My Mom is famous for asking for practical gifts for birthdays, holidays and Mother’s Day. If you’ve been looking around for something inexpensive, practical and gift-worthy — look no more. Buy.com has the super affordable Halberd Roadside kit on sale for $ 10 with free shipping. Open a new Google Checkout account, and you’ll score this deal for free! Tip: If you gift something THIS practical, you’ll need to add flowers or candy to truly impress her with your gift giving.

Link: Buy.com - Halberd 31 pc Roadside Emergency Kit W/ Insulated Jumper Cables

You’ve heard of those court-ordered gadgets which force people with prior DUIs to perform a breath-test in order to start their car engine, right? Well as if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, then take a look at this: If you are a risky borrower and you miss an automobile loan payment, this gadget will keep your car from starting.

When the light starts to flash, you had better have the cash.

That’s the reality for millions of subprime borrowers whose used car purchase is contingent upon having an unusual option: a little box mounted underneath the dashboard that forces them to make their payments on time.

A light on the plastic box flashes when a payment is due. If the payment isn’t made and the resulting code punched in to reset the box, the vehicle won’t start. The next step is a visit from the repo man.

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Here is some savings information from ProClip which should come as good news to anyone who needs an in-vehicle device mounting solution…

During the months of May and June everybody is looking forward to a great summer and their upcoming travels. ProClip USA will offer a special 10% discount in these months on their great in-vehicle custom mounting solutions for many mobile devices like GPS Systems,  Mobile Phones and Portable Music Players.

ProClip USA solutions are a perfect gift for Mothers, Fathers and Graduates.

Just enter the following code in the AC-field during the check out process and select apply.

This Mothers, Fathers and Graduate 2008 AC promotion number =  071508

This offer will expire on : July 1, 2008

Five years ago while at a conference in Orlando I booked an 8 lap session at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. They hold two classes daily - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Surprisingly the hardest thing about the class was keeping up with the instructor. You’d think that once inside a race care that you’d tend to drive fast. I found (along with most of the others that day) that I was overly cautious. That doesn’t mean I still wasn’t able to round the track at 125 mph. More photos, as well as some tips and tricks for those considering the Petty Experience follow.

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I’m a talker… Always have been, and will likely be yackin’ my head off the day I die.  I… have the gift of gab. We all know its true, so who are we kidding.

With the influx of new devices I’ve got, E-TEN X800, E-TEN X650, and BB Curve 8310, I’ve been doing a lot of talking lately. I’ve been using the Palm Bluetooth Headset since Palm gave me one with the Treo Trip kit they gave all of the original 700w reviewers a couple-three years ago. its been a dependable, and half-way decent headset.  However, it leaves a bit to be desired: the volume isn’t loud enough, and wind noise is a problem.  As such, I’ve been searching for a new headset.  When I was presented with the opportunity to look at the Yada YD-V1 Universal Phone Holder and Headset, I jumped at the chance.  Let’s take just a quick look and see how it did.

All pictures were taken with the E-TEN X800’s built in rear facing camera.

The Yada, charging in my car. BTW, what’s with the blue LED in the middle of the holder..?  There’s nothing on it in the manual and no power going to it…

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I just missed posting this review in time for Texas’ Spring Break, but it should still be timely for everyone who plans on traveling this summer. I’ll warn you now though, in order to use this product you’ll need to give up one of your vehicle’s cup-holders.

Why would I ask for something so uncivilized?

Because by giving up a cup-holder you might just gain the means to charge up to three devices at the same time, all from a single cigar lighter or power port.

Intrigued? I was, which is how I came to be in possession of the Targus 100W Auto Power Inverter.

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Chris Spera called me the other day while I was driving my Alfa. We talked for a little bit, but then I finally had to admit that I was driving a stick shift in traffic, and holding my mobile phone to my left ear was a little bit tricky…since that was the hand I needed for the steering wheel, while my right hand was working the shift.

He, of course, reminded me that they make headsets for that.

I, of course, don’t really like wearing one.

This review will focus on a compromise for people like me, those who don’t particularly like ear roaches, but who know that driving a stick shift with a phone in one hand and a latte in the other (didn’t I mention that?) isn’t the safest way to get from point A to point B.

The product is the Venturi Mini, and what it does is allow you to listen to music from your mobile phone as it streams via Bluetooth over your vehicle’s speaker system (assuming your phone has A2DP), or you can talk hands-free over the Venturi’s speaker system.

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When I bought my new car in September 2007 I knew I would be keeping it for a few years, so I decided that I was going to take the plunge, and build a Car PC like those that I had read about on the MP3Car.com forums. The computer would replace the standard audio system, and add MP3 playback, video, GPS, GPS tracking and internet access to my car

After months of dreaming about such a setup my Car PC is finally installed. I’ve had the computer on my desk for over 3 mths now but time and money kinda pushed it WAY forward to this day. Since my dad was off work for the Australia Day holiday, we decided it was time to tackle it.

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People like me, who are used to using a software program such as eWallet, know the value and convenience of having all of their important personal data in an easily accessible and secure location. Once you’ve put out the initial effort required during setup, staying on top of future entries is just a matter of regular updates as new items occur. I mention the concept behind eWallet, because the service I’ll tell you about in this review takes that same basic idea, but then applies it in a much more thorough way to vehicle maintenance, management, and logging. The service is Ownersite, and it is an online repository for any and all data belonging to the vehicles you own.

How quickly can you answer these questions:
When the last time you had your belts and hoses checked? How long has it really been since your oil was changed? What kind of gas mileage is your vehicle getting? How much have you already spent on vehicle maintenance this year? How much have you spent overall? How much of that was business? How much of that was personal?

Without having to go out to my car and peek at a service sticker, without having to pull out a pile of receipts, and without having to look through my checkbook or Money program, I can almost instantly tell you the answer to these and many other questions. The reason is because I keep all information pertaining to my 1986 Alfa Romeo on Ownersite.

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Tuesday I was in Dearborn, Michigan, with about 200 other journalists attending an event held in and marking the reopening of the renovated historic Ford Dearborn Glass Plant. Before I get into the particulars of our day, I want to mention that the Dearborn Glass Plant was designed by Albert Kahn and built in 1922. It has a “front wall and ceiling made of glass” which allowed the plant to “let air and light in and excess heat out, providing a more comfortable work environment for employees.” This building was closed in 1998, and after its recent extensive renovations, it was re-birthed December 11th as a New-Model Quality Center, where it will help provide “training on key assembly processes for a third of Dearborn Truck’s 3,200 employees.

photo courtesy of Ford Media

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