The computer industry is hurting in the current economic climate globally. Even the largest PC makers like Dell have had a hard time maintaining the levels of profit common before the global economic crisis. One of the ways Dell is luring consumers who are shopping for new notebooks to its doors is with more customization options.

Dell announced today that its Design Studio now has more than 100 different design options for customizing its Studio 15 and Studio 17 notebooks. The Design Studio allows shoppers to choose any of the artwork from the catalog and view the notebook from all angles before they order.

Flash Drives are commodity items today that you can pick up everywhere from the junk isle at your local gas station, to the checkout lane at the grocery store. To try to set their products apart from the competition makers of flash drives are always trying to give their products a little something else to grab the eye and dollars of shoppers.

PNY offered a flash drive with a full digital version of the 80’s flick Ghostbusters not so long ago. Super Talent announced today that it would be offering flash drives that feature licensed material from The Godfather.

Designer Sait Alanyali is a proud Mac Mini user. So proud that he designed his own. One of the problems he has with the current machine are the I/O ports. It’s a hassle to plug things in and take them out. Hence the “V” shape. It puts the ports within reach while keeping cables tidy. The shape also comes in handy by improving cooling as air moves freely through the heatsink.

Hard drives are hot swappable with a 2.5″ hd installed and an empty slot to use any way you like. It also features an HDMI port and does away with the power brick because this one has it built inside. Another new feature is the embedded logo display. It sports a sensor inside that detects it’s orientation, so that the logo is always facing up.

It’s beginning to look a lot like a redneck Christmas…I mean how much do you have to drink during a typical day, to say to yourself, “I need that there hat!”. If you see nothing odd about this bottle opener hat, then chances are pretty good that you attend Nascar races while simultaneously courting your sister. In case it’s not obvious, the Guinness Bottle Opener Baseball Cap has a metal hook on the brim to tear off caps, and it’s officially licensed by the beer company and all.

The cap sells for $25, which isn’t too bad if you absolutely must have it. But you’re probably thinking that your teeth have done the job thus far, and they can probably open another couple hundred beers. Cuz that $25 should really go toward brew.

One of the ways for fans of mobile multimedia like movies and personal video on the go can view content on a larger screen is with a small projector. Some day mobile phones will have projectors built-in, but until then 3M has a perfect projector for someone looking for a very portable unit.

The projector is called the 3M MPro110 and is one of the tiniest projectors ever made. It measures in at a mere 115mm x 50mm x 22mm (L x W x H) and weighs 152g. Despite the small size, the projector can throw an image of 5-inches to 50-inches and offers a resolution of 640 x 480.

Do you have an un-natural and un-healthy desire to sled down a hill in the middle of summer? Apparently, you aren’t the only one. Here’s your ticket, right here. The Ice Meister Slicer lets you race down the big hills all year long. It works like an ordinary sled when there’s plenty of snow, but in the summer, you bring the ice to the hill, mounted on the bottom of the sled. Pretty simple solution huh?

But why the hell can’t you live without sledding for a few months? Here’s how it works. There are two molds, called Icers, that you remove from the sled, fill with water and then freeze. Then you attach the two slabs of ice to the bottom of the sled for summer sledding fun.

This concept Motorola handset likes like a kick-ass robot Hello Kitty demon that has arisen from the ashes of it’s own hell-fire. It’s here to chew bubble gum and kick ass. It’s all out of bubble gum.

Take this Hello Kitty fans. This thing will kick your thing’s ass. It will eat Hello Kitty, poop her out and repeat the process all over again. It features a very limited button selection, camera, color screen, and hiding feature. It’s the “Cute Phone!”. I don’t know about that, but it’s pretty damn freaky. And I hope to God it can help rid our world of Hello Kitty. Pray with me.

You can use the Wiimote alone as one of any 60 instruments featured in Wii Music. But that’s no fun. You need cheap plastic to really rock out with your orchestra. Plastic in the shape of a violin, saxophone and a pair of drumsticks. Now you’re rockin! Break out the formal-wear and pass some martinis around and your livingroom concert is complete.

