Aluminum and ice combine to make rocket fuel. Who knew? Not me, for one. Fortunately, it's not normal aluminum foil we're talking here, but rather metallic aluminum in non-scale powder form, which isn't found in your local grocery store.

Purdue via Make

We liked the HP Envy 13 laptop when we it was first announced a couple of months ago, but now that we've gotten our hands on one, we like it even more. This 13.1-incher is chiseled out of aluminum on top and magnesium on the bottom, as if it were created by a master sculptor. It gives new meaning to the words thin and light, where its 0.8 inch thickness and 3.74-pound weight make it easy to fit into even the most cramped carry-on.

Before you reject this laptop for its $1799 price (see specs here), one look at the stunning 1600 x 900 display, one session of compressing a video file at astonishing speed with its 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SL9600 Processor, or one listen to its special "Beats" circuitry for its headphone jack will demonstrate that you get what you pay for when it comes to premium laptops.

The highlight is the spectacular screen, LED-backlit with the brightest picture, sharpest resolution, most accurate color, and highest contrast of any display we've ever seen this side of an OLED panel. It's simply the best screen we've ever encountered on a laptop. That alone would make it worth its premium price.

If you're looking for a cheap notebook just to surf the web, wait until next month for the newest Intel Atom chip to grace the value-priced netbook lines. But if you're a traveling photographer or digital video editor who needs excellent color reproduction for proofing photos on location, or quick-rendered color correcting for video, this is your laptop.

HP Envy13

Gallery: HP Envy 13 makes those cheap netbooks envious (10 images)   view full gallery

You're looking at the tiniest snowman ever built. Well, it looks like a snowman, but this minuscule model — about a fifth the width of a human hair — is not made out of snow. It's constructed of two tiny tin beads that are usually used to calibrate an electron microscope, and welded together with platinum.

It's built by David Cox, a nanotech expert at the Quantum Detection Group of Britain's National Physical Laboratory. He's accustomed to working with such astonishingly small objects, and used his nano-particle manipulation tools to demonstrate the astonishing accuracy of his work.

He bathed the snowman in blue light to give us this entertaining, snow-blown image. The remarkable flourish of his smiling snowman is its little happy face, carved into the top orb using a focused ion beam. That's no small feat.

Daily Mail, via Gizmo Watch

Gallery: World record: 0.01mm nano-snowman (1 images)   view full gallery

Why carry around that cumbersome music player when you can have it hovering over your head? Here's one of the weirdest designs of the year, Melody Balloon, a helium-inflated music player that you control with a ring on your finger.

It's a design concept so far, and it's so radical, we think it'll probably stay that way. Even so, it might be fun to fly your little music player around, annoying everyone. We're wondering why this little player wouldn't just float away, but maybe if you attach it firmly enough inside your ears, you'll be next year's balloon boy.

Via Yanko Design

Gallery: Music player + helium = Melody Balloon (4 images)   view full gallery

You know, the digital music revolution has been great and all, but it's left one thing behind that I really miss: audio equipment covered in analog meters. This MintPass Cube MP3 player brings those old gems into the 21st century.

The wee audio player measures a mere 2"x2"x2", and it's got a beautiful VU meter on the side showing how high the volume is. On other sides are similar meters for the battery life and RF. Pretty great stuff.

MintPass via Gizmodo

There is always that person that is impossible to buy for at the holidays — you know, the guy who has everything. So if that special someone has every DVD or Blu-ray, owns a huge TV and has more gadgets than Batman, fear not: there is still hope. It just might mean digging for something special that isn't available in America.

Even in these digital times of the global mall — where there is a mobile phone shop just a stone's throw from the Sphinx and a Starbucks on every corner in Tokyo — there is still plenty of stuff you can't get in the States. Here's a guide to the best of it, but be warned: you may have to do quite a bit of hunting to find them.

During last week's International Robot Exhibition Japanese robotics firm Figla showed the world an updated version of its cleaning robot. The new prototype robot is taller, a bit more anthropomorphic, and looks a lot less like its iRobot competitor.

