When Mercedes says they want you to get personal with your car, they mean it. Recently Mercedes-Benz USA and Hughes Telematics, Inc. launched mbrace, which brings an unprecedented level of connectivity to Mercedes-Benz drivers and allows them to customize their in-vehicle experiences.

The system allows drivers to connect with their vehicles via an iPhone or BlackBerry, and remotely lock or unlock their vehicles, locate them in crowded parking lots or city streets through a map and much more.

George Lucas loves making a butt-load of money on Star Wars merchandise and everyone under the sun is making money on the iPhone. So it makes sense that Lucas is now cashing in on the iPhone himself. These hard-shell cases will protect your phone in style while alerting fellow geeks that you too love Star Wars.

The cases feature Darth Vader or a Stormtrooper and will fit your iPhone 3G or 3GS. Both the Darth Vader Hard Case for iPhone and Stormtrooper Case for iPhone retail for $29.95. They should ship around December 8th.

[Chip Chick]

Hello Kitty is 35 now. Not sure what that is in cat years, but if you like you can celebrate her 35th anniversary with Coverco’s range of customizable battery doors for a bunch of cellphones.

Of course it features the face of Hello Kitty herself looking creepy as ever and you can even have some custom text if you want. If you have an iPhone, you can print the design on a bunch of cases and skins for an extra fee. Prices start at $35.

Google has updated it’s Google Earth iPhone app. The updates come about a year after the original Google Earth iPhone App was released. Google Earth 2.0 will play nice with the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the new version has a bunch of new features, like the ability to view maps that you create on your PC on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

That one should prove most convenient. Another feature is the updated icon selection, which makes it easier to use. When you touch an icon on the app it will glow, and if you touch more than one icon at once it will take you to a list of icons so you can select the right one.

PhoneSuit has a new iPod/iPhone gadget called the Primo battery pack. The device is available in white or black and the compact battery pack will deliver an 800mAh lithium-ion battery, good for up to 45 additional hours of iPod nano audio playback or 3-hours of 3G talk time on the iPhone 3G or 3GS.

The PhoneSuit Primo features a miniUSB port and even a front-mounted LED battery charge meter. You can pre-order the PhoneSuit Primo Micro Battery Pack for $35 on November 23rd when it’s released.

One of the big reasons many users of the first generation iPhone upgraded to the iPhone 3G and then the 3GS was to get GPS capability. The problem for those that use the first generation iPhone or the iPod touch is that the devices lack a GPS receiver.

A new software and hardware system has been unveiled called G-Fi with Navmii software that allows turn-by-turn navigation on the iPod touch and the original iPhone. The hardware portion is called the G-Fi and is a device that acts sort of like a router and can support up to 200 Apple devices in range.

You want a digital picture frame, like the cool kids. But you want something a little different. Something that works with your iPhone maybe. Like a fancy iPhone holder that you can laughingly call a digital picture frame maybe. Well, here ya go.

This is a picture frame that you slide your iPhone into. It will also recharge your iPhone in the frame. You can set up a slideshow or set a mood with the two apps suggested by the manufacturer: “Art” and the “Ambient Channel”. Just looks like your iPhone is trapped in a fancy gift box to us, but why not.

If you’re looking for an Apple handheld pico projector, you have one more option. Sparkz is a dock that is compatible with your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPod video, along with other A/V and VGA sources. It features 640 x 480 resolution, a 60-inch viewing area, and stereo speakers.

How much would you expect to pay for this device? 250? 350? This can be yours for the price of $495. Is it worth it? I’ll let you be the judge of that. It will also charge your iPhone and it comes with a tripod.

Until now, if you wanted to get HD Radio in a portable, handheld you had to buy a Zune HD. But Gigaware is leveling the playing field by opening up HD Radio to every iPod touch and iPhone user in the US.

The adapter allows any iPhone or iPod touch with iPhone OS 3.0 or greater the ability to listen to HD Radio and local FM stations. It’s available now for $79.99 exclusively at RadioShack. The accompanying app has a manual tune wheel or auto-seek, social network integration, bookmarks and iTunes Tagging and can be downloaded for free.

The holiday season is here and that means that most of us will end up at the crowded malls looking for gifts very soon. That also means that many of us will need to try to remember where exactly we parked our cars in that crowded mall parking lot.

Intridea has a new app for iPhone users that will at least eliminate problems trying to find your car called Car Finder. The app works on iPhones running the 3.1 software and overlays data using the live camera view of the iPhone.

Verizon layed the smack down this weekend in its anti-AT&T campaign with three new ads. The first ad, “Misfit Toys,” attacks the iPhone’s attachment to AT&T and says it belongs on Rudolph’s Island of Misfit Toys for running on a network with low 3G coverage. The new commercials make a point to praise the phone, but attack the network, making it seem like Verizon is backing away from direct criticisms.

The “Blue Christmas” and “Elves,” ads are less direct but show iPhones with no logos ruining Christmas because they can’t get a good signal. You can see the other ads below.

idox has a new range of cases for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPod Nano, dubbed the idox Traveler series. This range of cases is designed to be used as a case for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPod Nano, while acting as a stand so you can watch your favorite movies while on the go.

Pretty convenient while traveling. Just set it down and watch your movie on a plane, train etc. They start at $24.95 for the iPod Nano version, and both the iPhone and iPod Touch versions are $34.95.

Zodttd is a developer working on a N64 emulator for the iPhone 3GS. Will it have the power? Possibly, thanks to CPU, GPU and OpenGL ES 2.0 support that will deliver smooth N64 emulation. But don’t get too excited.

Some high-end N64 titles might not be available due to the lack of power. The other issue would be the control scheme. Some of us hated the N64’s controller and found the games hard enough to play originally. The iPhone won’t be any better.

Remember the XM SkyDock? It’s now available for purchase for $120. For that price it will give you full touchscreen control along with tagging capabilities over your in-car satellite radio. SkyDock features a built-in XM tuner and PowerConnect FM transmitter and will plug right into the cigarette lighter / power adapter socket where it will also charge your Apple device.

XM is making the App a free download from Apple’s App Store, but you’ll still have to run the antenna cable along the inside of your vehicle’s weather stripping to attach the magnetic antenna to your car’s roof (just above your front windshield) for optimal results.

And the iPhone/iPod dock of the day is the Pure Siesta iDock, a stereo DAB/ DAB+/ FM clock radio complete with an iPod and iPhone dock. Need to take a Siesta? There’s a dock for that.

Enjoy your daytime nap with your favorite tunes with your iPhone or iPod docked. Some features of this dock include a large auto-dimming display, four quick-set alarms, sleep and snooze timers (Because who wants to wake up?) and 15 DAB/FM presets.