By Andrew Liszewski

Like it or not, Summer’s pretty much over. Kids will be returning to school soon, tourists will return to their podunk towns and the temperature will start plummeting. Most people lament the departure of the Summer months, but I tend to look at it as bing one step closer to Halloween. Not only is it never too soon to start planning your spooky decorations, but you can never have too much. Seriously, when have you ever looked at a house decorated for October 31st and admired it for being tastefully done? Never. Halloween’s all about going over the top, like hanging this tacky snake infested wreath on your front door. (Or every door in your house, if you’re doing things right.)

Available from Martha Stewart’s brand, the wreath is covered in rubber snakes that appear to have worked their way into every crevice. And thanks to a motion sensor, motors and a set of 4 x AA batteries, the snakes spring to life whenever anyone approaches. Well, more appropriately, the wreath starts shaking and vibrating so the rubber snakes appear to spring to life, while hissing and rattling sound effects are played. It’s $59 though, making it a great candidate for a DIY project.

[ Animated Snake Wreath ] VIA [ The Green Head ]

By David Ponce

If you run a business or you’re a bigwig in the IT department, perhaps what seems like a modest $30 deal will end up saving you a good bundle. Say you’re ordering a few hundred of these Vostro 260 mini towers… It adds up, you know. And this is what you’d be getting (at the lower end):

A Core i3-2100 processor, 2GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz, Intel HD graphics, VGA and HDMI outputs and Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium SP1, 64bit.

[ Dell Vostro 260 "Sandy Bridge" Mini Tower For $400 ] VIA [ LogicBuy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The components that make this ‘luxurious’ HiCan bed so unique can easily be assembled for far less than its $60,000+ (EUR 42,000) price tag. But why go to all that trouble when you can just order one for the price of a moderately equipped luxury sedan? After all, you’ll be spending far more of your life in this bed than any car. So it’s easily justifiable.

Besides the normal luxuries you’d find on a bed like a mattress and pillows, the HiCan includes retractable privacy blinds, a hi-def video projector that works with a retractable screen at the the foot of the bed, a “state-of-the-art” sound system, a built-in multimedia PC and gaming console and most importantly, a pair of reading lights! (Now I understand why it costs so much.) For the truly lazy and/or bed-ridden the HiCan is also equipped with a home automation system for managing all of its built-in components, including an adjustable bed as well as other appliances or devices in your bedroom. You even get your choice of one of eight different colors when you place an order. The only thing you won’t get is the bed itself, as according to their website they’ve started an “exclusive reservation list.” Which basically means it’s not actually available yet.

[ HiCan Bed ] VIA [ Fancy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’ll dock them a few points for the wholly unoriginal ‘iSurge’ name, but otherwise Energizer’s new travel charging station looks like an absolute must-have when you’re on the road. Particularly if you’re loaded down with Apple gear. Despite the company’s dubious ethics, in the past we’ve raved about Monster’s compact power bars for traveling, but Energizer may have one-upped them here.

In addition to turning a single outlet into three surge protected ones, the iSurge also sports a couple of 2.1 amp USB ports, allowing them to be used to charge devices like the iPad. On top you’ll even find a 30-pin dock for perching and charging your iPhone or iPod Touch. But if that’s not enough, the whole unit swivels 180 degrees so it can be used anywhere there’s a free outlet, and on the underside is an LED nightlight great for road warriors who get disoriented in strange places at night. Available in October for $60 it certainly isn’t cheap, but neither is having to buy a powerbar every time you travel and forget to bring one.

[ iLounge - Energizer intros iSurge Charging Station for iPod, iPhone ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Can’t afford a Porsche for your daily drive to work? There are still plenty of ways to impress your co-workers. And just because these PC accessories from Porsche Design won’t post a great lap time at the Nürburgring (much to Captain Slow’s delight) it doesn’t mean the person sharing your cubicle won’t eye your desk with envy.

