For awhile there batteries were getting recalled fairly often, but now it’s been quite awhile since we’ve seen a major recall involving laptop batteries. Sadly, its back in the news. Today, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Hewlett-Packard, has issued a voluntary recall of about 70,000 Li-ion batteries.

Apparently, these cells can “overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers,”. Thus far, the firm and CPSC have received two separate reports of batteries overheating and rupturing. The result is “flames/fire that caused minor property damage.”

Sanyo Japan has just announced a new high-end projector dubbed the LP-WXU700. It’s the world’s first WiFi-enabled projector supporting the IEEE802.11n standard. It measures 334.2mm × 78.4mm × 257.5mm and weighs 3.6kg.

Sanyo says that users can conveniently stream video from their PCs through the projector (it also supports the Windows Vista Network Projector standard). Some other features include a 275W lamp, a 500:1 contrast ratio and 3,800 lumens brightness, HDMI and a USB interface. The LP-WXU700 will be released in Japan on June 19 for a stunning $6,300.

People really really love the Mushroom Kingdom. In the first week alone in the US, the big N managed to sell a whooping 435,00 DSi handhelds. Here’s something more amazing. In the month of March Nintendo systems accounted for just under 60 percent of all video game hardware sold in America.

This during a 17 percent drop in Wii sales during the same month. The news definitely gives Mario and Yoshi something to get excited about.

It’s always nice when your phone has some extra bells and whistles, but we tend to forget that the most important feature of your phone is it’s 911 functionality. That’s why LG must be feeling a bit embarrassed that around 30,000 LG 830 Spyder handsets are having a tough time dialing for help.

A product recall notes that a huge number of them have “difficulty sustaining a connection or have poor voice quality on calls to emergency 911.” On the up side, LG is acting responsibly, as it has only received a single report that did not result in any injuries.

Now if I wanted to act like a pompous twit, I might say something like, “This piece speaks directly to my soul and illustrates the futility of man. Does it comment on life or death?” Pffft. I’m just gonna call it a fugly art skull decked out in all kinds of precious metals like silver, mercury and gold and gem stones. Cuz that’s what it is. Oh and it’s also a camera.

The skull camera is named “Yama” after the Tibetan god of death and it’s actually made from the skull of a Tibetan monk. It’s gotta be the creepiest looking pinhole camera I have ever seen. Not just the fugliest. A divider that splits it into two lets you see it’s inner view. It comes with a hefty price at $5,000.

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?

It used to be that stun guns were so expensive that only the elite and law enforcement could enjoy them. Not anymore. Behold the Thunder Stun Gun. Now you can electrocute people for the price of a cheap meal. The Thunder Stun gun delivers 200,000 to 750,000 volts for just 13 dollars. Because you shouldn’t have to go broke to fry another human being’s innards. If the price tag was a shock to you, just imagine how your target is going to feel.

In these trying economic times, as the divide between the rich and the poor grows ever greater, the rich need to protect themselves. Landing comfortably safe with your golden parachute may have protected you when you ran your bank into the ground, but it won’t keep you safe from the angry villagers with torches.

Or worse, guns. Joe six-pack is pretty pissed at guys like you, dontcha know. This polo shirt from Caballero will protect you from their bullets while letting you look casual. It will protect you from a 9mm pistol, so that you may live to gorge yourself on the American financial system one more day. $12,000 is nothing my wealthy friend. You’ve earned the bullets, so get yourself a bullet-proof shirt.

Don’t we always have you covered on the latest Star Wars stuff? Does an ewok poop in the Forest of Endor? Yes and yes. I present to you a Darth Vader that’s been bronzed heavier then George Hamilton in the Bahamas. It’s the work of Lawrence Noble and will cost you $18,000. The limited edition weighs in at 4 feet tall and 150 lbs.

I don’t know what you would do with it aside from admiring it’s bronz-i-ness. I suppose you could kneel before it and profess your love of the dark side and ask your master what his bidding is for you on that day. I guess you could sit it across from a statue of the Virgin Mary and call the news when they both start to cry, then charge for admission. That’s what I would do. Lord Vader is available from the official Star Wars webshop.