Factory car navigation systems are one of the last bastions of sheer profit motive in the car industry. Well, outside of repairs. $2,500-$3,000 for a crippled navigation system that’s outdated within a year. Seriously?

Take our advice, forego the factory nav and get a portable GPS. You’ll get twice the features, newer technology and be able to take it with you between rides or places. Spend the extra cash on other options, upgraded wheels, a used Hyundai or even a year’s worth of gas.

We’re getting ourselves the new Harmon Kardon Guide+Play GPS-810. It’s a full-featured system with a 4.3″ screen and wireless control knob so you can place the controls anywhere you feel comfortable. No more reaching for the screen when it’s mounted far up on the dash. Sure, the nav has 12 million points of interest, built-in maps of the U.S. and Canada but ups the ante with these drool worthy features after the jump.

What this means to you: In-car video? Check. In-car music player? Check. In-car handsfree phone calls? Check. Live traffic updating? Check. Oh yeah, and it’s a navigation system too.

Cost: $400 @ Best Buy

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According to Autoblog an embargo has been broken on images of the 2009 Volkswagen Scirocco. Well, far be it from us to hold back on a car you guys should know about it. The Scirocco is to be shown at the Geneva Auto Show next week and it’s a handsome departure from the current VW look. The slim grill molds slivered headlamps that further extend to a shoulder line that exudes speed. [via Autoblog]

Additional image after the jump.

What this means to you: Don’t call this thing Herbie, it’s no Beetle.

Cost: TBD

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If you’re looking for some men’s jewelry with a sense of style and edginess, then there aren’t a lot of options out there that dont’ seem either contrived or too mainstream.

Sugarcrane is a brand you should consider for your wardrobe. With a design seemingly inspired from European crests, the designs at Sugarcrane give off a vibe of understated power while looking sharp and unique. We’re especially fans of the Sugarcrane Lyon that uses two pendants at the end of the 4mm wide silver figaro chain: one is a sterling silver lion on a sqaure cut onyx, the other pendant is a pair of sterling silver feathers. The combination offer a sense of contrast without too much flair. Just the way we like it.

What this means to you: Men, you’ve got options when it comes to jewelry. The Sugarcraen Lyon is a perfect example. Just don’t overdo it.

Cost: $235 @ Sugarcrane

Also See: Banana Republic Woven Leather Bracelet $58 | Olinari Dog Tags $349 | Men’s Accessories

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This car oozes. What does it ooze? It oozes sex appeal. It oozes sensuality that only the Italians could derive from a vehicle and it does it with an incredible amount of intimidating presence. We’ll stop with the ‘oozes’ now.

The Maserati GranTurismo S uses a 440hp 4.7 liter engine originally developed for the Alfa Romemo Competizone and an electro-actuated MC-Shift gearbox to handle the drivetrain. The gearbox is actually mounted on the rear transaxle for optimum weight distribution in the car. It purportedly allows for quicker shift time as well, but since we doubt Gear Patrol will be provided a ‘tester’ for reviewing purposes we’ll go ahead and give them the benefit of the doubt. Stopping power is provided by neck snapping Brembo six piston calipers.

Beyond the subtle body queues, gunmetal wheels, and Alcantara-trimmed interior, Maserati has done an amazing job at giving the GranTurismo menacing looks without losing the visual appeal of the ‘regular’ GranTurismo.

More images after the jump.

What this means to you: Subtle. Sexy. Sinister.

Cost: TBD

Also See: Alfa Romemo Competizone

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First of all, we should talk about what the Amazon Kindle does. The premise is simple. It’s a wireless device that uses a technology called electronic-paper’ that allows you to have thousands of books at your disposal ready to read on the high-resolution screen that looks and ‘reads’ like real paper. We’ll get to the ‘reads’ part in a moment.

The Kindle uses the Sprint high speed EVDO wireless network giving you unlimited and free access to the Kindle store practically anywhere. There were even times when we were receiving signals where other Sprint phones weren’t. Electronic versions of books will deliver to your Kindle at moments notice and the top newspapers have joined, including: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post as well as periodicals like TIME magazine and Forbes. Time will only tell who else joins the Kindle foray. Better yet, and this is where we particularly find interest - top blogs (over 300) like BoingBoing, TechCrunch and The Onion will deliver their updated content to the Kindle throughout the day as well as unfettered access to Wikipedia. For this writer, that would be enough to qualify purchasing the Kindle… IF it were say, $200 less. A practical and business savvy move for Sprint would be to subsidize costs of the Kindle for current Sprint subscribers, but we’ll leave Sprint’s less-than-wise business practices for another day.

The Kindle device itself isn’t too bad of a product for being first generation. We can only imagine what tweaks and upgrades the engineers are conjuring up now. Hopefully, comfort-in-hand-, improve intuitiveness of controls and e-mail are some of them. The battery life, under our usage averaged about two days with the wireless turned on all the time. With it off, we got almost 5 days in. Good, but not fantastic. Now about that electronic paper screen. Well, it looks bloody fantastic. Sharper so than even the Sony E-reader. The display is crisp and we found little fatigue reading it over time. Arguably though it’s hard to see why anything would be an improvement after looking at a monitor for a good part of the day.

