First: I hate the stupid-ass Brightcove player that Popular Mechanics uses for their video that makes embedding difficult.

Second: I hate those stupid-ass Popular Mechanics editors for getting to drive an Aptera Typ-1e before I had a chance too. It's certainly my most looked-forward-to electric vehicle. They've got tons of exclusive pictures and (as mentioned) video. Damn you, Ben Stewart!

Think the Typ-1 looks funny? Well its shape is designed for maximum aero efficiency—the coefficient of drag is an astounding 0.11. Aptera founder and CEO Steve Fambro says sticking your hand out the window of an average car driving 55 mph creates more drag than the Aptera’s entire body.

Aptera's Super-MPG Electric Typ-1 e: Exclusive Video Test Drive [Popular Mechanics]

The Crank Brothers Multi-19 is a tiny multi-tool for cyclists and looks chock-a-block with handy tools in a no-snag flask case.

From Cool Tools:

It has the same chain tool as the previously-reviewed Multi-17. The two are nearly identical, except the Multi-19 has double the number of screwdrivers (two flat, two Phillips). Plus, in addition to the following hex keys (2, 2.5, 3, 5, 6 and 8), there's also a 4m, which just so happens to be the size needed to adjust my rear derailer's pulley bolts (can't imagine I'll ever need to do that -- let alone on the road -- but it's comforting to know I'm carrying a hex that's pretty much suited to every inch of my bike).

It's only twenty bucks.

Crank Brothers Multi-19 [Cool Tools]

The Cerevellum is a bicycle multi-function system, built around a proprietary central "head-unit" that includes a video-capable screen. While modules that monitor heart rate and deliver GPS functionality are planned, the primary feature is the "Hindsight," a rear-facing camera that mounts on the seat post to give the rider a clear view behind. I'm pretty sure that is intended to be in the main package, but considering this unit is still in prototype phase, it'll probably be a while before we know any firm details.

Product Page [Cerevellum via Gadget Lab via Bicycle Design]

Jeff Veit writes:

You said you started counting your pennies when you saw the Earthroamer, but those are uncomfortably small and not that good for extended trips. What you need is Madiba - a fully kitted out, custom-built, expedition truck. Most of the details are on OverlandTruckForSale.com which is a site I built to sell it for my pre-net parent. He's its current owner.

What I like best about Madiba is more mundane: there's a proper spares inventory and the tools to do most jobs in remote spots. Survival-critical things have backups. You'd probably have a problem if you seized the engine or broke an axle, but short of truly major mechanical problems you are able to repair most ailments. Might even be able to repair an axle. It's got a cocktail cabinet: not something you get in an Earthroamer. You don't sit on the toilet with your feet in the shower like you do with the Earthroamer and Sportsmobile. So no wet tracks through your living space afterwards.

Other equipment includes an ATV and an inflatable boat. Only $105k! I think you guys should chip in and get me this for Christmas.

For Sale Page [OverlandTruckForSale.com]

While I think anybody who rides a motorcycle without a full-faced helmet has a wish to have their jaw sheared off and wrapped around their trachea like a bone choker, I have a feeling the chopper-and-hog set have few such concerns. And as such, this Skull Helmet from Santiago Chopper meets their primary criterion: open-throttle badassery.

It's $150. Update: Kurt L. adds: "The skull helmet is out of stock and not DOT or Snell approved." Who cares? I'll see you in Snell!

Product Page [SantiagoChopper.com via Oh Gizmo via NotCot]

This sandwich press is powered by the standard 12-volt plug most commonly found in automobiles. It may be dangerous, but who can resist a roadkill sandwich? A croaked monsieur if you will.*

It's $20 at the S King company and includes a five-foot power cord for back seat short orders.

Product Page [SKingCompany.com via Jalopnik]

* Oof.