The key feature of the new prototype is its ability to offer the user a tool for remote home viewing when away. The robot uses voice prompts and an elaborate sensor system to do its job, but until an official announcement is made we'll have to make do with the prototype's little brother.

Via Pink Tentacle

This rather disconcerting piece of technology is on show this week at Art Basel Miami. For just $75,000, you can have Nathaniel Mellor's trio of ugly mugs (L-R: Deadwood's captain Joe Turner; John Wayne Gacy; Magwitch from Great Expectations) serenade listeners with a charming little ditty that probably goes by the name of "Freedom*."

Computer-controlled servos control the heads, which are, without doubt the 21st century version of the Dancing Flower, but what I want to know is, which song do you think they should be singing? My money's on Pussycat Dolls' Don't Cha.

*Sample lyrics: Freedom/ Freedom/ Freeeeeeeee-dom.

Via Engadget

Our very own Charlie "Can I borrow your hard drive" White called the Chumby One the "world's best connected alarm clock and a lot more" after spending some time with it. With over 1,000 apps, it does a lot more than wake you up, giving you access to social networks, the weather, games, Youtube and more.

For a buck forty you can get some "Chumby Guts," which takes all the technology behind the Chumby One and turns it into a DIY kit. A man named Gary — who goes by "The KornoNaut" on Flickr — did just that, and used to kid to turn the Chumby into the book you see above. Now he's got a hardcover version of the Internet. No books were harmed in making it, either, as he used a hollow one to start with.

KronoNaut's Flickr, via MAKE

Do you like the guts of your MacBook, but not the form factor? Laptops just too darned convenient for you? Well, you could always take matters into your own hands and cram the guts into a couple of hollowed-out routers for some crazy reason.

That's just what Tyler did, putting his MacBook into two Linksys routers and hooking it up to his monitor. Still works like a charm, but it's much less portable, and those routers certainly aren't creating any more Wi-Fi hotspots.

Phantom Dev via Gizmodo

Military types must be as fascinated with Jetman as we are. But Jetman's jet-powered wingsuit is still ahead of SPELCO (Special Parachute and Logistics Consortium), because this Gryphon Next Generation Parachute System has no engines — it's a glider, but that doesn't make it any less thrilling.

The company says its stealth-optimized getup has a glide ratio of 5:1, meaning that a 30,000 foot jump will let its pilot accurately steer himself to any point within 30 miles. It's said the average speed of such a flight would be about 60 miles an hour, but we're thinking you could go a lot faster than that by pointing this wingsuit straight down.

At first, the wings will be parachute-assisted, lowering the pilot gently to the ground at the end of the thrill-a-minute flight. Eventually, the company plans to develop a version that can be landed without the help of a parachute. Looks like even more fun than a jet pack. Take a look at another pic of this daredevil pilot, just after launch from an aircraft:

Via Danger Room

We're big fans of tiny PCs, and this CompuLab fit-PC2i is the smallest one yet. Even though it's just 4 inches wide and slightly over an inch tall, it can still run Windows 7 and blast 1080p video all day long. It's made out of aluminum, so it's super light at 13 ounces, just right for hanging on the back of a flat panel display for complete Web freedom in the home theater.

The superlight (13oz) PC runs your choice of an Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz, or Atom Z510 1.1GHz processor, and it's nice and quiet because this 8-watt PC is so efficient it doesn't even need a fan blowing inside. Pair this up with a tricky home theater mouse, a wireless mini-keyboard, or a cellphone-like controller, and you're all set. Next month, you can pick up the loaded model with Windows 7 Professional on board for $499, or get the cheapest one for $245.

Take a closer look at all the inputs in the back of this baby including a quartet of USB ports, a couple of gigabit Ethernet ports... alas, there's DVI instead of HDMI (update: weird, looks like HDMI to us, too):

Fit PC, via Engadget

Do your hands get cold in the wintertime? Well, you could get a pair of gloves. Or you could get Sanyo's Eneloop Kairo hand warmer, load it up with batteries and hold onto it tightly.

Basically, these things are like those heating pads designed to go in your boots and gloves, only battery-powered. It's kind of like taking the bottom of your laptop and putting it in the form of an egg. for $45, I'll stick to mittens, thanks.

Sanyo via Engadget