line; it's just not optimal, and in fact was rated below average in the 2005 J.D. Power navigation systems survey (see Best Nav Systems? Look to Japan Inc.).

Located in a pod high up on the recessed dashboard (high is good for visibility), the Prius navigation system is a long reach, unless you go by "Cheetah" on AIM. And in the interests of annoying customers -- well, Toyota probably says it's in the interests of safety -- most every user navigation input is disabled when the car's moving, even when there's a passenger aboard, and even though you already clicked Accept on an "I know this could be dangerous" screen. You can't even choose from destinations you've previously input.

Other minor glitches suggest that in 2006, Denso may have fallen slightly from the pinnacle: In split-screen mode, you'll see no contrasting border separating the map on the left from the iconic map on the right, and it sometimes looks like a single, confusing map. If spoken instructi0ns are too loud, volume adjustment requires several screen taps, assuming you know where to find it; more progressive automakers now enlist the radio's volume knob to control the navigation system's volume. Voice input works adequately, as long as you've memorized the syntax or made a lucky guess.

On The Highway

When you're moving along, the ride is pleasant and generally quiet, unless you tromp on the accelerator. Even with two propulsion sources, 110 hp can be spread thin over 2,890 pounds, and it's a bit busy (that's a polite way of saying noisy) when you push the car.

The premium sound system does a fine job of overcoming road noise. We were impressed by the variety of source material you can play, ranging from any music player with a line-out jack to CDs using standard, MP3, or WMA encoding. The two 12-volt outlets are reasonable.

Bluetooth synchronized quickly with a couple test phones, although that doesn't mean every feature of every Bluetooth phone will work. If it doesn't, your cellular provider and phone vendor should probably be yelled at.

Backseat passengers will rejoice at the legroom. But if you're taking four adults away for the weekend, they'd better pack light. The instrument panel has few gauges and dials, which isn't bad, since there's not much that goes wrong with cars today. We do wish the Prius had a tachometer, which would be a pretty clear indicator of when the gasoline engine was running.

Placing the instruments 3 feet from the driver's eyes makes reading them easier for those who need near-distance reading glasses. Forward visibility is great, but the massive A-pillars (the uprights between the front windshield and side windows) can hide a pedestrian starting to cross the street, and the rear windows with the horizontal split are also a bit hard to see out of.

Since every option package includes a backup camera, we'd rather Toyota had mounted it up higher, not next to the license plate, and made it a second rearview mirror. The backup camera is nice, but Nissan's is nicer: It has clearance lines overlaid on the image that show the width and path the car is taking. Also, the bottom inch of the backup LCD is obscured by a warning telling you to observe your surroundings when backing. If Toyota ever gets tired of the Prius name, "In Loco Parentis" might be a fitting replacement.

Web Site: Flash Over Substance

Visit Toyota's site as a potential buyer, and you'll see a flashy site with great production values -- particularly the animated tales of Toyota's and the Prius's environmental awareness. Once you click down a couple layers, you'll actually be able to configure a Prius and determine pricing, which then lets you join the waiting list of customers who, if they're lucky, get to buy at sticker price (currently, eight weeks). Hint: Next visit to the site, click on the Cars tab, not the Hybrids tab, to shop faster for the Prius.

Come back as an owner, and you'll find Toyota and its Web designers were so busy high-fiving each other over their eco-friendly hybrid pages that they forgot to build much online material for the guy who just plunked down thirty grand. It's more about what Toyota can market to you than what Toyota can do for you.

Registering as an owner signs you up for all manner of Toyota Owner Perks. Even though you've provided your VIN number on signup, the site is clueless moments later as to whichcar you own, if you ask for service information. You have to fill out drop-down boxes each time. When you return as a registered user, you have to enter your ZIP code before entering your username and password.

When we searched the site, Prius owner information stopped with 2005 models. But no matter: The only manual online for download is the 16-page quick guide to operations, not the owner's manual, navigation manual, or quick guide to the nav system. Shame on the company that's poised to be the world's No. 1 automaker. (Toyota says the 2006 material was offline for a couple days, for updating.)

On the other hand, Toyota isn't alone in building mile-wide, inch-deep sites meant to sell a car to a prospect rather than assist a current owner. Along with most other sites, the online service/maintenance records area means: Fill it in yourself. Heaven forbid the dealer should do it for you.

Should You Buy?

If you're dubious about the benefits of hybrid technology, the Prius will likely win you over. If you love hybrids, the Prius is great; if you don't care either way, it's still a fine car, although you may wish it cost a few thousand dollars less and was available the day you signed the contract. Compared with the new Honda Civic hybrid, the Prius has more room for four; the Civic is more fun for two.

Toyota has been making cars with hybrid batteries for five years, and it warranties the Prius battery pack -- an estimated $3,000 replacement item -- for eight years or 100,000 miles. If you lease or turn the car over after five years, that's no problem. If you keep it longer, the battery dies after seven years, and you get a replacement, you're in good shape through, say, a dozen years total. Odds are the batteries will cost less then, too. But you'll still have the uncertainty of adopting a still-new technology.

