Broken Boy Soldiers was a great first album for the Raconteurs, but this sophomore effort is outstanding. I had heard that production was rushed, so I was expecting the album to fall a bit flat, but it turns out that it’s just business as usual. Who knows, maybe it was the music critics who started that rumor to begin with.

With less polish then their first album, Consolers sounds darker, more raw, and much more energetic. I found myself repeating four or five songs on the first album, but this one is the play-from-start-to-finish variety. Plenty of good riffs to be found, and a few Jack White leads that only appeared on live versions of Broken Boy songs.

This will be on repeat for some time to come!

Available at Amazon

C’mon, I don’t even know why you would act like you don’t want copies of these books. You’re not fooling anyone, you know.

The biggest Star Wars fan I ever met was just 3 months ago. There was a new receptionist at the optometrist’s, and Star Wars came up somehow. I really have no idea how. It’s odd, now that I think back to it. Anyway, she lived in a small, two-bedroom apartment with her husband, and the entire place was packed with memorabilia. They even had a full-size Han frozen in carbon, and Star Wars wedding cake toppers.

The Complete Locations of Star Wars: Inside the Worlds of the Entire Star Wars Saga

“An encyclopedic view of the primary locations of all six Star Wars films. ” The book depends primarily on illustrations with some photographs from the films. The artwork has a great amount of detail on each location, and cutaways show multiple levels of such places as the Galactic Senate. The books design shows a good deal of imagination, to the point of including topographic maps like those in National Geographic, with lines and other annotations charting the course of various battles, and makes good use of foldouts.”

Available from Amazon

The Complete Visual Dictionary of Star Wars: The Ultimate Guide to Characters and Creatures from the Entire Star Wars Saga

Comprehensive guide to everything Star Wars. Profiles of every character, creature, vehicle, piece of equipment, and weapon used in all six movies. As you would expect in a visual dictionary, everything is documented via extensive photographs. Now if I could only find Albania on a map. I know it borders on the Adriatic, it’s land is mostly mountainous, and its chief export is corn. Thanks, Coach.

Available from Amazon

If you’re a fan of GPS navigation systems, this is the most compelling reason to upgrade that I’ve yet seen; if you’ve been on the fence about whether to try one on, this just might push you over the edge.

Dash Express is a navigation system with built-in WiFi, better routing capabilities, traffic data, and a boatload of minor feature improvements, combined with an online control panel to expand your reach outside of the car.

The old way to navigate: at home, find the address of where you want to visit, write it down on a sticky pad, and head out to your car. Punch in that address and off you go. If they’re closed, you’re out of luck. Hit a bad patch of traffic, too bad.

Dash Express navigation: hop in your car, search Yahoo! Local for a destination, and get routed. Scan ahead for any traffic backups and reroute as needed. Change your mind as needed. Alert your friends (who are also Dash users) of where you’re heading to, or get updates in your unit of locations sent to you by your friends. Or rewind to the beginning. Find your destination address on your home PC, right-click it in your web browser, then select “Send 2 Car.” When you fire up Dash, the address will be waiting for you.

Dash is to standard GPS navigation systems what Google Maps was to MapQuest. One of things I always thought was “broken” in my nav system is the routing capabilities. To reroute, I’d have to pull up the turn by turn directions, and delete some of the waypoints, hoping I deleted the correct ones to force a reroute. Dash displays multiple routes and lets you choose from them. The UI has some significant improvements as well — at a glance it just looks more organized and intuitive.

Dash isn’t cheap at $399, but it sure is pretty! And maybe you can make up for some of that cost with one of Dash’s built-in features: find the cheapest gas prioces in town, and get routed there. Plus, if it ever gets stolen, you can remotely disable it so the thieves can’t enjoy your new toy.

Find it at Amazon

Modu is a tiny, credit card-sized, powerful mobile phone. Slip the modu into one of many very well-designed “jackets” to give it a new look and new functionality. Modu was formed in 2007, backed by $20 million in VC funding; it looks like they’ll be closing on another $100 million within the next few weeks based on an initial valuation of $150 million for the company.

Check out the YouTube video.

These modular components remind me of the concept behind Buglabs, but whereas Buglabs had more geek appeal, with open source hardware and software, modu has much more chic appeal. These things look slick.When is a phone not a phone? When it has “mates,” which morph the modu into various consumer electronic devices. All modu jackets are universally interchangeable, allowing you to swap modu jackets at any time, and according to the web site, with anyone. It also sounds as if some of these modu’s will be artist-branded and come pre-loaded with applications and music. I couldn’t find any price estimates to speak of, but product is supposed to ship at the end of 2008. And I want one. . . or ten.

Check out the Modu blog for updates.

If you’re not one to support the hot cause with your wrist, why not show off the lost causes?

• Seven deadly sins wristbands: gluttony, anger, lust, vanity, sloth, greed, and envy.
• Bleak wristbands: nihilism, despair, apathy
• Meat wristbands: carnivore, bacon

If people ask, just give them a blank stare until they walk away. Quickly.

All available from Archie McPhee.