Available from their online store, the Porsche 911-inspired mouse features the company’s logo printed on the rear as well as an aluminum scroll wheel, 2,000 dpi optical sensor and a 2.4 GHz wireless USB dongle. So it can certainly be used on any surface, but would probably feel most at home on the matching Porsche crest mousepad made of the same leather used in the vehicles’ interiors. Complete with an embossed logo at the top. Sold separately they each run ~$82 (£50) which is a little steep for a piece of leather, but not outrageously expensive for a mouse oddly enough.

[ Porsche Design Mouse And Mousepad ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Over on Make, what started as a humorous suggestion to simply use spray paint to un-uglify a couple of old armchairs turned into a fantastic discovery. It turns out there is actually spray paint specifically designed to refresh the look of your old furniture. What’s more surprising? It seems to work pretty well. Simply Spray’s Upholstery Fabric Paint comes in 9 different colors, allowing you to refresh and even completely change the look of your upholstered furniture. Though Make found that it seemed to work best on subtle color shifts, like taking the yellowish chair shown above to orange. While changing the same shade of yellow to blue wasn’t a complete fail, after 4 coats remnants of the chair’s original color were still visible.

The product does have a few quirks though. Like having to basically use the entire can once you start spraying. You can store it mid-use overnight with the nozzle kept under water, but after a few days the rest of the product left in the can will presumably dry out. But since it took 3 entire cans worth to turn the yellow chair orange, it doesn’t sound like a big issue. The chair also had a bit of a crunchy feel right after painting, but it quickly wore off with use. Each can will also cost you about $12 when purchased through Amazon, which will add up when multiple coats are needed. But compared to having the piece completely reupholstered, it’s a bargain.

[ Simply Spray Fabric Paint ] VIA [ Make ]

By David Ponce

This particular Dell Inspiron 15R has switchable lids, which seems to be the newer cosmetic feature on this laptop. It’s been described thusly: “Dell periodically gives the series a physical makeover, but small differences in fit and finish are almost beside the point; this is still the go-to laptop line for reasonably priced systems that offer mainstream performance at palatable prices.” As we’ve said before, the Inspiron is Dell’s workhorse and it gets reasonable discounts now and then. Today the Core i5 with 8GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, Intel HD 3000 graphics, DVD+/-RW, 802.11n, Bluetooth, HD webcam, 15 months McAfee, 1yr service plan, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS gets a $353 rebate, going down from $1,028 to $675. That’s a good amount of laptop for a not-that-large amount of cash.

Offer is good until tomorrow.

[ $353 Off On Dell Inspiron 15R ] VIA [ LogicBuy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

What looks like a low-rent calculator is actually a vast improvement to the traditional tape measure. The Smart String, aptly named given the retractable metal tape has been replaced with 50 feet of 20 pound strength string, works just like a traditional model, but with some notable improvements. For one, the string can be easily wrapped around irregularly shaped objects. So determining the circumference of a beachball, a task I’m sure we all deal with on a daily basis, is made much easier.

The actual measured distance is automatically displayed on the screen as well, to 3 decimal places of accuracy. So you don’t have to count out little tick marks on the tape, not that that’s even possible with this design. Like any good multi-tasker it’s got a built-in calculator that lets you recall and crunch any 3 measurements stored in its memory. There’s even a level bubble on the bottom edge plus a flashlight, which for just $11.99 from ThinkGeek, is above and beyond the tool call of duty.

[ Smart String Tape Measure ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Chris Scott Barr

It’s back to school time, which means that you’re going to be out shopping for gadgets. After all, you can’t live through another semester without at least a few technological advances, now can you? To help ease that burden we’re going to be giving away some gear. To kick it off, we’re doing a quick giveaway of the TimeCommand from Stem Innovation.

You’ll remember our review of the TimeCommand from back in June. It is a great gadget that not only charges your phone and wakes you up at the right time, but it will also control your bedside lamp. Perfect for any dorm. If you want one, just drop us a comment below, and we’ll pick a winner on Friday. Good luck!

Contest open to US residents only.

[ Stem Innovation ]