You've all probably seen the crazy custom vans and ornate heavy trucks in Japan, but perhaps you've yet to have been exposed to the dekochari, flashing, mobile carnivals built on bicycles. The above video is from a documentary about the phenomenon, set to the song "Ichiban-boshi Blues," which was the theme to a movie from the '70s that, according to Pink Tentacle, sparked the whole "decorate things in a crazy fashion" dekotota trend.

Dekochari art bikes (video) [Pink Tentacle]

While the three-wheeled "Fascination" looks to have been constructed in full-sized prototype form in the early '70s, its engine, a "Nobel Gas Plasma Engine" that needed no fuel to operate 60,000 miles, was not. (Wonder why!)

A reader to PopCult magazine offered this first-hand experience:

It was a very cool car. I even rode in it once or twice! Quite a revolutionary design, too. It had air-filled rubber shock absorbers like on today's buses. It had a mid-engine design, behind the back seats, and the engines were going to be from Renault–I think they were Wankel or rotary engines. I don't remember anything about "Nobel Gas-Plasma Engines" that the website mentions. Because it was mid-engine, the front of the car was very light. Supposedly, if it got hit broadside, it would just spin around on the back wheels.

Because it only had three wheels, you could drive it into a ditch and you'd never lose contact with any of the wheels and the road. You could also turn the front wheel almost perpendicular to the car, which meant you could turn nearly in its own radius, and you could parallel park with about 12 inches of total clearance. It got 40 or so mpg.

The Fascination may have been inspired by a similar design from Buckminster Fuller. Fuller's car, the "Dymaxion," was designed in 1933. At least three were constructed. It sat ten plus the driver, weighed less than 1,000 pounds, and got between 30 and 50 MPG. Three prototypes were built. Unlike the Fascination, the Dymaxion's third wheel was in the back, a design it shares with the upcoming Aptera electric and hybrid vehicles.

A space age transportation innovation [PopCultMag.com]

[via Core77]

Previously: Aptera Three-Wheeled Electric Car May Reach Production [BBG]

Jeremy Clarkson, host of perhaps my favorite television show Top Gear, took out a modified BMW 3-series on last week's show. The car was driven around the track once by a human, recording telemetry, and then played back the course using a combination of that data and military-grade GPS data at speeds of up to 100 MPH.

We're getting closer and closer to pilotless cars!

(Hey, what's the name of that short story, probably several decades old, about the family that gets trapped in the car that won't stop driving and refueling, causing them to eventually die? I remember the story, but nothing about its name or author.)

[via Oh Gizmo]

The "IceDozer Plus" purports to be more than just a flimsy ice scraper, capable of removing tenacious ice with a minimum of effort. Its main gimmick are "carbide style Tenderizers™" on one side of the scraper, which when smashed down into the ice, crack the ice without scratching your windows. The loosened ice scrapes apart more easily using the traditional blade on the other side. There's even a mini "Pocket Dozer" that slides out from the IceDozer Plus that can be used for mirrors or any other oddly-shaped bits of glass.

I haven't scraped ice off a car window in over half a decade, but I used to loathe it. Dropping a $20 on IceDozer Plus—if it works—still intrigues me. I mean, it's yellow. Everybody knows yellow things are tough.

My worst ice scraping experience? I had this old Ford minivan that my mom gave me, the ones that looked vaguely like shuttlecraft. Aerostar, I think. It had ridges along the top, presumably to better sluice rain off the back while driving.

We had a big ice storm one year. A sheet of ice, probably four inches thick, had built up on the top of the van. Enough that I was worried about it coming off when I was driving down the highway to work. It could have killed someone.

I hammered the top of the ice with my fists for a few minutes, when it finally cracked in two. It was then I realized I was parked on a slope. The ridges on the top of the van, now ice-filled, guided the sheet off the roof and down the windshield, shearing off the entire wiper assembly.

From then on, every time it rained, I had to pull over. Preferably under an overpass watching the rain as semis blew past. I loved that van.

Product Page [InnovationFactory.com via Toolmonger]