Portable solar power devices are finally getting a blast of style and the people at Regen are on the cutting edge of that trend. Case in point is the ReNu portable solar tablet.

This 9-inch-by-9-inch tablet is essentially a portable slab of energy, designed to deliver solar power to apartment-dwellers who can’t put an array on the roof.

The ReNu can be hung in a window with a suction cup, attached to a window frame, or placed on a table. It’s battery recharges in four hours and will drive an iPod for about six hours.

The ReNu isn’t shipping until February of 2010.

Buy for $199 from Regen

We featured a few weeks back a Nikon digital camera with built-in pico projector. Here we go again, but this time one that works with thr Apple iPod.

It’s the PK101 Pico Pocket Projector from Optoma. Smaller than any iPod and weighing only 4 ounces, this little baby displays images as large as 60 inches up to 10 feet from your iPod.

At 4.1 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches, it is not much bigger than the remote control bundled with many larger projectors, yet it’s able to accommodate not only a DLP imaging engine and an LED lamp but also a rechargeable battery capable of powering the device for 1.5 hours—and even a tiny speaker.

We were very impressed with the image quality and ease of use. We were able to get images up to about 8 feet diagonally from about 12 feet away. Color was good, but the better the resolution of your images or video the better the projection quality will be.

Based upon the latest LED illumination advances and DLP imaging technology, it’ll give you two hours of viewing time. it’s got a built-in, re-chargeable battery that you hook up via USB or with the included AC power adapter.

Buy for $219 from Amazon

You’ll get about two minutes of recorded video on the built-in flash RAM and about 75 minutes with the SD card. The camera works in regular light and automatically switches to night mode with the sun goes down. A ring of infra-red LEDs around the lens will illuminate your subject no matter the level of darkness.

It’s got a 2-inch LCD display on its back side and is powered by four double-A batteries. You hook it up via its USB connection. It’s got a trigger-type record button and a full set of display control buttons at the rear. Downside: a fixed focus lens.

Buy for $80 from Amazon

When you receive Tweets, the TwittertPeek vibrates or makes a tweeting sound, and lights up a blue light. The TwitterPeek features a 2.5-inch LCD display, a full QWERTY keyboard, a trackwheel on the side, and a battery that gives you about three days of life before re-charging.

You can get it with lifetime service or six months of free service. After that service will run you $8 a month. Downside: No camera to upload your own pics.

Buy with lifetime service for $200 from Amazon

Buy with six months of service for $100 from Amazon

Turn your Mac Desktop icons into real, plush pillow add-ons with the Icon Pillow Collection from Throwboy.com.

These half dozen throw pillows resemble Mac OS X icons, including the Finder, iPhoto, Itunes, Dashboard, iMovie, and iChat. They measure roughly 11 inches by 9 inches with polyester fiber filling and 100 percent fleece outer fabric.

Cuddly-comfort no Mac can give.

Buy collection set of six for $149 from Throwboy.com

It’s a pump-action, single shot device that fires standard marshmallows up to 40 feet. Made out of carbon fiber, it’s got it’s own briefcase so you look the part (but we’re not sure which part that is).

Buy for $35 from Marshmallow Fun Company

If the weight of your iPhone isn’t an issue and protecting it from the most brutal elements is, then you want an EXOVault.

It’s machined aluminum or brass in two pieces that screw together. The aluminum is anodized and is very hard to scratch, the manufacturers tell us. While it makes the iPhone substantially squarer, it add just 1.5 ounces to its weight.

Yes, it’s certainly different from the oh hum plastic and rubber iPhone cases we see everywhere. Just think of it as the ultimate and impenetrable condom for your iPhone.

Buy for $95 from EXOVault

So here comes Barnes & Noble to the e-reader market just in time for the holidays but just as estimates come out that 10 million electronic book readers will be sold worldwide in 2010.

The Nook eBook reader is actually Plastic Logic’s QUE eBook reader to compete with rival Amazon’s Kindle line. The device, which has a six-inch display, is the same size and price as the standard version of Amazon’s Kindle and will ship in November. You can pre-order now.

