It’s sexy, it’s cheap (relatively speaking: around $150 for the full system), and most importantly the audio quality is excellent for the price. The Sony Xplod CDX-GT920U has a front auxilary input, a rear USB input, three preamp outputs, plus you can add satellite or HD radio control modules, which lets you have plenty of options for expanding the head unit. The interface

plus the structure of the menus within are superb and make finding songs exceptionally easy. The only real downside is that the CDX-GT920U doesn’t natively support the Apple iPod, although you can still simply plug it in through the front aux.

Interface and Controls

The way in which the CDX-GT92OU is laid out is very similar to the rest of the Xplod line: there are four buttons (Mode, Source, Shuffle, and Display) and a chrome toggle which surrounds the dial. This layout is very easy to use because of the way almost all operations are handled through the dial. The dot-matrix display is very good, clear, and easy to read, but I would advise you to simply turn off the animations as they resemble the quality of an early Nintendo Gameboy.

The primary reason you’d want to buy the CDX-GT920U is

its digital audio features plus the “Quick BrowZer” mode–makes for very easy navigation of your digital audio files. This particular Xplod supports WMA, MP3, and AAC burned to a CD or stored on a USB device (like a MP3 player or USB stick). Also, there is an external iPod adapter

which you can get as an add-on for $50, and there are modules for satellite and HD radio available as well.

Audio Quality

The CDX-GT920U is packing serious heat with a three-band EQ with seven presets, along with Sony’s DM+ which improves the audio quality of a digitally compressed song like what you would find on the MP3 format. I tried the DM+ system by listening to music on audio CD, and then the same song from a 128Kbps MP3 file. As I would expect, the CD did sound a little bit better than the MP3, whether the DM+ was on or off, but the DM+ system did work to a degree by improving clarity at the high end of the audible spectrum.

The DSO system (that’s Dynamic Soundstage Organizer) created a much more ambient sound field and really made a big difference, I must say–it really feels like it’s lifting the sound up from the floorboards and making the high end of the sound spectrum clearer. Around the top volume, DSO did cause some low-end distortion, but at all other levels I think it can make even OEM speakers sound awesome.

Power

You’ve got 52 watts (maximum) pushing through

4 separate channels, so yeah the CDX-GT920U can be quite loud if you want it to be. The sound quality is even fairly clear at these higher volumes, but, like I said, there is some distortion near the top. And if that’s not sufficiently eardrum-busting for you, there are three 4-volt preamp output lines, one of

which is dedicated specifically for a subwoofer that has an adjustable, built-in, low-pass filter.

Additional Resources

Official Sony website for the Xplod Car Audio System

See Amazon.com for different Xplod systems and read the reviews for them (I haven’t found anywhere with better prices for these systems)

Tried searching Digg without entering any search terms, nope wouldn’t let me do it, so I searched for ‘the’, and this is what I got:

(click here to go straight to the search results)

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Interested in a Smart car (gotcha with that 40+ MPG thing, didn’t I? )? From The Smart Car USA Website:

“1. Who is smart?

Smart is a member of the Mercedes Car Group. smart vehicles are sold in 36 countries throughout the world. Over 750,000 fortwo vehicles have been sold since its introduction. When the United States starts selling the smart fortwo it will become the 37th country.

2. When will smart vehicles be available for purchase in the United States?

The smart fortwo is scheduled to be available in the first quarter of 2008.

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5. Can I order a smart now?

No, at this time we do not have an ordering process. As soon as a process is established we will notify you immediately if you register as an “insider” here: http://www.smartusa.com/becomeinsider.asp
….

7. What are the exact dimensions?

The smart fortwo is small on the outside and big on the inside. The smart fortwo that will be available in the United States will be: o 8.8 feet long (you can usually fit two smart fortwos in an average parking space!) o 5.1 feet tall (the smart still has as much headroom as most luxury vehicles!) o 5.1 feet wide (two six foot, five inch plus people can sit side by side with plenty of shoulder room to spare!)

8. How fast does the smart fortwo go?

The top speed of the smart fortwo is approximately 90 mph.

9. What is the gas mileage of smart?

Engineering and testing continues to take place on the vehicle that will be produced for the United States. Gas mileage is expected to be 40 plus mpg combined for city and highway.

10. Is the smart vehicle safe?

The safety management system for the smart fortwo is comprehensive and sophisticated. The highlight of the safety management system is the tridion safety cell. The safety cell is made from three layers of steel that are reinforced at strategic points. The cell is designed to keep occupants protected. The reinforced steel and the design of the car allow for the absorption of impact and redistribution of crash energy. Because of the size of the vehicle, most crashes will also involve one of the wheel bases which also absorbs energy. Both doors are also reinforced with steel bars. The smart fortwo, which will be for sale in the United States in 2008, will come standard with four airbags (two front and two side for head and thorax protection). Other safety features such as esp® (electronic stability program) and ABS brakes are also standard.

11. How much space does smart have for storage?

The smart fortwo has a trunk which will accommodate active lifestyles. This area can easily fit numerous bags of groceries, gym bags and other items that are commonly transported every day, including golf clubs! The trunk can also accommodate many sizes of luggage making trips to the airport convenient. The front passenger seat also folds down creating additional space for other items such as skis.”

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Save This Page To My del.icio.usThanks to Mike’s Electric Stuff for this one!! (this image has been my wallpaper for months now and I just realized, hey I oughta post this somewhere!). Be sure to go check out Mike’s site, he’s got every manner of weird and dangerous gadgets that he’s built (check out the site and you’ll see that ‘too much free time’ takes on a new meaning) including tesla coils, lasers, neodymium magnets, a DIY PCMCIA Serial interface, and I don’t know what else.

1. Serious talent in this…um, ’special’ field.

2. Way too much free time.

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Also, the ’stinky’ computer in the backseat (maybe it farted? see blog name if confused) appears to be an IBM–why? It would have made sense if it were an apple, but the video’s too blury for me to be able to tell for sure. Anyone?

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Save This Page To My del.icio.usAnyway, this is an internet classic, probably one of the first viral videos back from well before the term ‘viral video’ was even around–I’d say this was circulating on the net probably soon after it aired in the mid-90’s. I’d also say that this is the best commercial to ever come out of the stinky bowels of Microsoft (I’m not a Microshit fan, by the way).

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“Don’t try this at home. We’re what you call experts…wait wait wait!!” *POW!* – Jaime sets off .22 round in Adam’s face.

“Mythbusters contains material not suited for children.” *Adam runs off while mooning the camera*

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