The DVR setup is actually how I imagined the mini would catch on when it first launched, given its pint size and processing power, but it didn't exactly explode on to the scene the way I had expected, either. The list:

• Mac mini DVR
• Mobile mini (a mini on wheels and my nominee for totally useless)
• Mac Prius (cool)
• UMPC mini (awesome)
• DeLorean mini (too geeky for me)

Top 5 Most Creative Uses for the Mac Mini[TechEBlog]

1. 2-megapixel camera when others have 5-megapixel shooters on board

2. 5-hour talk time: not enough battery life

3. No expansion slot. Go for the 8-gig model and that's it.

4. No 3G: EDGE is so last year

5. No removable battery: You mean we can't take along a spare battery? WTF?

Stay tuned for our take from the BlamzModo, one of the few/the proud who have actually manhandled the thing. – Charlie White

Top 5 Technical drawbacks of the iPhone [Newlaunches]

Topping our list is...

1) HD DVD's AACS Protection Cracked
I don't know if it's the soundtrack or the fact that someone proved those DRM knuckleheads in Hollywood wrong (again), but this video is simply put, amazing.

2) Wiimote Controlled Smarthome
If this doesn't make you wanna buy a Wii, I don't know what will. Major props to LiquidIce for putting this lengthy video together along with the accompanying Euro-techno soundtrack.

3) Gutted Teddy Bear Reincarnated Inside Robosapien Body
Of all the hacker vids I've seen, this is the only one that I find disturbing, albeit in a mad scientist let-me-try-that kind of way.

4) One-Click DVD Rips and Backups
Automating your DVD rips to a simple mouse click is cool, but making a video of it while listening to Sufjan Stevens is even cooler. Major props to our sister blog for this one.

5) Matt Haughey MacSaber Video
Technically this isn't a hack, but Matt Haughley's dead-serious gaze in this MacSaber video still cracks me up months after the first watch.

Honorable Mention

How to Hack an ATM
Unfortunately the YouTube police took this one down, but those who saw it learned how to get their ATM to print out customized receipts. – Louis Ramirez

Gizmodo's Top 5 Hacker Vids [Gizmodo]

We just got back from a multi-thousand mile road trip, taking along a carload of gadgets. Which ones proved themselves to be indispensable? There were lots of worthy candidates, but we've boiled it down to the Top 5 Road Trip Gadgets, the most useful accoutrements in our bag o' tricks. See the list, after the jump. – Charlie White

1. Garmin StreetPilot c550 GPS Navigation System
GPS navigation doesn't get any easier than this, and the Garmin StreetPilot c550 showed us the way so many times that it practically became a member of the family. No matter how many turns we missed, the StreetPilot patiently helped us find our way back without calling us an idiot once, and its touchscreen display not only showed us where we were going but how far we'd been, and even revealed that, yes, we had traveled in excess of 100mph. It also played nicely with our Bluetooth telephone, flawlessly played back MP3 files, and even gave us hands-free speakerphonage, too. It's a great package for $800.

2. Canon PowerShot SD550 Digital ELPH Peep at all that gorgeous Fall color with a camera that has plenty of power but isn't too big. You can look at spec lists all day long, debating megapixels and 12x zooms, but what it boils down to is, what camera gets used the most? For us, it's the 7.1-megapixel Canon SD550, a near-perfect combination of small form factor, big sharp 2.5-inch viewscreen, fast performance and ease of use. Sure, it's not a 12-megapixel professional digital SLR, but try cramming one of those muthas in your pocket on a 5-mile hike sometime. Yes, we know—it's not brand new, but that turns out to be a plus because that makes the SD550 cheap, around $300.

3. Linksys Travel Router WTR54GS with SpeedBooster
Here's a tiny little pocket-sized Wireless G router that packs the punch of others five times its size. The Linksys Travel Router with SpeedBooster takes that single Ethernet connection in your hotel room and turns it into a WiFi network everyone can enjoy. This baby is powerful enough for people down the hall to tap into without paying, too. It's also great at sharing a wireless hotspot connection, and you can even enable secure encryption between your PC and your friend's. Best of all, it couldn't be easier to configure—every time, we plugged it in and it just worked. It's $80.

4. Dell Precision Mobile Workstation M65
When you're out on the road, it couldn't hurt to have workstation-class performance on your lap, and that's just what you get with the Dell Precision Mobile Workstation M65. It has a 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 processor on board, Intel's fastest mobile Core 2 Duo, affectionately codenamed Merom. Although it would have been even nicer if it had an SD card slot for all those pretty pictures we were taking, it proved itself extremely roadworthy nonetheless with its internal EV-DO MiniCard that lets you check your email even in the boondocks of South Dakota. It's $3288.

5. Mio C710 Digiwalker
The Mio C710 Digiwalker is more than just a highly accurate GPS device with maps for all of North America inside and natural-sounding voice commands giving you turn-by-turn directions. It's an excellent multimedia player, with a bright and sharp 3.5-inch display that can play MPEG4 and DivX movies for you, and also handles all the MP3s you can cram onto an SD flash disk. Plus, it works seamlessly with your Bluetooth phone, giving you a hell of a good-sounding speakerphone and showing you caller ID when the phone rings, too. It's easy on the pocketbook as well, cheaper than most GPS units at $600. – Charlie White