Hasta La Gadget!

They’re arty, cleverly designed, and eco-friendly–oh, and they’re really cheap, too. These OrigAudio Fold ‘N Plays ($16 direct) arrive as two flattened boxes of cardboard with embedded speakers and an attached cable. You fold each into a 3-inch cube and plug the cable into any music player with a headphone jack. Voila, your new audio system is complete.

You want to go green, you really do. And you’ve taken the steps to take your carbon footprint from Sasquatch-sized to ballerina-slipper tiny by cutting transcontinental flights, separating green and brown glass, even outfitting your home with fluorescent lights. But what about gadgets? We’ve got you covered. Be it transportation, recreation or energy calibration, Wired.com has reviewed five pieces of tech that’ll get you greener than a St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Read on for our capsule reviews, or click through for the full reviews on Wired.com’s Product Reviews site.

Ford Fusion Hybrid

Ford scored a direct hit on the Camry Hybrid, topping the Toyota by 5 mpg, and almost took down the 41-mpg Honda Insight. But as Ford was shooting for fuel efficiency, it didn’t forget a car should be fun to drive and a joy to use. On that score, the Fusion excels. It combines excellent fit and finish with smooth driving dynamics in a handsome mid-size sedan that also happens to get excellent mileage.

The beauty of Ford’s hybrid system is it has none of the shudder or lag often experienced in hybrids when the electric motor hands off propulsion to the gasoline engine. It’s seamless, as is the electronic continuously variable transmission. Ford muttered something about “proprietary” when we asked how it pulled that off, then mentioned the terms “variable cam timing” and “variable voltage converter” before saying it had nothing more to say.

WIRED: European styling meets Japanese fuel economy in an American car built in Mexico. Go as fast as 47 mph on electric power. Clever dashboard makes hypermiling fun. More gadgets than Best Buy, and they’re all useful.

TIRED: Battery eats up trunk space. Climate control knobs are so low you’ve got to take your eyes off the road. Why is the light switch on the dash, not the turn signal stalk?

$30,780 (as tested), ford.com

Read our full Ford Fusion Hybrid.

Check Wired.com’s latest Product Reviews, updated daily.

Nissan’s gotten into a bit of a bragging contest on Twitter — possibly fueled by Chevrolet’s recent, shaky claim that the Volt will get 230 miles per gallon. The company is now saying that its new electric car, the Leaf, will get an astonishing 367 miles per gallon… even though it’s a 100 percent electric car, and runs on absolutely no fuel. So, isn’t that zero miles per gallon? Well, yes and no: all these massive numbers are based on both the Department of Energy and the EPA’s calculations for estimating equivalencies in electric cars. Why? Well, it seems that car companies are still giving us — the prospective buying public — MPG figures because they think that’s what we understand best. Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director for Chevy’s Volt recently admitted to the New York Times that the miles per gallon matrix is “probably not the best measure of goodness” for a car that uses no gallons at all, but that it’s “what people are accustomed to.” We agree — he’s got a point — but people were also accustomed to the hi-fi, the corded landline, and the steam engine. We assure you: people understand that a car that runs on zero gas (and therefore gets an astonishingly low amount of miles per gallon) is really, really awesome. So the MPG matrix is useless when talking about electric cars — we’ll adjust!

Read – Nissan claims 367 miles per gallon for electric Leaf
Read – The Chevy Volt: mileage numerology

Filed under: Transportation

Nissan says its new electric car, the Leaf, gets 367 miles per gallon originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re looking for a unique, slim, and light case in which to tote your laptop and also want to make an artistic-type style statement, the GG2G Foleo ($56 direct) fills the bill–and it’s made from recycled materials, too. What could be cooler? These necessarily one-of-a kind bags are crafted from recycled highway billboards, of all things, and can come with or without bamboo padding–your choice.

The bag is sturdy and nicely made, and the “re-vinylzed” water-repellent outer material has a sleek, shiny look and feel. All the Foleos come with a handle on the side (though you may not see them in the Web site’s images), so you can carry the bag that way or tuck it under your arm like a clutch. The Foleo has one inner pocket–a thumb drive compartment. But if you need more storage space, you could easily stash this sleeve inside a larger case. 

The Foleo bags pictured on GG2G’s site are all currently available. Once a bag is purchased, it’s replaced by a new one, and no two look exactly the same. But if you have your heart set on a color palette, you can
email Dayan Moore (a co-owner of GG2G), and she’ll do her best to help you out. 

Can you drive 1,000 miles in your car and spend less than $60 on fuel? That’s the beauty of the Volkswagen Sportwagen TDI diesel, which averaged 43 mpg. It runs forever on a gallon of fuel, entertains you while under way, cruises comfortably at speed, and holds tons of gear. The wagon, which I tested, and the Jetta TDI sedan, belong on your new-car shopping list if you do a lot of highway driving. They’ll hold their own against hybrids that do best in city driving.