The Azentek SmartMirror was a hot topic in August, with only a few units available, many back orders and waiting lists began popping up, along with a few disgruntled customers who were tired of waiting. If you find yourself in the disgruntled customer category, today is your lucky day! Azentek is ramping up production of their GPS mirrors and stated the mirrors will be available at major retailers by the end of the year. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, the $800 rear view mirror crams a 4″ GPS unit alongside its standard sizedrear view mirror. The GPS system doesn’t skimp on features and has hands free Bluetooth calling, a built in speaker, and text to speech functionality. The mirror also has an SD card slot for expansion.

It might be sooner than you think. The European Union initiated a Battery Directive in 2006 which aimed to make it easier to dispose of old batteries, but it looks like they’ll be taking it a step further with a New Battery Directive. This new directive proposes that all batteries should be able to be removed from their electronic devices for replacement and disposal. If this new directive goes through, it could mean trouble for the iPhone in Europe, as well as iPods and a few other non-Apple devices. It wouldn’t be the first time Apple has gotten into trouble with the EU, and it most certainly won’t be the last.

Tsukuba University professor Yoshiyuki Sankai designed a robotic suit called the HAL-5 in 2006 which would allow handicapped people more freedom. The manufacturer of the suit, Cyberdyne will be cranking out these suits in large numbers in order for the suits to be rented. The suits are scheduled to go on sale in Japan at the rate of $2,200 a month. That’s a lot of money for freedom. Sankai says he hopes it will be useful for elderly people with disabilities by providing super strength mechanical assistance when the suit intercepts your brain signals for limb movements. Wow. I bet you never pictured your grandmother in a Samus Aran suit. Interestingly, Sankai has turned down several military bids for the suit, so don’t expect to see Crysis soldiers on the street any time soon.

There’s not a room in your house that doesn’t have at least one light bulb in it, unless you’re The Phantom of the Opera, so having light bulbs as a means to carry data seems an extremely intelligent idea. At least, that’s what researches at Boston University’s College of Engineering though, too. A team at the school has been working on low-power LED lights which could utilize optical communication to carry data wirelessly. This is a huge step in making houses across America fully “wired”… wirelessly. Imagine a home where your computer, your phone, hell, even your gaming device could instantly communicate with you as soon as you flip the light switch in your room. Someone call the Jetsons, we’re moving in next door!

As if you needed another reason to constantly check your email. This little device sits neatly on your desktop, cleverly disguised as an envelope. Whenever you receive email, the light inside the notifier will light up, either in green, blue or red. The color depends on what location you’ve received the mail from, for those of you with multiple inboxes, or you can use it to set the volume of your inbox, letting you know when its time to clean out your inbox. The device is priced at $17 and would make a great gift for the email addict you know.

This is likely just a bit over-protective, but there are those parents in the world who wouldn’t let their kids out of a bubble if the law permitted such treatment. Well, this is the next best thing for those parents with teenagers just beginning to drive. The MyKey concept will debut in the 2010 Focus Coupe, followed by a myriad of Ford’s other vehicles later on. The system limits the cars top driving speed to 80mph and keeps stereo volume at a comfortable 44% of it’s max output. Another feature concerns seat belts, in which the stereo is muted until everyone in the car is buckled up. Sure, your kids will be safer, but no less annoyed at you as a parent.

So you didn’t plunk down the cash for a 40GB PS3 package, and now you’re hurting for a media card reader and a couple extra USB slots. Don’t worry, Nyko has you covered here, even if they don’t care what they make your system look like. This unsightly little addition to your console will set you back $19.99, but you’ll have all the USB slots you’ll ever need. Of course, if you do care what your console looks like, you can always find creative ways of turning wired controllers wireless. But you’re guaranteed to spend more than twenty bucks because you’re concerned with console aesthetics.

Personal Media Players have been around for quite awhile now, and they’re just the answer for people who want to take their media on the go with them but don’t want a more expensive device with a strange format. (I’m looking at you, PSP UMD.) While lots of these things have been coming out of China recently, the most interesting of the bunch is being developed by Ainol. The huge-screened PMP has been in news articles on various different websites, but until now, there’s been no mention of a price. Recently it was found out that Ainol plans to charge around $102 for the device. Your $102 will net you 4GBs of internal space, a 4.3 inch 800 X 480 screen, FM tuner, and TV output with a rechargeable battery. The only challenge will be finding one of these babies. eBay, anyone?

October 22 is a long way away, especially for those who are eagerly anticipating the G1, or GooglePhone. Surprisingly enough T-Mobile has answered the calls of thousands of G1 fans with a demo, perhaps taking a cue from Microsoft’s demo of the New Xbox Live experience. The emulator will help satisfy yourcuriosity concerning several features offered by the G1. While the emulator isn’t fully functional, as it doesn’t allow you to play around with some of the Google Street View features, it’s got lots of goodies to help you get acquainted with your soon to be electronic best friend.

Ergonomic mice aren’t new to the market, in fact, it seems just about every month, there’s a new company releasing a new mouse which is advertised as a great way to relieve the stress in your wrists. The HandshoeMouse by Hippus just might be the real thing. The mouse was developed at two medical universities in Holland, which gives it a solid background. The mouse’s main feature is the ability to place the whole palm of your hand on the mouse, without grasping it. Because of this, the mouse is somewhat tilted, to allow easy access to the buttons and scroll wheel. The HandshoeMouse comes in three sizes which are based on how large your hand is. It also comes in two colors, black and white, and is priced around $166.