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	Toolbox Garage Refrigerator You can tell the misses that you’re going to the  basement to get some work done, when you’re really just going to eat a snack and throw back a few cold beverages.
	Ubiquity Boombox Wallet Its simple illustrated white pattern on black pops like your old speakers cranked up to 11. Slim yet roomy, the wallet features a large pocket with a divider and holds up to 8 cards.
	Lunar Pool Table In the future all pool tables will look like the Lunar Pool Table, or at least we really hope so. Not just good looking, this billiards table integrates with your iPod through 80w speakers complimented by LED lights.
	Vertical Pocket Wallet The Vertical Pocket is a snap-closure wallet with spacers that allow for more cards and cash but still keep it lean enough to fit in your pants.
	Hamburger Press Made of cast aluminum with a green rubberized wood handle, the press allows you to prep two burgers at a time, so your patties look perfect from start to finish.
	3D Chess Board There’s something epic about the mountainous design that you just don’t get with any other chess board.
	Thanks Wikipedia T-shirt We’d be lying if we said we didn’t use Wikipedia as a reference for college papers (we just didn’t cite them since the professor banned it as a source). So why not finally give credit where credit is due.
	Ostrich Drinking & Gaming Case The Ostrich Drinking and Gaming case includes 2 crystal wine glasses, leather coasters, bottle opener and stopper and 2 packs of playing cards, and of course a place to hold a bottle of wine.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last couple years, you know that the American auto industry has seen better days. This is why I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from the venerable Ford Motor Company asking us to take a look at their 2009 Lincoln MKS.

I said yes to the test drive not because I happen to love American cars (I drive an older Acura CL myself), but because I wanted to see firsthand what type of car the American auto industry has to offer in these troubled times.

With the Lincoln MKS, Ford is competing directly with the likes of the Lexus GS350, Infiniti M35 and Cadillac STS among others. And out here in the Bay Area, where German and Japanese cars dominate the mid-luxury sedan space, it was refreshing to be driving something different.

After the car was dropped off, I asked a couple people in the office to come check out the MKS.  Both were impressed with the stance of the car. “It looks mean. Look at that grill, it’s a BEAST”, said one of them. The other said, “Wow, it’s not what I expected.” Read into those comments all you want, but I was equally impressed when I first saw the MKS.

When I think of a Lincoln, a quiet, tuxedo black Towncar with a comfy cloud-like ride comes to mind. These have become the defacto standard non-taxi work horses I see all around downtown San Francisco.

With the MKS, it’s a huge departure from what I have come to think about Lincoln. The lines and overall fit and finish of the MKS are very impressive.

The interior looks and feels like what I would expect for a $40k+ car. It doesn’t shout out luxury, but the leather and wood trim accents are very nice. On the center console, the knobs and dials were a tad too small. I did like that the center arm rest telescoped and extended out some (nice touch). I also liked how the seat belt height could be adjusted easily and was also hidden at the same time.  The interior is not as spacious as I would have guessed looking at the car from the outside, but in no way was it small. I had a friend who is 6′2″ sit in the back and he had no problems with the amount of head or leg room either. The gauges on the dash board looked a little budget. In particular, I didn’t like the fact that every MPH was displayed i.e. 40MPH, 50MPH, 60MPH (see image).  It felt a little cluttered and made it harder to read my actual speed.

Where I think the MKS really shines is in it’s technology enhancements. Rear view camera, Microsoft SYNC, keyless entry, push-button start, steering wheel controls, navigation, voice control and THX sound system were just some of the nice things I really enjoyed. Anyone looking for a car with these technology enhancements will not be disappointed. If you’ve ever seen the movie Flight of the Navigator, the MKS felt similar in terms of all the technology crammed into this car. While some of the voice commands took a little while to execute, the ease of use and increased functionality more than made up for it.

Another thing about the MKS that really stood out was the sheer size of the trunk.  It was Grand Canyon like. Holy shite, was it huge. You could fit at least a couple golf bags and at least a weeks worth of groceries in there. The only down side though was the lip or entrance into trunk felt a little tight, but you can’t have everything.

Once I got the car out on San Francisco roads, I was pleased. Although the MKS’s suspension feels a bit stiffer, it’s still similarly tuned to that of a Lexus over a BMW in terms of comfort. The steering is true, not overly sensitive and you get just the right amount of feedback to make driving it fun. There was noticeably more road noise in our test car, but that may be attributed to the stiffer suspension. Aside from that, the MKS handled very nicely. Whether on the street or on the freeway, the handling felt appropriate and the throttle responsive.

Overall, you can tell extra effort was put into making this car. Although I was skeptical in the beginning, I came away with a good impression of the Lincoln MKS. And in a way, it gives me hope that the American auto industry can turn it around. Now wouldn’t we all like that.

In the world of digital MP3 players, not many will argue the iPod as being the undisputed champion–and that’s why San Disk is trying a different approach with it’s new slotRadio Player ($99).

The slotRadio is different in that it comes with a card that is pre-loaded with 1,000 Billboard hits. Pause and take that in for a second and let me repeat. It comes pre-loaded with 1,000 songs. A little different huh? The downside is that someone chooses the music for you, but the upside is that you don’t have to download all that music in the first place (which for some is a huge pain). It’s very much like listening to Internet radio (without commercials), but with less customization.

If you tend to like popular Top 40’s type music, then for $99, the slotRadio player provides solid value. And if you had purchased all of the tracks individually on iTunes, that amounts to $1,000 of music.

Things we liked:

• It’s a time saver since there is no need to download any music or subscribe to any music sites. You don’t even need a computer.
• The pre-loaded music is actually pretty good. That is of course if you already like Billboard Top 40 music. You can get additional slotRadio cards pre-loaded with 1,000 more songs from many popular artists in specific genres including Rock, Country, Oldies and Hip Hop/R&B. The one we demo’d came with a mix card which had nice variety of artists and songs (albums go for $14.99 or additional 1,000 song cards are $49.99).
• No frills and easy-to-use. Took it out of the box and began playing music right away.
• Solid battery with 13 hours of playback.  We got about 12 hours 30 mins on the model we tested.
• Comes with a FM radio (score!).

Things we didn’t like:

• You can’t rewind songs.
• Black and white display didn’t add much value, but at $99 even having a display is nice so we’re not complaining too much.
• Because there is no internal memory, you can’t add songs from your PC, but you can get around that by loading the songs onto another microSD card.

The slotRadio is no iPod, but then again, it’s not trying to be. It makes a great gift for the busy person who doesn’t have time to download, doesn’t already have a large digital music library, but still wants a no-frills MP3 player to get their Taylor Swift or Foo Fighters on every once in a while. We were a bit skeptical at first with the pre-loaded music, but there’s just something about not having to fuss/manage with music files that makes this player a winner in our book.

You can buy the slotRadio directly from their website now and it will be in Radio Shacks nationwide soon.