Specs: 8.5 x 11 inches, less than a third of an inch thick, weighes 11.2 ounces, a 3.5 inch color touchscreen LCD at the bottom of the display to browse through book covers, 2GB of storage (about 1,500 eBooks), and battery life of up to ten days without recharging with wireless off. You can also use it as an MP3 player to listen to audio books or music. The nook holds about 26 hours of audio and a has a built-in mono speaker as well as a stereo headphone jack.

As for availability of book titles to buy and download (via WiFi and through AT&Ts 3G network), B&N plans on offer out of the gate more than one million e-books for sale when the Nook is released. Amazon has roughly a third of the inventory of B&N (so, take that).

But in one of the stupidest moves we’ve seen in some time, B&N has decided not to sell the Nook through it’s more than 700 brick-and-mortar stores. You’ll be able to play with a demo unit but not actually buy one to take home. Booksellers will order a device for in-store customers from the BN.com website to be shipped to their home. For whatever reason – small stock, security, whatever – it defeats the purpose of having a demo unit customers can play with and end the experience with no instant gratification. Dumb beyond belief!

Buy for $259 from Barnes & Noble

Like sticking a pencil in your eye, nothing is more excruciating than having to watch other people’s holiday photos. But if you’re forced into doing it, it might as well be fun and easy. That’s where the Nikon S1000pj comes in. It’s the first compact camera to come with a built-in pico projector.

Hit the button and it’ll beam the pics and hi-definition video held within onto a wall at a size as small as five inches and as large as 40 inches, and it will project from about six feet away with 10 lumens brightness. Nikon says the camera’s projector will work for an hour before its battery runs out. I can think of hundreds of situations where something like this could come in real handy like a bar where there’s a bunch of people and you’ve got a blank wall or on the back of an airplane seat to show a small crowd.

As for its basic digital camera capabilities, it can capture photos with over 12-megapixel resolution, it’s got a 5x wide-angle zoom lens, a 2.7-inch LCD screen, accepts SecureDigital (SD) memory cards, has built-in automatic scene-detecting capability, and it lets you edit images directly on the camera like brightening an image or rotating a photo.

You’re going to see a lot more of these type of cameras with built-in projection in 2010. For now, it’s the first.

Buy for $429 from Amazon

It’s made with d30, “a specially engineered material made with intelligent molecules.” (Translation…it’s spongy silicon rubber that becomes strong as steel when it’s impacted.) “They flow with the product but upon shock, lock together to absorb the impact energy.” (Translation…your iPhone ‘takes a licking and keeps on ringing’.)

It fits only the iPhone 3G and 3GS models, but we can attest to the unique toughness of this case. It wraps around the edges of the iPhone, and doesn’t cover the back or front, so it won’t protect from scratches. Its raised edges might help by elevating the phone off surfaces slightly.

It’s got a “unique slimline design that complements your iPhone 3G.” (Translation: It looks good to the Ladies.)

Well worth the investment compared to many so-called ‘tough iPhone cases’.

Buy for $29 from Amazon

Mouse buttons are passé, or so says our friends at Apple. The Apple Magic Mouse replaces the Mighty Mouse, has no buttons and sports a “seamless multi-touch surface.”

According to Apple, that multitouch surface covers the entire device, enabling users to scroll in any direction or swipe through Web pages just by moving their fingers across the top.

Apple says the Magic Mouse “won’t confuse a scroll with a swipe,” because of its embedded ‘magical brain’. In short, Apple’s trying to mirror the multitouch functionality of its laptop trackpad in a mouse.

It’s Bluetooth only, so if you want a wired mouse, Apple has rebranded the Mighty Mouse as the ‘Apple Mouse’. How convenient.

Buy for $69 from Amazon

It’s been a long time in waiting and much-anticipated. The Acura ZDX is the more stylish offspring of the seven-passenger MDX. It’s lower by about six inches and seats five but uses the same 300 horsepower 3.7-liter V6 engine and it’s all-wheel drive.

The interior of every ZDX will feature leather seating surfaces, and occupants will get plenty of light from above via the standard full-length glass roof. You might notice those huge pillars on each side and wonder about the effort in looking back to change lanes. Acura’s got you covered there…a blind-spot information system, as well as a multi-angle rear-view camera.