The eGear WiiMusic Pack includes all three instrument attachments. The drumstick doubles as a conductor’s baton. That’s still 56 pieces short of a full Wii Music symphony orchestra, but it’s a start. For $30 it will make you feel like you are more then just a Wii music pretender.

The iPhone has never really been a friendly device for the blind, so this case designed by Bruno Fosi is fairly impressive. The Silicone Touch covers the iPhone’s screen and features a selection of bas-relief buttons that correspond to menu items in a custom app.

This lets the visually impaired access all of the phone’s functions, even multi-touch and finger flick scrolling. None of the phone’s functions are compromised. It’s just a concept at the moment, but this is one that we hope will see the light of day very soon.

It’s getting freakin’ cold in my part of the world. That means it’s that time of year where we become dependent on space heaters. Chances are you are used to buying the cheap ones that break every year. Well, the Vorando TVH 600 looks like a very decent space heater.

The TVH 600 stands out with it’s touchscreen on top. Hell. everything else has a touchscreen, why not your heater right? If that doesn’t make it stand out enough for ya, it also has it’s own remote. With the remote, you can adjust the temperature of the heater, and it will work like a thermostat. That means that the TVH 600 will heat the room as it detects the temperature going down.

We all know that AIDS is killing a lot of people not only here in America, but especially in countries where access to medicines and medical care is hard to come by. (RED) is familiar enough in the technology world and usually associated with gadgets bearing the (RED) logo and a corresponding red paint job.

Today marks the launch of a new digital music magazine called (RED)WIRE. The magazine will be delivered to subscriber’s inbox every Wednesday. For the launch today (RED)WIRE is offering fans performances form U2, Jay-Z, Coldplay, John Legend, Dixie Chicks and more.

The name is a mouthful, but this tool is a long overdue upgrade to the traditional hammer. Without a single swing, it will drive up to 3.5-inch nails with just the pull of a trigger. It’s powered by a 12-volt Lithium-Ion battery and works great in tight spaces.

The best part of course is that it’s a tool for the extremely lazy. Much like me, it nails at 2000 impacts/minute. Just ask the ladies. It also sports a retractable nail sleeve and magnetic head that makes it easy to operate one-handed.

Motorola has some new digital cordless phones, the D10 and D11. Both feature an innovative design that we haven’t really seen before. If the picture above is any indication it can turn the steam from your coffee into a weird hovering alien creature.

The D10 and D11 handsets are intelligent enough that they can adjust automatically to optimize output depending on how far they are from the base unit. In the intelligent ‘eco mode’, you can save on battery power and get longer talk time without sacrificing voice quality. The phone is eco-conscious because 20% of it is made from recycled material, which will help reduce your carbon footprint, which currently looks like Bigfoot on steroids.

Microsoft’s Surface technology has many uses, but one interesting way to use it is how it is being used by BMW. Here is a video that shows you how rich slobs can explore BMW cars with just their delicate and un-calloused fingers

“The Ultimate Driving Machine” being optimized with “BMW Product Navigator”. The touch screen system lets snooty BMW buyers configure their new car in a whole new interactive way. The exteriors and the interiors can be reviewed even before the car is purchased. That includes the color of the car.

If you are looking to drop a ton of dough on speakers, it should probably be on speakers that you won’t drop and shatter in a million pieces. These Harion speakers are made of Heat-resistant glass and are pretty sweet looking despite their fragile nature. They’ll cost you $168,000.

You get a center speaker, a sub woofer, a couple of tweeters and mid-range speakers. It took three years, eight months and 23 subcontractors to dekiver a finished product. Which probably explains the cost. No word on what they sound like, but we have an idea. We’re guessing they sound like any other glass that’s ever hit the floor, followed by you weeping and wondering why, dear God, why did you have to pay so much for something so fragile?