Given the short supply of Priuses at Toyota dealers, you may have to take whichever option package you're offered. If you've got a choice, though, go beyond the barebones A and B packages to Package C ($3,205), which integrates technology to keep you safe -- side airbags, side curtain airbags, and stability control -- along with a top-end stereo system and Bluetooth. Package D ($5,730) adds high-intensity Xenon headlights (good) with the navigation system (try before you buy), and the all-out Package E ($6,890) adds leather. No package gives you heated seats or a sunroof, and you can't get leather without also buying navigation.

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$22,305.00 - $29,381.00

Hybrid technology really works: The Prius is a spacious medium-size car with great fuel economy, especially if you stay off the interstates. Its audio system plays WMA, MP3s, and portable music devices. But the normally first-rate Denso navigation system is problematic, and you'll have to get used to a car that chirps inside, not outside, when you're backing up. Expect to pay closer to $30,000 than to the $22,305 base price, and also prepare to be nagged to the breaking point by the safety features.

Great fuel economy, low emissions, 500-mile driving range. Plays MP3s and WMAs, easily connects to music players. Typical Toyota fit and finish. Roomy interior. Distinctive looks.

Hard-to-reach navigation system. Annoying safety features. Modest acceleration. Uncertainty over battery life. Restricted visibility (A-pillars, rear window). Bluetooth available only in $3205-to-$6890 options packages. Meager owners' site.

The thermometer is one of the best inventions known to man. Galileo is credited for the invention of the water thermometer, built in 1592. Then, the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit developed accurate mercury thermometers in 1714. In 1730, Réaumur invented one which used alcohol, followed by the Celsius, invented by Anders Celsius in 1742.

Then the digital thermometer came out, and that was even better. Well, the cycle continues...in Japan. EJK (Ebara Jitsugyo Co) has manufactured the Contactless Thermometer. All you do is place it near the skin for 3 seconds. Traditional thermometers take about 60 to 90 seconds until you get a reading, not to mention it's so darn hard to keep it in place under your tongue. Plus, there's no need for sterilization, since you're not putting the thermometer in your mouth.

It weighs 99 grams and will be available starting tomorrow, Feb 1st, in Japan for 25,000 Yen (which is $215 USD). No news yet whether it's coming to the U.S. Makes you wonder why it took so long to come up with such a revolutionary idea!

[Thanks to NewLaunches for the scoop]

If you often connect several USB devices at one time like I do, the Belkin CableFree USB Hub sounds very exciting. It doesn't seem like a big deal from the name, but imagine hooking up your 200GB external hard drive, a printer, a flash drive, and even an Xbox 360 to your laptop, all without cables, and without restricting the laptop to a certain area.

The hub has four USB ports and a separate USB dongle receiver that connects to your PC. The only piece of hardware connected to the PC is the dongle, so if all you have is a single laptop running the show, this is a must have. In addition, the Belkin hub uses Freescale's Ultra-Wideband(UWB) technology, enabling transfer speeds of up to 110Mbps. That's almost 37 times faster than Bluetooth 2.0, at least 2 times faster than 802.11g, and best of all, it can coexist fine with both standards. According to Freescale, UWB is capable of streaming high definition video in real time, wirelessly, and the technology is already being used in the auto industry and gaming platforms.

I'm sick of detaching my devices before I can roam around the house with my laptop and this is something I can see myself investing into. One thing to note: Neither Belkin nor Freescale talks about the range of UWB. The Hub will be available in Spring 2006 for $129.99 Frosties.

A shout out to Gizmodo for the feed

The digital display looks pretty sleek against the aluminum design. Some of the other features include a digital voice recorder, FM tuner radio, and remote control. It even comes with an arm band for all you Swiss knife-carrying joggers.  The player uses a rechargeable Lithium battery and comes with a set of headphones. I personally would've liked to have seen more tools jammed into this thing. For $160, they could've thrown in a screwdriver and a cool LED flashlight, instead of the nail file.

Thanks to Pocket-Lint for the story

Although I'll be haunted by Slovakia, chainsaws, and paid-human torture forever, at least there's something that can calm my anxieties.

Last weekend, I made the mistake of seeing Quentin Tarantino's new film, Hostel, because now I am completely traumatized. It was the most frightening, twisted, and disturbing film I have ever seen in my entire life. I wanted to throw up! Don't get me wrong, I've sat through Rob Zombie films, and they didn't creep me out as much as this one! I'll spare you the details though, in case you want to see it.

Of course, when I get in these frightened moods I tend to whine to my boyfriend for a night light in order to fall asleep. I can't help it, but sometimes I just get spooked! But, I am in my 20s, and having a night light really isn't, well, grown up. So, a company called Solutions has designed the Blue Moon Night Light ($29.95). The light actually goes underneath your bed, giving off a soft blue light, instead of a regular night light glaring in your face. And since Valentine's Day is coming up, it could also serve as a Let's Get It On ambiance. 

After this post, you'll either think I'm seriously demented for watching horror movies, or that I have a thing for blue lighting.

[Found via Strange New Products]