I’ve wrapped up a redesign of my gameplay video site, MattPlays. On MattPlays, you will find me playing games and showing them off in a high-quality, easy-to-use manner. Next month will be the first year anniversary of the site, as I had launched it on August 31st, 2007. As of this writing, there are exactly 77 games with high-quality gameplay videos on both the PC and Xbox 360. That’s 23 shy of one hundred! I’m pretty proud of the site, and how far it has come.

That bluetooth headset making you look like a douchebag? Contour Design/BlueTrek to the rescue, with their new SurfaceSound Compact. It’s a bluetooth-enabled speaker and mic that slides onto the visor in your car. It basically allows you to answer the cellphone (or any other device that supports bluetooth) and talk hands-free, plus it cancels out the background noise if you got a noisy car. It can be gotten for $65, about the price of your average flimsy bluetooth headset, without the douchebaggery.

I got serious gadget fever drooling over this. I think I’ll get one for my iPhone.

If you’re an avid user of Pandora or Last.fm and you find the “Loved Track” feature to be pretty useless, well not anymore! Favtape takes your loved tracks from Pandora or Last.fm and presents them in a Muxtape-like format. It’s absolutely brilliant, and a great way to show off your music tastes. If you’re curious, here’s my Last.fm loved tracks playlist at Favtape.

Update: Favtune updated shortly after this post with a new feature. You can now listen to Top and Recent lists on Last.fm. Very neat! Be sure to check out my top artists on Last.fm.

The Associated Press: FDA finds salmonella strain in jalapeno pepper is the latest story in the hunt for the salmonella outbreak that has sickened over a thousand people this summer. Which has me sad, because I eat a lot of jalapeno peppers. Not just in hot sauces, but in salsa, and if there’s anything I like in peppers, it’s the fresh ones and not the pickled-in-a-jar ones.

One thing’s for sure, it’s impressive that salmonella can handle the heat!

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Meyer: Harvin’s heel healing well after surgery is the latest report from Sports Illustrated, which has me breathing a sigh of relief. Percy Harvins is easily the most exciting player to watch in college football. I didn’t get to watch Reggie Bush in action when he was in college, but from all accounts, Percy is more exciting and dynamic. His only problem is staying healthy, as he takes a beating considering the amount of times he touches the football.

I am seriously chomping at the bit for college football season to start. I’m excited for this year’s Florida Gators!

Dad on Vimeo (from JakeAndAmir.com)