The lower ride height together with its sleek exterior lines and sportiness brings some promise of a sweet ride in what Acura calls “a whole new level of prestige”. Arriving early next year at a base price of $44,000, consumers should expect nothing less.

Although it might look a little strange in the glass, Whiskey Stones by Teroforma are the perfect addition to bring out the real taste of a fine spirit. These little ice-imitators are specially designed to put a slight chill in your beverage.

You get nine stones in a muslin storage pouch and they’re now wet tumbled which takes some of the sharper edges off and results in a more antiqued look.

All you do is put them in the freezer for at least four hours and then pop about three into a glass. Pour in the spirit until it’s reached the height of one stone (about two fluid ounce)s and let stand for five minutes. Now, sip (don’t throw it back!). It’s a perfect (and cheap) little gift for anyone who appreciates a fine drink.

Buy for $20 from Taroforma

It works very differently to conventional fans. It uses Air Multiplier technology to draw in air and amplify it 15 times, producing an uninterrupted stream of smooth air. Air is accelerated through an annular aperture. This creates a jet of air that passes over a 16° airfoil-shaped ramp, channeling its direction. No blades means it’s safe and easy to clean.

It’s a little expensive starting at $300, but those who’ve seen it say you’ve got to see experience it to appreciate it. One question…Could you stick you’re head through it and dry your hair? Just wondering.

Buy starting at $299 from Dyson

The Newcastle Brown Ale DraughtKeg goes for $23. Five liters – that’s 1.33 ounces or about 10 pints, to be exact – that utilizes a patented internal CO2 system with a mini tap. This feature is intended to keep the beer fresh for up to 30 days after tapping and delivers the same taste experience as a pint of Newcastle poured in a pub.

I wish we could tell you where to buy one conveniently online, but you know those state and local alcohol laws (they screw it up for all of us, don’t they?). Just check with a quality liquor or beer retailer in your area. It’s presently available in Southern California, Minneapolis, and Chicago and will go U.S.-wide sometime in early 2010.

The new Ferrari 458 Italia isn’t just a car, it’s an object of worship.

The new two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined Italia was co-developed with racing legend Michael Schumacher. No wonder it hits a top speed of 202mph – a first for a volume production Ferrari – and zero to 62 in 3.5 seconds thanks to its direct-injected 4.5L V8 engine that pumps 562 horsepower and 398 lb-ft of torque.

The main controls, including gearshift and traction controls, will be on the steering wheel, just like an F1 car. And did we fail to mention it’s green? Yup, they’ve improved the aerodynamic drag so compared to the out-going F430, it gets 21mpg.

Ferrari North America has yet to confirm pricing for the U.S. market, but a leaked document puts it at around $240,000 at today’s exchange rate. Kick in those cash reserves.

Buy for $240,000 from Ferrari

It’s the first digital measuring cup and scale combination. The unit measures in weight and volume as the recipe dictates. It digitally weighs dry ingredients as well as liquid ingredients and is pre-programmed to convert weight to volume for water, milk, oil, sugar, and flour.

The weight capacity is 4.4 pounds and the volume capacity is one liter. The unit weighs in increments of mililiters, cups, fluid ounces, grams, and pounds. The plastic measuring cup runs on one long life Lithium battery that’s included and the easy-to-read LCD readout is molded into the handle.

It’s a handy tool for anyone who loves to cook and a great solution for those who don’t.

Buy standard DVD for $35 from Amazon

Here’s how it works: GlowCaps fit popular prescription bottles available at Walgreens and other retail pharmacies. Inside the GlowCap is a 900 Mhz wireless chip that enables four services. It knows it you missed your meds and alerts you or others with a light, tone, and phone call or text message. It even communicates with a USB stick to beam reports to an online system that tracks your diligence and automatically orders refills.

For the future Vitality is working on a version that can be used free of the USB sticks for those patients that aren’t terribly versed on computers or the Internet.

Buy for $99 from Amazon

The answer to easy greating is the Pyrex Box Grater.

It’s slightly wider at the base so it’s much more stable than its competitors. But its real differences are these: see-through measuring marks on the side so you grate exactly the amount you need, an easy-release sliding door on the bottom to dump out your contents, and a convenient little slicer on one side to grate smaller vegetables and such.

Buy for $18 from World Kitchen