beyondthegeek+

Yesterday I was playing around on gdgt, the gadget site we previewed a couple weeks ago on Symbiotek. My particular page doesn’t have as many gadgets as I would like, so I started browsing…

A quick reminder as to how easily it is to rely on one company for all your core online communication…and what happens when that account is suspended.

In the search for a green SUV (gotta get to those mountains during snowboarding season!), I looked at a number of used cars online with the intent to get the most car for the least mileage and of course the least $$$. My search included the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, the similar Lexus RX 400h, the Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner/Mazda Tribute Hybrids and of course the Saturn Vue Hybrid.

All of the cars have good merits. The Toyota and Lexus cars get a fuel milelage of 27/25 city and highway which is not bad for a mid-sized truck.

The Escape/Mariner/Tribute hybrids claim to get 29/34mpg (city/hwy) though it’s impossible to tell whether that’s based on the front-wheel-drive models or the four-wheel-drive models. Nevertheless, that’s great mileage for a compact SUV.

Saturn offered a compact SUV that comes across as a little larger than the Ford cars, but definitely smaller than the Toyota/Lexus options. The SUV offers 29/34mpg city/hwy, which sounds great. The problem is that the 2008+ version of the car, while beautiful but I was shocked to discover that it only comes in front-wheel-drive(!). What’s the point of an SUV that can’t deal with snow and rain and rough terrain? How useless!

When had first heard earlier this year that GM’s Saturn brand was to be discontinued as part of the GM bankruptcy, I was a little confused. Saturn had always been a fresh face with what seemed to be new ideas and fuel efficient vehicles. A test-bed marque if you will. But with products like this, good riddance.

Interesting and simple. If you really hate Gmail Ads, this might be the way to go for you. But the more I look at it, the more I wonder— are Gmail’s ads really intrusive?

Hydrogen cars are everywhere these days. Autoblog Green has been talking about BMW’s Hydrogen 7 car for years while Jay Leno has spoken at length about hydrogen cars on his Green Garage portion…