Our time with the Kindle has provided us the ability to read a few of our favorite blogs*, newspapers and several guilty pleasure novels (Michael Crichton’s Prey is under appreciated, no matter how trite you may have thought it was). It does exactly what it touts and honestly it does it well. Only time will tell how this device will fare in the long run. There’s an incredible tangibility with books that I think this generation may have a hard time letting go, but as they (we) age, the prospect of carrying backbreaking books on a commute, vacation or even around the home may outweigh the proposition. Oh, and did we mention free wireless access to Wikipedia?

*notably missing are: Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Acquire, The Truth About Cars and… Gear Patrol

Don’t take our word for it? Fine. We won’t argue. Go read Michael Specter’s article on Men’s Vogue. It’s insightful and far more eloquent than ours.

Cost: $399 @ Amazon

Tags: Technology, Amazon, Kindle, Review

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A. Rockport South Ferry | B. Timberland Oppland Chelsea | C. Tommy Bahama Monte Carlo | D. Ecco New York Bicycle Toe Tie

TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES, BELTS AND ANY OTHER METAL OBJECTS. [repeat]

We all love to hear it. The crack TSA security staff at our airports screaming in your choice of shrill or f&^#ing annoying tone of voice. Airport security is hardly fun, easily being one of the worst parts of air travel - successfully rendering any vacation, business trip, or bachelor jaunt into a pain. We can’t think of a single person who doesn’t dread the cluster.

There are a few things you can do to expedite the journey and those are steel-free shoes. Gear that makes life simpler. Many airports outside of New York’s very own JFK will allow steel-free shoes directly through security without the godforsaken beeping of the medal detectors. It may not entirely alleviate the process of laptop exposing, bag dropping or jacket swapping, but at least it’s one thing less to fret during your travels.

Here are our recommendations for the best airport security safe / proof shoes. After the jump.

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Gears of War was reason enough to own an Xbox 360. The announced Gears of War 2 is more along the lines of a requirement.

The epic saga continues with Marcus Fenix and the Delta Squad mired in an even more impossibly outrageous situation against the Locust Horde. Sure, it’s all for the survival of humanity, a mission of survival and retribution, but we know it’s all about the chainsaw action.

Gears of War 2 continues in third person perspective for high definition rampaging. Adults, suits, emos, adolescents, grandfathers, sons, brothers and cousins will, if just for a few moments, be on equal grounds at the helm of Gears of War 2. We can’t wait. Releases November 2008

What this means to you: One does not understand intensity until one has played Gears of War on ‘Hardcore’ (period)

Cost: Limited Edition $70 @ Amazon

Let’s face it, not every guy can afford grooming products that cost $20 for a single bar of soap. Hell, that’s six months worth of Irish Spring and frankly some guys prefer saving the cash for other gear. We understand.

That doesn’t mean walking into the store necessary means you have to sell yourself short. AXE’s revamped Vice lineup: Revitalizing Shower Gel, Deodorant Bodyspray and Invisible Solid Antiperspirant are retuned to give you a better, longer-lasting scent combined with effective protection. The mad scientists at AXE even brought in renowned expert Ann Gottlieb to do just that. Better yet, the prices are street-wise and no guy can deny the benefits of that.

What this means to you: Whether you admit to it or not, you know the commercials. The ones touting of unrelenting female attention when you use AXE products. We’ll be the first to admit it’s not going to happen - the product is a product, and what you’re selling is yourself. That said, they’ve got some damn fine and hilarious ‘Naughty To Nice’ commercials (one after the jump) so take a peek, pocket the cash you save and spend it on your own gear.

Cost: Deodorant $5 | Shower Gel $4 | Bodyspray $5

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As predicted, Apple has released the Multi-Touch enabled MacBook Pros with Multitouch. The entire MacBook Pro lineup is now enabled with Penryn-based processors roaring in at 3.6 GHz with 6MB of shared L2 cache, up to 4GB of 667 MHz RAM, 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card, and 300GB hard drives. The 15″ screen continues at 1440×900 resolution while the 17″ screen can be configured in either 1680×1050 or a ridiculously wall-vision inducing 1920×1200 resolution - all backlit with LED. Anyone follow that?

The MacBook is also available with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors up to 2.4GHz, 802.11n Wi-Fi, larger hard drives and up to 2GB of memory - standard. They continue start at $1099.

What this means to you: We yawned a bit at the release hoping for a little more than just internal component upgrades, but for you power users every bit counts.

Cost: $1999 - $2799 @ Apple

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When we received the press release that Porsche Design had collaborated with Poggenpohl to design a kitchen we relished at the thought of rich woods, abundance of aluminum and ultra clean lines. Upon seeing the images we realized we had grossly underestimated.

The P’7340 cooking space is designed from the ground up with a decidedly male-centric focus. The sleek and functional aesthetics Porsche Design is known for comes true in spades. A futuristic look without anything garish or over the top. It’s a melding of ‘innovation and luxury’ and we agree. The primary material, is wood in your choice of driftwood (our preference) or dark oak.

One feature you’ll never tire of is the pressure-opening handleless cabinet doors that open at the slight nudge of your hand. If that doesn’t satisfy then perhaps the protected LCD screen with digital and analog connections will.

More images after the jump.

What this means to you: This kitchen is saturated with modern sex appeal. When is the last time you remember reading “kitchen” and “sex appeal” in the same sentence? Yup, neither can we.

Cost: $85,000-$200,000 @ Poggenpohl | Summer

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