Hi-tech Frontier

RTEV Wheego Whip electric car If you're the type of Earth-loving individual who ain't got nowhere to go in a hurry, RTEV's ready and willing to take your order a brand new Wheego Whip. The company's first street electric LSV (low speed vehicle) will begin shipping to early adopters in May, and it's primed to carry up to two individuals and a few empty cola bottles anywhere you need to go -- so long as there's an AC outlet waiting at Point B. It's retailing for under $19,000 and includes an MP3 stereo system, remote keyless entry, air conditioning and a sweet 10 percent Federal Tax credit. Of note, RTEV has plans to eventually produce a higher speed model of this very car, and there's a trade-in program available (with terms that aren't half bad) for those interested.

Acer Aspire One netbook We snooped around pretty heavily at Acer's CeBIT booth here in Hannover, but we definitely didn't see a single Aspire One with a port layout like this. That said, we wouldn't put it past the company to push out an oh-so-barely different version of the Aspire One netbook that has already proven remarkably popular. macles* has it that Acer is planning to release a slightly revamped version, possibly dubbed the D250, that'll sport a new motherboard, port layout and a larger hard drive. Outside of that, everything should remain the same, which basically means that it's pulling an ASUS. Awesome.

Sony's VAIO P going for €599.95 Thinking of picking up a VAIO P for your left rear pocket? Do you call Deutschland home? In need a mobile data plan? If you've somehow managed to answer yes (or "ja," as it were) to all three of those inquiries, T-Mobile Germany has a deal for you. Sony's WWAN-packin' VAIO P -- which has seen itself subsidized in America on Verizon Wireless -- is currently being offered for just €599.95 (VAT included) with a web'n'walk Connect L data plan. For those too uninspired to search, that's a €400 discount from what it costs to buy outright over there. Tempting, nein? References in earlier entries: Sony VAIO P

Piaggio MP3 Hybrid trike It's certainly an odd beast, but Piaggio's "MP3 Hybrid" scooter / trike / whatsit has itself a ship window and a vague pricetag. Piaggio hopes to start selling the vehicle in the US by Q1 2010, with a price ranging around $8,000 or $9,000. The plug-in hybrid can run off of a standard charge for 40 miles, and has a gas-powered generator (like the Volt ) for extra power, with a promised 141 mpg overall. It's packed in with some regenerative breaking, a high-performance battery-boosted mode to make one pretty hot scooter -- if you can get over those looks and the extra wheel.

Intel Penryn laptop Yeah, we've had just about all the Atom we can handle, and it looks like Intel's just about ready to help us back away from the difficult choice of sexy form factors for low prices and sexy form for exorbitant prices. Intel is working on Montevina Plus, which will push Penryn laptop chip technology past the 3GHz mark, while subsequently sending ULV chips into the mainstream, showing up in laptops ranging from $599 to $1,000, instead of the $1,500+ premiums they currently usually command -- great news for ultraportable lovers that actually want to get a few things accomplished on the road. Intel also sees 2009 as the year of the nettop, at least in emerging markets, and will naturally be pushing Nehalem all over the place -- with the way chip roadmaps are planned, the economic downturn naturally won't be messing with any planned rollouts for the time being.

ASUS G71Gx boats of GeForce GTX 260M graphics, other extravagances A followup to last year's G71, the G71Gx has ASUS at its extravagant best. The 17-inch laptop packs a WUXGA (1920 x 1200) resolution, backed up by a brand-new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M graphics card with 1GB of VRAM. There's also room for 12GB of RAM and dual 500GB hard drives inside, along with Blu-ray and Altec Lansing speakers to wrap it up with a bow. No word on price, but we're guessing ASUS isn't stuffing these things in cereal boxes.

Kogan Kevin37 HDTV This, folks, is the tell-tale sign of someone eager and willing to capitalize. Kogan, the guy who almost made a QWERTY-packin' Android phone, has conjured up a brilliant way for Aussies to spend their forthcoming stimulus checks. You see, the Australian government has sent out AU$900 checks to citizens who made under AU$100,000 last year in an effort to boost the overall economy, and lo and behold, this 37-inch HDTV (comically named Kevin37 -- the locals know what's up) is priced at exactly AU$900. As for specs, you're looking at a 1,366 x 768 resolution panel, 1,200:1 contrast ratio, six-millisecond response time, 600 nits of brightness, a PAL / SECAM / NTSC tuner and a slew of connectors. Get your orders in now before you think better of it, and watch for it to head your way in late April.

SVSound adds STS-01 tower to S Series lineup We've heard some pretty positive things about SVSound in our day, so it's definitely a pleasure to see the outfit introducing something new for home theater junkies with the STS-01. The so-called "slim tower" joins the growing S Series family, bringing along a 7-inch wide enclosure that packs a ClearSilk F2 ferrofluid-cooled tweeter and four newly enhanced soft-dome 6-inch poly-cone woofers. The company asserts that the masterfully refined crossover system and stellar imaging will satisfy even the most demanding ears, and you can find out yourself when these ship this summer for $849 per pair (make that $749 per pair if you get in early!).