Reader Dennis turns us on to another really cool test product from Microsoft's labs called Photosynth. It's a bit of software that takes a huge collection of photos of a single place—say all the Flickr pictures tagged with that location name—and organizes them into a 3D landscape. What this gets you is the ability to pan, scroll and zoom across many pictures and get the feeling like you're actually there.

An example would be you coming home from vacation and wanting to see what's around the corner from the picture you took of some monument.

Hopefully the entire process doesn't require you to say "Enhance" 47 times. Dennis actually checked (what a nerd) and said Deckard only said it three times. Hit up the page and try it out yourself if you're running WinXP or Vista. – Jason Chen

Photosynth [Thanks Dennis!]

Microsoft recently started accepting applications for their public beta for the new Vista Media Center update, so if you're a Vista user who just loves being on the OMG bleeding edge of Windows Media Center, your ship has come in. Just hit the linky below and go fill out a survey on your usage habits to see if you make the cut.

There's no real info on what new features you can expect, but you know who to tell about that stuff if you get into the beta, right buddy? Buddy ol' pal? –Adam Frucci

Microsoft [via Boy Genius Report]

Ensure that nobody ever borrows your stapler again with this real-looking Shocking Stapler. It's even colored red like Milton's, which means your co-workers are all the more tempted to grab for it as they drop by unannounced while you're trying to get some work done.

The only downside is that it's not a real stapler, which may actually be an upside since you won't have to worry about staplers flying all over the place when your buddy gets shocked and throws this across the room. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Amazon via PCNews via PC News Blog]

Not "technically" designed to work in anuses, this Intelliprobe from E-Control transmits temperatures wirelessly to any Bluetooth-enabled PDA running Windows Mobile 2003 or higher. What better way for lazy doctors to stay in their offices than to remotely control a robot arm with this on the end to read temperatures? – Jason Chen

Product Page [eControlSystems]

Everyone knows that slapping some wood on a gadget adds instant class, so LG isn't going to let a good opportunity to cash in on people obsessed with classy gadgets go by. Their new 60-inch full HD PDP TV comes cased in Italian wood, and everyone knows the best wood comes from Italy. Right?

Anyhow, the TV sports 1080p resolution and a built-in DVR, but none of the features really make the $10,675 price tag seem like a good value. But hey, wood! –Adam Frucci

Luxury Launches [via New Launches]

If you're a fan of HTC's smartphones but really don't like the big bulge it puts into your pants, the Vox could be the phone for you. Refresher stats: slide-out QWERTY, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi, EDGE, microSD and Windows Mobile 6.

Take a look at the extensive, and some would say overkill, six-minute video to get a better look at how the phone behaves. Feel free to mute the volume as well as you probably don't speak what sounds like Russian. – Jason Chen

HTC Vox [via TechEBlog]

There aren't many details about this Sony Ericsson W970 yet, but we do know that it's going to be in a swivel form factor, have 512MB of internal memory, video recording and landscape-view video playback.

If this really is the W970, then this, along with the W999, looks like it's going to make up the bulk of SE's Walkman phone releases for the rest of '07. – Jason Chen

Leaked pictures of Sony Ericsson W970 [Mobile Mentalism]

Despite not really saving space—you can't put anything either on top of this cabinet or inside of it if it's hidden—this Plasma Lift should be a hit with the ladies. Why? Because they really hate electronics being out in the open.

With the remote, your $6,000 Plasma TV glides easily out of the hutch and up into view. We'd prefer keeping things where we can see them so there's not a huge delay between wanting to watch TV and actually watching it, but we're probably not the target audience of this. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Auton via Born Rich]

Gelaskins, the company that makes sweet art skins for your iPod, is now also selling skins for your MacBook or MacBook Pros. Featuring more irreverent stuff like the infamous Flying Spaghetti Monster to masterpieces of art like Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave to contemporary artist Bob Dob's Rough Night Out (pictured above), they've got so many sweet designs it almost makes me wish I was an Apple fanboy with a MacBook. Almost. –Adam Frucci

Product Page [Gelaskins]

Just a quick note for you BB users who are still peeved you couldn't get your email earlier this week. The outage was caused by RIM installing an "insufficiently tested" piece of software, which cut off service to all 5 million of you. After that, they tried switching to a backup system, which actually compounded problems and delayed the fix. – Jason Chen

R.I.M. Offers a Reason for BlackBerry Failure [NYTimes]

Image courtesy Abovethelaw

How small can a x86 motherboard get? Here's the Pico-ITX by Via Technologies, and it's the smallest one yet. It's tiny enough to fit in the palm of your hand, a mere 4 x 3 inches. Expect PCs to get even more impossibly small using this pint-sized motherboard.

