We're always big fans of mixed-use gadgets -- but these ones kind of mutilate the principle. On hand today we've got a two pack of bedazzled necklaces -- one an MP3 player, the other a USB flash drive / watch combo. We've also unearthed a USB speaker that claims to be a whale, but more closely resembles a weird, in our opinion. Finally (and this one was worth the wait, trust us), we've got a tiny Moto Horn for your bike, which makes it "safer" to ride your bike by... making vroom vroom motorbike noises as you zoom along. Consider these our best suggestions for what to do with your disposable income, folks.

Read - USB Jewel Square Necklace MP3 Player
Read - USB Jewel Watch Necklace Flash Drive
Read - USB Cetacean Whale Speaker
Read - Moto Horn

We know you're struggling to take it in, but you really have just stumbled upon this week's episode of Ask Engadget. Fascinating, the timing, yeah? Now that you're here, we're going to ask you to stick around, answer Chris' question below and then send in one of your own to ask at engadget dawt com. First things first, though:

"My desktop is wired through my home theater, so everything sounds great when I listen to music at home, but when I'm at the office I only have little Harman/Kardon speakers that came with my Dell. I work in an office that is music friendly, but no one has any decent speakers. I was hoping the Engadget community might have some good suggestions for reasonably priced computer speaker sets that sound good. You know... so I can share my extensive Matchbox 20 bootleg collection with the rest of my colleagues. Thanks!"

First off, congrats on working in a "music friendly" environment. And for everyone else, why not give this guy a little advice before hitting him up for job opportunities?

We don't know a single soul who hasn't wanted to hear Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness from start-to-finish whilst swimming off the coast of Phuket, but seriously, who's going to tune in on a $40 waterproof Bluetooth speaker ball? Then again, maybe Billy's secretly more concerned with his choice of swimwear and lack of sunscreen than the clarity of Iha's riffs.

Seriously, Ajay here would be downright ashamed. His Universal Serial Bus has found some seriously awesome uses over the years, sure, but the latest torrent of USB-equipped garbage is looking to do more harm than good to the venerable connector. In our latest roundup of crap found 'round the web, we see yet again that it's the USB-infused devices holding down the fort. From a flashlight-packin' USB SD card reader to a USB Parrot, our heads hurt from just imagining who among us is actually spending cold, hard credit on this rubbish. Feel free to inflict the same pain upon yourself by visiting the links below, and then cast your vote for the worst of the worst. Good luck, brave souls.

Read - USB SD card reader with flashlight
Read - Sparkling USB bracelet with no purpose or dreams
Read - USB Notebook Pocket Cooler puts 'Huffing' and 'Puffing' out of work
Read - Pepe, the USB Parrot
Read - 4-port USB hub gains a mirror... because it can
Read - Jewel Rose Pin USB Flash Drive: perfect for Great, Great, Great Grandmother's Day
Read - USB U-Shape i-Speaker just looks disturbing

Details are scarce on these new speakers from Kenwood, but if you find yourself frequently faced with a lamp-or-noise dilemma, we might've just stumbled upon the solution. The prototype flat speakers, developed by Junji Kido of Yamagata University in Japan, are inexplicably surfaced with white Lumiblade-style OLED lights -- we're not sure what that does for the sound, but we probably won't be trading in our studio monitors in anticipation of this brightly lit conjectured future.

[Via OLED-Info]

There's really no easy way to say it -- Creative's TravelSound i85 is bordering on unsightly, so devout fashionistas should probably look elsewhere. For those who always put design second and utility first, this here device adds a portable speaker and FM tuning abilities to Apple's fourth-generation iPod nano (the tall, thin one, for those unaware) and even includes a built-in rechargeable battery for pumping out up to 15 hours of house jams. Aside from operating as a gaudy wrist adornment, it can also double as a stand (horizontally or vertically), though there's no Dock Connector pass-through (just a miniUSB plug). Worth $99.99? That's between you and the monster underneath your bed.

[Via FarEastGizmos]

There's just something slightly alien to the X-mini, and this latest "Happy" model does little to assuage our unfounded fears of it. What's new this time around is MP3 playback, thanks to an SD card slot. Size and shape-wise it's almost identical to its X-mini II predecessor. Happy can handle about 6 hours of playback, or 11 hours of speaker work, on a charge, and the USB cable not only charges the ball but also allows the unit to work as a slightly-less-difficult-to-misplace SD card reader. You can also still daisy chain Happy speakers like with the X-mini II. Happy is currently in prototype stage, and should hit the market sometime around Q3.

[Thanks, Yutaka]

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got a Klipsch HD Theater 500 5.1 sound system, ready to rattle the floor of one lucky domicile. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff!

Huge thanks to Klipsch for providing the gear!


The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
  
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
  
• Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) Klipsch HD Theater 500 5.1-channel sound system. Approximate retail value is $599.99.
  
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Thursday, April 9th, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

Flat-panel speakers are nothing new, but a new version of the tech could one day replace boomy public address systems with hidden speakers that produce easier-to-hear audio in large spaces. Under development at the University of Warwick, FFL ("flat flexible loudspeaker") speakers are actually a thin laminate made of layers of conducting and insulating material that resonate when electricity is passed through them -- the crisper, clearer audio is a result of the entire surface creating sound in phase at once, which allows it to produce highly directional audio. Since they're so thin and flexible, FFL speakers can be hidden nearly anywhere -- behind signage, in the ceiling, or even painted and hung directly on the wall. Of course, this'll all come to nothing if the sound quality isn't up to snuff, but we'll find out more when the first commercial FFL product goes on sale later this year.

[Via PhysOrg]

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got totally bodacious Paradigm Cinema 70 CT 5.1 surround system to let loose, offering up everything you need (on the audio front, anyway) to convert your den into the party palace. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting!

Special thanks to Paradigm for providing the gear!

The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
  
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
  
• Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) Paradigm Cinema 70 CT surround system. Approximate value is $649.
  
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Monday, March 23rd, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

Er, something like that. Reportedly, Toshiba has conjured up some sort of newfangled technology that's able to more accurately reproduce sound by using a noise canceling auxiliary speaker. Specifically, the tech utilizes "sound from an auxiliary speaker to eliminate noise generated from the main speaker," and in case your wild guess wasn't good enough, it relies on "opposite-phase sound waves generated from the auxiliary speaker attached to the main speaker" to make it all happen. We know, our head is spinning just as fast as yours here, and it's all the more difficult to comprehend without an actual product to demonstrate. That said, Tosh is planning to conduct research and development in order to implement this into its own products, so hopefully we'll be seeing something a touch more tangible real soon.

Annoyed by urban youth and their desire to fill the world with "music" from the tin-can speakers on their cellphones? Yeah? Then prepare yourself old man 'cause your curmudgeon knob is about to get a twist from this new Bluetooth 2.1+EDR speaker from Sony Ericsson. The MS500 2-watt speaker is designed for mobility with a durable splash-proof shell, wrist-strap, and hook allowing it to be tethered to any messenger bag for up to 5-hours (off AA batteries) of optimal annoyance. Although pictured in the wide-open spaces favored by the beautiful, expect to see the MS500 riding the subway seat next to you when it ships on an unspecified date for an undisclosed price. One more product shot after the break.