Gaming and driving? At the same time? Awesome. Garnet Hertz’s augmented reality-based OutRun project marries a concept car to Sega’s classic driving game with an electric golf cart, allowing players to navigate their way around real-life courses. It’s like driving an arcade cabinet.

Hertz outfitted the system with cameras and customized software that can see in front of the car to automatically reproduce the route on the screen. The map is displayed in the same 8-bit rendering as the original OutRun, with perspectives changing with the steering. It only hits 13 mph, but it’s awesome even at that speed.

We are talking destroying data on purpose, not by accident. So don’t worry, Toshiba isn’t shipping any faulty gear here. The new MK6461GSYG Series of HDD is a secure HDD with AES 256Bit encryption that will “invalidate” the data, rendering it useless when the drive connects to an unknown computer. Therefore, making your data more secure.

You can expect these new drives to be available at the end of June in 160, 250, 320 and 640GB capacities with a 7,200rpm speed. No idea which laptops these will show up in. We will have to wait and see.

It looks like Verbatim has finally decided to release its new Store n Go USB drive. These drives are available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB storage spaces. The attraction here is that these drives are super-tiny, but with good capacity for the size.

These drives have a USB 2.0 interface and will deliver read and write speeds of up to 11 MB/s and 3 MB/s. The Verbatim Store n Go USB drive is available now in Europe and will cost you about $25 and up.

If your laptop has both the USB port and the power, Plextor has a new device to bring Blu-Ray to your machine. The new PX-B120U is a USB-powered BD-ROM drive, which plays Blu-ray movies and even goes a step further with the ability to burn DVDs and CDs.

Those features are nothing special. It’s the ability to function entirely from USB power that we like. The device can also be converted into a living room player when connected to the forthcoming PlexMedia. At just $99.99 it is very tempting.

Blu-ray players normally just play Blu-ray discs, but Hitachi see them doing more. That’s why they decided to integrate a 32GB solid-state drive as well.

Hitachi is calling it the “Hy Drive,”. The idea is that the operating system and critical software components could be installed into the SSD, leaving your platter hard drive free for everything else. It could improve overall system performance. Hitachi launches the new drives in August.

I’m just gonna come right out and say what we all know. The T Power USB stick is a bunch of bull. It claims to reduce eyestrain and helps blood circulation and improves your health and vitality overall. Just as long as it stays plugged in while you’re using your computer.

Wow, a miracle cure in USB form. t will cost you £39.95 to prove or disprove these claims, but I would suggest you just keep your money.

USB and SSD on a device that looks like a USB flash drive? The Buffalo SHD-LVS-BK USB SSD is powered via a USB 2.0 port and holds 64GB of data. And it measures just 23mm x 10mm x 98 mm. Buffalo has even incorporated a switch to help prevent accidental deletion of old files as well as stopping new files from being written onto the drive. That will be handy.

It also boasts TurboPC and TurboCopy functions to boost transfer rates. You can choose from 3GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities for $28, $45, $77, $135 and $260.

Apogee’s Astro Drive A101 is a record holder. It’s the smallest USB 3.0 device on the market at the moment, though that is sure to change very soon. This smallest ever drive is also fast and can achieve read and write speeds of up to 180MB/s and 130MB/s.

It will come in 128GB, 64GB and 32GB capacities, but there’s no word on pricing yet. It has a stylish look for those who like to make a statement with their accessories.

Sure this isn’t the most attractive or exciting device ever, but in terms of practicality, it’s pretty cool. Aleratec’s 1:1 HDD PortaCruiser Lightweight and Portable Hard Disk Drive Duplicator lets you easily clone 2.5″ and 3.5″ hard drives for backing up your data.

It also functions as a Dual Disk RAID Controller so you can attach two hard drives to it, connect it to a USB 2.0 port and use it as external storage. The 2-line LCD display makes things even easier. And it weighs only 8 ounces, so you can carry it with you.

Looking for something different in a flash drive? Something colorful and festive that celebrates the Chinese new year? Well, this is your lucky day. This new USB drive has the Year of the Tiger theme. If it’s the Eye of the Tiger you’re looking for, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

These drives come from Kingston and hold up to 8GB of storage. It’s part of their DataTraveler line, but likely won’t be available outside of Asia, so if you want one, you better get it shipped from there.

Most people don’t clone their hard drives, but when you have to do it, it can be a real pain. If you have to clone hard drives on a regular basis, you might want to check out this Double Rack USB/ eSATA dock. It allows you to plug in two hard drives, and clone one from the other.

The most interesting thing here though is that it doesn’t require using your PC to do it. No need to tie up your machine at all. You can also use it as a regular hard drive dock too. It can even clone PS3 hard drives.

PureSilicon has upgraded its Renegade R2 SSD series with a brand new 256GB version. The drive features 255MB/sec sequential read rates and 180MB/sec sequential write rates and supports MIL-STD-810F standards so that it can hold up in extreme temperatures and to shock and vibration.

The tough and rugged 256GB SSD drive will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2010 along with encrypted versions. The PureSilicon 256GB SSD Drive is also available in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities.

Solid Alliance has announced a USB memory stick that’s designed to look like a T-600 Terminator skull from Terminator 4 – Salvation. The USB cyborg skull holds 2GB of storage, weighs 42g and supports Windows XP/Vista and MacOS 10.2 and up. The eyes of the T600 are rhinestones from who else? Swarovski.

Cool as it is, the skull will cost you $150. It’s available in Japan right now. If you absolutely need to have it, you might want to contact Geekstuff4u or Japan Trend Shop.

Verbatim has announced its new line of InSight portable USB hard drives. The storage devices weigh less than 6 ounces and are only 6 inches in length. They are also “sleek” and “durable” sporting a “piano black” finish.

The drives are available in 320GB or 500GB sizes. The most interesting feature is the Always On display, which lives up to its name by being always on, displays the drive name and available free space, even when it isn’t connected to the computer.

Corsair has a new flash drive in it’s lineup. One they are calling the ‘World’s fastest high capacity USB flash drive’. It’s based on a design that uses a unique dual-controller architecture to achieve SLC-levels of performance using MLC NAND flash memory. The Corsair Flash Voyager GT 128GB boasts read speeds of up to 32MB/s and write speeds of up to 25.6MB/s. The limiting factor is the speed of the USB 2.0 bus and operating system.

The Corsair Flash Voyager GT 128GB has some added durability with a water resistant rubber case that’s designed to protect it from damage. Nothing on price or availability as yet, but we should have that info soon.