Way to go Via, the Taiwanese company that's been struggling lately but just last week signed a deal with HP to supply tons of chips for Chinese PCs. The company will supply the processors for this board, too, so it looks like the Via team is carving out a mini-niche for itself. – Charlie White

Press Release [Via Technologies]

Details have been scarce on the Amazon Kindle eReader since we first saw it last September, but some publishers have actually gotten to play with it now that we're nearing the spring release date. First, the price is going to be above $400. Seeing as the Sony reader is fetching somewhere around $300 to $350, that's not a good place to start.

However, the Kindle is actually a step up in terms of functionality from Sony's reader.

It has a screen display that's just as good, and will be using Mobipocket to supply titles. The release date is spring, which is pretty darn soon.

What's more, the Kindle will have online functionality from its EV-DO connection to buy eBooks directly from Amazon. Despite the device not looking that great from the shots we've seen before, the features do seem to place this as quite a nice alternative to Sony's offering. – Jason Chen

Amazon Kindle this spring for above $400 [Mobileread]

Now here's a great idea: a rear-view mirror with a video display that automatically
appears when you shift the car into reverse. Working just like those displays hiding behind bathroom mirrors, this one shows you a real-time panoramic view right when you need it. Then, when you're moving forward, it disappears.

It's made by Ford Motor Company, and It'll first appear in Mazda SUVs early this summer for $665. We can only hope that price will come down and the idea will spread to cars far and wide. But one thing we were thinking: why not just have a full-width wide-screen LCD that's always on, and eliminate the rear-view mirror altogether? – Charlie White

Magic Rearview mirror from Mazda [Newlaunches]

A-DATA may be a little late to the party, but they have designed and released a variety of flash memory modules with a PotC theme. Available is a regular flash drive bearing Depp's character. Also available are SD Duo cards. These are like regular SD memory cards but have a USB module so they can be directly plugged in to a computer. Normally I would rip on A-DATA for showing up to the PotC bandwagon party very late, but I can't hate against anything featuring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. SD Duo pictures after the fold.

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Microsoft's latest patent filing is finally giving us a deeper look into what they plan to do with their Live Anywhere service. Even though it's been a year since Microsoft first demoed the Live Anywhere concept—which promises connectivity from all devices into the same Xbox network—at E3 2006, the only advancement we've seen is the ability to play a handful of Xbox Live games on Vista with your buddies on Xbox 360. All the really cool stuff—playing XBLA games from your cellphone, playing games from your Zune, and communicating anywhere with your Live buddies—has yet to materialize.

In the filing, Microsoft's planning on supplementing weaker devices (in terms of processing power) like mobiles and the Zune, with stronger processors, like Xbox 360 and PCs. That way, through wired and wireless connections, already-rendered video and audio can be streamed to your devices out there in the world. Although we probably still won't see Live Anywhere on our phones for a while, and by extension the ability to mock Blongo's Guitar Hero skills from anywhere, it's nice to know Microsoft hasn't forgotten about it. – Jason Chen

Zune, Xbox, PC in Game Network [ZuneScene]

The thought of a random critter pillaging through my garden makes my blood boil, but now those son of a guns will pay. The Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler is exactly that. This device hooks up to a hose and will start spraying bursts of water upon detection of motion, or an animal. No longer will giant barbwire electric fences be needed to protect those precious tomatoes, now the Scarecrow is all you need. This is a pretty foolproof device, unless, of course, a fish decides to ruin your garden. $75. –Travis Hudson

(And remember, folks... there is a drought on! -ed.)

Product Page [Via uber-review]

Even though spring is definitely here, we still like the idea of a cozy fire, and this Fire Table from British design firm Fuego is just weird enough to satisfy our firebug jones. Hey, any excuse to play with fire is good enough for a recovering smoker.

This one's exceptionally easy to use, where all you need to do is light up its alcohol-based gel (it's like Sterno) and whoosh! The thing's burning without any stankin' smoke, muss or fuss.

Be careful who you let stand next to your fire, because a diaphanous gown could suddenly burst into flames. And it's certainly not childproof, nor is it wallet-proof at $1800-$2200 depending on finish and size. – Charlie White

Indoor Fire Table [Born Rich]

I'm all for surround sound, but for the sake of saving space I gravitate to speakers like Paradigm's Millenia 20 Trio, which combines all of your front channels (left, center, and right) into one skinny soundbar. Paradigm doesn't claim it delivers virtual surround surround sound (for that check out these or my personal favorites) so you'll need to pair it with a sub or rear satellites for the full experience. The soundbar will set you back $1,000, which is pricey, but not a bad way to complement your flat-panel. – Louis Ramirez

Paradigm Bows 3-in-1 Surround Speaker [Crave]

When we introduced you to these six-foot-tall KEF Muon speakers earlier this month, we called them "mysterious, tall and handsome." Designed by erstwhile Apple designer Ross Lovegrove, the limited edition of 100 speakers are made of shiny aluminum and look more like sculptures than loudspeakers.

