Remember that contest we announced last week for an Uncharted 2: Among Thieves beta code? Well we’ve decided to extend it until Wednesday to make sure everyone gets a chance to enter. You’ll still need to follow us on Twitter to find out where to send your entry. Good Luck!

By Chris Scott Barr

Telsa coils are just plain cool. Of course they’re not usually the sort of thing that you just put together in your garage one day. Or are they? One man decided to go raiding a few dumpsters and looking through his garage for the necessary parts. He managed to find them, and make a pretty decent little Telsa coil. Here’s a rundown of what he used:

• Primary power source:  Small neon sign transformer
• Discharge capacitor:  High-voltage television capacitors
• Spark gap: Pair of 1/4-in. bolts and nuts
• Primary coil:  Lamp shade and electric cord from a humidifier
• Secondary coil:  Cardboard tube and microwave fan wire
• Secondary grounding:  Metal spike pounded into the ground
• Torroid:  Two stovetop grease catcher pans
• Chokes:  Two Bic pens and wire from a RC car tossed away

Naturally, as with any DIY project like this, you’re going to want to be really careful. I’d advise looking through the instructions that the guy posted so as to get everything right.

[ Trashy Telsa Coil ] VIA [ Technabob ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Having a hands-free kit in your car can make a huge difference when talking on the phone and driving. Not only does it free up both hands for steering (and shifting), but I’ve noticed that I pay more attention to the road when using one. Unfortunately such a device doesn’t do you much good if it dies. That’s why the SolCHAT was created.
This particular hands-free kit gets it juice from the sun’s rays. Since you situate it on the windshield of your car, you’re very likely to get a pretty good charge throughout the day. Of course if your car sits in a garage or covered parking space, it might not do as well. Otherwise, you should be good. The SolCHAT features an audio Caller ID function as well as DSP echo cancellation. You can pick one of these up for right around $100.

[ SkyMall ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

By Shane McGlaun

I used to have a HTPC system in my entertainment center, but it kept overheating thanks to low airflow inside the cabinet. The big issues with a HTPC are getting a keyboard and a mouse that work easily with the system. The keyboard isn’t that hard, but finding a mouse that can work while you sit on the couch can be a pain.

If you have a PC in your living room Hillcrest Labs has announced that its Loop pointer is now available on Amazon.com and directly from its website. The pointer looks like a bracelet from the 80′s but it is a full mouse that works in the air and needs no surface.

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By Shane McGlaun

I’ve never felt the need to spend thousands of dollars on a car stereo. Some folks can’t imagine having a stock audio system in their car and for these types of people there are a huge amount of aftermarket systems available to choose from.

Pioneer has announced a new high-end in-dash navigation system called the AVIC-Z110BT. The system allows users to control an iPod, iPhone, and Bluetooth enabled phones with voice commands. The unit has a 7-inch motorized touch panel screen and supports CD and DVD playback.

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By Shane McGlaun

For many years, I worked with a 19-inch LCD and though I had a big screen. I ended up flipping back and forth through windows for hours each day before I moved to a 24-inch screen. With the larger screen, I could get two documents side by side and it was great. Now I often wish I had two 24-inch screens.

The problem is that I don’t have the desk space to sit a pair of 24-inch screens on the desktop. Steelcase has announced a new LCD arm available through its Details brand that will hold up to three 24-inch screens on a single articulating mount.

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By Andrew Liszewski

Until now, the fastest SD/SDHC cards you could buy were known as Class 6, which ensured a transfer rate of at least 6MB/s. But today Panasonic announced a new series of Class 10 SD/SDHC cards with capacities maxing out at 32GB and a minimal transfer rate of 10MB/s. Of course that 32GB card will set you back about $420, but it does come with a maximum speed of 22MB/s which should make owners of a DSLR with an SD card slot very happy, though somewhat poorer.

[ Panasonic Class 10 SDHC Cards ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s hard to deny the popularity of tweeting when people are actually writing Twitter clients for ‘ancient’ hardware like the Commodore 64. BREADBOX64 was written by Johan Van den Brande for the C64/128 and uses the Contiki embedded OS as well as an MMC Replay cartridge with the RR-Net add-on for actually connecting to the internet. The Twitter timeline is automatically refreshed every two minutes, and though it might not be as graphically pleasing or robust as other PC clients, the basic functionality is there should you ever find yourself stuck with only an old C64 and a desperate need to microblog.

And BREADBOX64 is available as a free download on Johan’s site, just scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the link.

[ Vandenbrande.com - BREADBOX64 ] VIA [ Slashdot ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Instead of developing some type of innovative durable coating, or a glass that’s actually resistant to scratching, the creator of these Scratch Proof Glasses (if anyone knows who it was, please let us know in the comments) went the whole ‘thinking outside the box route’. Apparently a lot of scratches happen when glasses are placed faced down on a table, so these feature a special frame with a set of coffee table-like legs that are revealed when the arms are folded in. So when they’re not being worn, you’re free to set them down anywhere without worrying about the lenses getting scratched up. Ok, so maybe it’s not quite as terrible as the Opti-Grab, but would anyone actually wear these?

[ I New Idea - Scratchproof Glasses ]