Good news for the "smaller is better" crowd: The fuel-efficient Smart Car is (finally) on its way to our shores. Smart-Automobile LLC announced today that its Smart For Two Coupe / Convertible, available in Europe since 1998, is ready to be imported to the United States.

Much of the delay involved learning how to modify the cars and tooling the proprietary Smart diagnostic system to ensure the cars meet U.S. safety and emissions standards.

"There has been a great deal of excitement about the Smart Car coming to the United States, and I want to congratulate our partners and future customers for their hard work and patience in reaching this point," said Smart-Automobile President Thomas Heidemann.

All Smart Cars imported through this arrangement will be registered with ZAP and the Department of Transportation to ensure that they meet government standards. The Smart Car gets 60 mpg and can reach speeds of 85 miles per hour, according to the ZAP Web site, and will range in price from $15,000 to $25,000 fully loaded.

The Smart Cars will be Americanized by G&K Automotive Conversions of Santa Ana, California, and distributed by Santa Rosa-based ZAP, a leader in fuel-efficient and eco-conscious cars.

A handful of hybrids–two, actually–may earn back their price premiums, Consumer Reports says. In its April issue, the magazine was more pessimistic. Oops, CR now says; we calculated depreciation twice, which made hybrids seem more costly than they really are.

That said, only two vehicles will likely save you money over five years of driving, according to CR: The Toyota Prius would save about $500, and the Honda Civic Hybrid, about $300. In comparison, the magazine says, the Ford Escape Hybrid (and sibling Mercury Mariner), Honda Accord Hybrid, Lexus RX400h, and Toyota Highlander Hybrid will cost owners $1,900 to $5,500 more over five years.

All those calculations assume you can take advantage of the hybrid-vehicle tax credits. Toyota will and Honda may sell enough hybrids that the credit phases out, which means a year from now they won't be such a good deal.

Here's our take: Today's hybrids work best on city streets. Highway mileage may be disappointing. And the savings you get fade, as gasoline prices drop from $3.50 to $2.00 a gallon. The 2006 tax credits start to phase out once a manufacturer sells 60,000 hybrids, something Toyota and Honda will do this year. The amount varies from vehicle to vehicle, and the phase-out is complex. See the American Council for an Energy-Efficiency Economy site for details.

If your interest lies in a car that's cheap to operate, regardless of whether it's burning fewer hydrocarbon fuels or saving money because it needs less maintenance, the best bet is to buy an inexpensive car with a four-cylinder engine and go easy on the options list. Spending $500 on a dashtop nav systems versus $1,500 for integrated nav doubles or triples the potential fuel savings you'd experience from Prius or Civic Hybrid.

Consumer Reports' updated conclusion reads like one of those your-mileage-may-vary warning labels: "The costs and benefits of hybrids vary significantly, depending on the model…consumers should weigh them carefully before buying one."

On the heels of the hot pink RAZR, Motorola announced a rock garden's worth of U6 PEBLs today. Or maybe it's a flower garden? These PEBLs come in orange, pink, blue and green, which seem more appropriate to a field of wildflowers or a rack of ball gowns than to a handful of stones. (Okay, maybe they're gemstones.) There's no technical advance here, just some lovely colors, but the PEBL wasn't a phone for techies anyway. With its pretty basic feature set, it's a fashion accessory that makes phone calls.

The new PEBLs will be available by July, Motorola says. No prices yet.

Robots are just plain cool. Maybe they'll never have the kind of heart that Johnny 5 had in Short Circuit, but many companies are designing robots that can assist you in every day tasks. Some of them you may remember us chatting about, like WowWee's SCOTY, Japan's Robot Escorts, and the HRP-2.

Now, there's the 5-foot RI-MAN Humanoid Robot, created by the Japanese research team Riken, that can see, hear, smell, and even carry human beings--particularly those that are elderly. RI-MAN is equipped with sensors that show it a body's weight and position. So, I guess this takes the "I've fallen and I can't get up" idea to new levels.

So why a robot that can carry the elderly? Apparently, Japan is expecting a major increase in elderly care due to people living longer, so the RI-MAN would aid in carrying a person to the bathroom, to bed, or wherever they need to go.

Toshiharu Mukai, one of the research team leaders, "...would like to develop a capacity to detect a human's health condition through his breath."

All I know is, thank goodness I'll have someone to carry me when I'm 80.

[via Gizmodo]

This week is traditionally a party week in NYC, due to the Saint Patrick's day holiday on Friday, so I thought it fitting to talk about one of those cool gadgets that is available over the other side of the pond.  Any malt and hop aficionado worth his pint glass knows that a great deal of the appeal of draft Guinness Stout is the mouthfeel from a freshly drawn pint.  Our (lucky) readers in Great Britain can go down to the local Tesco, aka the UK's Wal-Mart  like Peapod.com with physical locations, and pick up the Guinness Surger. 

The Guinness Surger is an ultrasonic plate that agitates a glass of Guinness after you've poured it out of a specially packaged can or bottle.  The agitation replicates the entertaining bubble flow and head from a 'perfect pour'.  It's been described as being more authentic tasting than the nitrogen dosed 'widget' cans and bottles available worldwide, but not quite as good as an authentic draft pint from a barkeep that knows his craft and keeps the tap lines clean.  A starter kit costs £17 (about $30), but you get the glass, Surger, and two pints.

I'd love to try one out, Guinness are you listening?  Apparently it's been available in Japanese bars since 2003, since many of the commonly found 5-10 seat 'hole in the wall' bars don't have the space for a traditional tap and keg system.  Sláinte!

[Please Gearlog responsibly.]

The Slappa BulkHead PRO 4 in 1 takes "modular" to a whole new level. My inner efficiency expert got kind of thrilled at this concept.

It's a smart idea for travelers who might want to use all the extra compartments to pack their stuff but could use a slimmer bag at their destination.

At left is the bag all zipped together; at right, it's unzipped into four separate padded bags, each of which can be used alone. If the zippers were hard to work, that'd be a dealbreaker, but zipping and unzipping is easy; you could add or remove modules on a crowded plane, or wherever you needed to, pretty quickly.

The bag's made of "rainproof BuckBlast suede," which is nice-looking and feels pretty like tough material. This version is $179.99 direct. Other versions are available for less (see the company's comment below).

Cheap geeks, take note! Slappa is offering a 10 percent discount on this bag to Gearlog readers. Just enter the word "gearlog" as the discount code when you're checking out.

I'm a lefty, although I do some things with my right hand, such as writing and using a mouse. But for those of you who are true Southpaws, you'll be happy to know that Logitech designed a computer mouse exclusively for left-handers. I imagine that it didn't take long for Logitech president and CEO Guerrino De Luca to dream it up either, since he's left-handed.

The Logitech MX610 Left-Hand Laser Cordless Mouse comes with Logitech's precision laser tracking system, contoured thumb and pinky-finger grips and 10 navigational buttons, including e-mail and instant message notifications.

The MX610 has a wireless range of up to 30 feet and also includes volume up, down and mute buttons for controlling music on the PC. 

According to this Logitech Press Release, the MX610 Left-Hand Laser Cordless Mouse will be available worldwide in early April for $59.99. The package will include the cordless mouse plus a 2.4 GHz Micro-Receiver, CD with SetPoint software, USB-to-PS/2 adapter, and 2 AA batteries.

[via Ubergizmo]