We were hoping to see a full-length photo of the things after their big debut at a Milan design show, and as you can see, we weren't disappointed. We were also kinda wondering how much these things cost, because when we first saw these, price wasn't part of the conversation. Now we know. $140,000.

Jump for more luscious pictures.

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The Empire State Building, whose lights change with the seasons (green and red for Christmas, green for St. Paddy's Day, etc), is getting an upgrade. Both Color Kinetics and Philips Electronics are competing for a new contract to install LEDs on the skyscraper, allowing for new colors and patterns to be shone on the side of the building.

While I'm all for an upgrade with brighter, more efficient lights, the idea of a giant American flag or some cheesy fireworks animations for the 4th of July being slapped up there just seems really tacky. But hey, they didn't ask me, so look for some tourist-slow-walking-inducing lights to be installed on the iconic structure sometime next year. –Adam Frucci

Empire State Building Seeks Best of the Brightest [NY Times]

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This is just a practical joke waiting to happen. Emotive got the funding they needed—$7.7 million—from a variety of investors, including Warner Music Group, to create a product that can override the callee's ringtone. It is called a "Push Ringer." Sick of your friend's super annoying "My Humps" ringtone? When you call him or her you can force your own ringtone on their phone with this new system.

Will the Push Ringer be annoying? More than likely, but will it be fun every once in a while? Most definitely. To all of my contacts in my address book: prepare yourself for Peanut Butter Jelly Time. –Travis Hudson

Product to Let Cell Caller Override Your Ringtone [The Raw Feed]

This is not a stormtrooper helmet, it's the LG Compressor, a dust-free and bagless vacuum cleaner that LG says can suck up three times the dirt of vacuums from planet Earth. It's called the Compressor because it smashes all that funk into triangular-shaped wedges, kind of like a trash compactor that can neutralize all that pesky sneeze-inducing dust into harmless and inert dust bunny bricks. Hey, that makes room for four times more shit in the vacuum's holding tank.

Since we last showed it to you in March, more information has emerged about this unusual vac. Shipping in May, it's tricked out in three different models that LG has dubbed Compressor, Compressor PetCare and AllergyCare, dolled up in red, silver or white and priced between $200 and $300. Look out, Dyson, this sucking helmet might have just slam-dunked you in the techno derby. Think of how cool it would be to suck up some detritus around your pad with this interplanetary craft. Take the jump for descriptive photos. – Charlie White

LG launch worlds first dust compression vacuum cleaner [Absolute Gadget]

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After pulling XP from its desktop and laptop lines, Dell changed its mind and announced that it would offer it on new Inspiron 1405, 1705, 1505 and 1501 notebooks, and Dimension E520 and E521 desktops. The decision was driven by an overwhelming outcry on Dell's IdeaStorm feedback center, which at the moment reads like a meeting of the He-Man Vista Hater's Club:

•"Vista just isn't ready for prime time... Sorry that's just the facts."

•"Many software only run at XP."

•"I am looking to buy a laptop, but Vista will not be on it."

•"Windows XP works. Vista might work, later."

•"Boycott Vista."

The announcement came less than a month after Linux users stormed IdeaStorm and demanded availability on desktops and notebooks, to which Dell responded that it would get going. Just in case you haven't gotten freaky on that Linux lovefest yet, here's your chance. – Wilson Rothman

Don't Eliminate XP Just Yet [Dell IdeaStorm via ZDNet]

Two years ago, Fujitsu announced that it had come up with the world's first film substrate-based bendable color electronic paper featuring image memory function (snappy name, fellas). Well, now they've made something to put it in: The FLEPia (that's a bit better, but I'm still not convinced). it comes in two sizes, A4 (480 grams) and A5 (320 grams) and both are just 12mm thick.

It's easy to operate—put a 4GB memory card in the SD slot, and the content downloads as quick as you like thanks to its high-speed wireless LAN connection. There are six function buttons and a scroll key and, once charged, the battery goes for 50 hours. As well as the silver and, *cough*, pink pearl—which looks suspiciously like Zune pink to us—the FLEPia comes in white pearl. There's a couple of shots of the handy bendy filmy paper after the jump, plus how much the things cost.

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It's barely had any time to sit on store shelves and yet Microsoft's new Xbox 360 Elite has already been sliced open for the world to see. Unfortunately, the delicate surgeons who gutted the system couldn't confirm if the new 360 is packing an updated 65nm core or not. A 65nm core would mean the machine would run cooler and consume less power than the current 90nm core. Otherwise take a peek at the system's new hard drive, DVD drive, and sexy HDMI slot. – Louis Ramirez

Inside the Xbox 360 Elite [Llama via Gear Lab]