Orion Inks Deal to Sponsor UFC

Directed Electronics just announced Orion will sponsor the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and one of the UFC's top fighters, Roger "El Matador" Huerta in order to promote the new Orion Cobalt series, recently announced at CES 2008. Not a bad match, really. Orion has a history for developing hard-hitting products that dish out and take massive amounts of power and abuse, and the guys in the UFC do exactly the same. 

Thumbs Up: DSE Electric RS Headlight Kit

If you own an old school Camaro with an OEM vacuum headlight door kit system, then you know how troublesome the original equipment can be, and it will have to replaced in it's lifetime. Now, if you'r e doing a full restoration then you probably want your project to remain as original as possible, but if you're not, then every Camaro owner should check out this kit.
DSE (Detroit Speed & Engineering) makes this motorized headlight door kit for the 68/69 Camaro's with the vacuum-operated headlight door system. This kit replaces the vacuum motors with new electric motors making this a hassle-free, more reliable system. It was easy to install and includes very detailed instructions. The kit is extremely well built and should present years of hassle-free operation. We recently used one on our 69 Camaro project here at the shop and we give it a big thumbs up.

Check out a quick video of the headlight kit in action after the jump!

The Perfect OEM Adapter?

The guys at Peripheral have been making OEM integration adapters for years.  As new cars become more and more complicated, the aftermarket's been working overtime to keep up to give people choices as far as what they would like to see in their cars.  A lot of new cars have integrated databus systems and mini-computers that  link a lot of the electrical components and sensors together, including the radio, and removing them could disable or defeat some safety or convenience features (such as door ajar messages, steering wheel controls, On-star, ABS, etc.).

With Peripheral's new line of adapters, not only can you keep your stock radio in your new car, you can also can control you iPod, and add HD Radio. The PXAMG will also feature a USB input for portable media devices and a standard analog aux-in for other devices. The factory radio will display all available text information, and iPod users will be able to browse their music collection via genre, artists, playlist and more. HD Radio is available separately with Peripheral's HDRT tuner. Probably one of the coolest and most convenient features of this new adapter is you don't have to lose4 any of your factory audio options when adding the PXAMG. Usually adding an adapter will force you to lose options like the factory satellite radio or expensive rear seat entertainment system. Not the case here! Currently available for newer Ford, Lincoln, Mercury,GM, Toyota and Scion vehicles, Peripheral will also add GM Class 2 databus-equipped vehicles, Honda, and others in the coming months. And you don't have to take my word for it that this is cool, it won a CES Innovations award.

Why Are You Staring At My Chest?

With hot models, celebrities, freebies at every turn, how do you catch attention at the show? You hire a bunch of people to walk around with monitors built into their T-shirts. I think the guy works for IBM, but I'm not sure. If he really wanted to catch people's attention, maybe he should have put the football game on since it was the NFL playoffs during the show. 

Jensen Hooks you Up with Free Tunes!

I was checking out Jensen's all-new website when I noticed that they're doing something a bit different than most manufacturers: they have a music downloads section on their website! The featured artist is   Paul Van Dyk, one of my favorite electronic artists and DJs. Jensen claims they'll offer 15 free MP3s every month, and this month you can pick up tracks from artists like American Steele, Doey Rock, Culprit 1, the Project, and many others. Jensen offers not only some good tunes, but also bass-frequency test tones to help you test your sub's capabilities, tune your woofer, find the cut-off frequency for your ported box...or just find that ultimate frequency range that rattles the fillings out of your teeth and the pictures off your mom's walls!