Put this MagicMouse on your finger, and make your PC's cursor move around as if by some miraculous force. It works with five carefully positioned ultrasonic microphones, picking up signals from the ring and judging its position in 3D space. Move your hand closer or farther away from the screen and you zoom in, or move your hand back and forth and the cursor follows it.

What team of scientists invented this thing?

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Motorola has been on a mobile kick as of late and for their next project, they've teamed up with Kodak to use their CMOS sensor in a Motorola-Kodak cameraphone that'll sport a 5-megapixel camera.

Not many details are known about the phone, although we do know it'll debut just in time for the holidays. Only time will tell if it'll be able to take on Sony Ericsson and its Cybershots (which happen to be my favourite cameraphones). – Louis Ramirez

Kodak's CMOS Camera Will Be 5-megapixel [News.com]

This is not your father's photo booth. Step into the Fototron2000 with its robot artist lurking within, and you may never look at yourself the same way again. The techno-beast's arm has LEDs at the end of it, and while you stand there it paints you with the LED light. Then its computer artist brain extracts the brightness contours of its images and does a long exposure of these edges on Polaroid film.

The result is a wild-looking photo that you can take along with you. Check out the gallery below to see what this baby can do. – Charlie White, videography by Richard Blakeley

Fotron2000, A robotic sketch artist/photobooth [Fototron2000]

Going the complete opposite direction from the Idiot's Cube, this irregular cube is a Rubik's cube that you need to solve with both colour and shape. Called the Irregular IQ Cube, this strange geometric shape is supposed to end up like a standard Rubik's Cube when solved, but looks like a kid's science project when not. For only $US8.50, you too can have a cube that rolls off your table every day to remind you that you should have studied harder in school.

See it in action after the jump.

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While Intel and AMD continue to duke it out on the CPU front, the guys at IBM have unveiled a new dual-core processor that can hit 4.7GHz without sucking up so much power. As an added "up yours" to Apple, the new processor, dubbed the Power6, was described as being fast enough to "download the entire iTunes catalog" in a single minute. The CPU will be used mainly for high-end servers. Perhaps someone at Apple right now is smacking their forehead as they yell out "doh!" – Louis Ramirez

Press Release [via AppleInsider]

Boeing has started building their new flagship: the 787 Dreamliner. The cool thing about the 787 is that it only requires them to put together six big composite parts to build the final airframe and operators don't have to use huge tools and overhead cranes: all the parts can be slid along on the construction floor and put together like giant LEGO pieces. Check the gallery for pictures of the delivery and assembly of the sections and hit the jump for more details.

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The Plane Clean Air Filter is the kind of product that makes me think: "Yay! Great idea," while at the same time wondering whether I am becoming a little too prissy for my own good. How prissy? And how will this gizmo help me? Find out after the (disinfected) jump.

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It looks fugly when shut, but slide open the W52S and all of a sudden it doesn't look so bad. What is bad, however, is that this phone is part of KDDI's Au project, a series of collaborations between mobile manufacturers and designers, so don't expect the W52S to head over from its Japanese home anytime soon. The W52S comes In three colors, Arpeggio Blue, Pizzicato Pink (No! No! NO!) and dull old Silver - admit it, the electric blue is kinda whizz-bang fabulous, isn't it? It's out in Japan at the end of this month. Full specs after the jump, and there's a gallery for you to "Ooh" and "Aah" at right here.

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Western Digital has just announced their new WD Scorpio 250GB, a Serial ATA 2.5-inch hard drive for notebooks which, at 3.94 x 2.75 x 0.354 inch, is the largest smallest shipping HD in the world. The 5400 RPM 12ms read seek time WD Scorpio uses Perpendicular Magnetic Recording and you will find all its features and price after the jump

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A British man has made two phone calls from the summit of Mount Everest in the Himalaya. At 8,848 metres, Rod Baber's two conversations have gone into the record books as the highest phone call ever made (let me tell you, I've made some when I've been minging off my mong cheeks and they're not pretty). Find out without whom, etc etc, after the crevasse.

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I want to record high def cable TV, at full resolution. So there are only a few choices: TiVo Series 3, a Vista Media Centre PC with Cable cards, or a rental box from the cable company. I realise... Read More »

Nicholas Negroponte has started a bitch-fight against Intel because, according to him, they are trying to drive him out of business by underpricing their OLPC rival, the Classmate. He says that Intel "should be ashamed of itself" arguing that by bringing a low-cost laptop to developing countries, they hurt "his mission enormously." His mission. Intel's Chairman Craig Barrett calls the notion "crazy." I'm going to go a step further and say that Negroponte's arguments are absolutely stupid. Clickity-clack on the jump to see more about the OLPC vs Classmate clash.

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Right now to enter the American wireless market, you pretty much have to go through of the Big Four wireless providers, who, as Columbia professor Tim Wu puts it, "tend to approve only established partners whose devices fit their... Read More »

iRobot, of Roomba fame, has come out of the woodwork and announced that they will be unveiling two new consumer robots this holiday season that will not be floor cleaning robots. Helen Greiner, co-founder of iRobot said "We are going to launch them from our Web space, and they are not floor-cleaning robots. They are different types of robots with mechanical features." So, what do you folks think? They are going to be consumer robots that don't clean.

I personally think one will be some kind of a pet-aide. Like a robot that can dispense food on a schedule and maybe even scoop a cat box. If you remember, iRobot announced the Create back at CES, but this supposedly isn't it. Hit the comments and let us know what you think it will be or should be. –Travis Hudson

iRobot: New home bots for the holidays [News.com]

Why should you care? Because these SMSes are sent to premium ringtone downloads and other services, which will cost you between $1 and $10 per message. Ouch.

If you really want to keep your phone safe from Trojans, check out the video above from our time at CeBIT. – Jason Chen

First Trojan-SMS virus for S60 Smartphones [Unwired View]

The MemoryFrame MF-8104 Premium from Digital Spectrum is a 10.4-inch digital picture frame that might just finally be pushing all the right buttons. With its built-in Wi-Fi, it lets you communicate with your home network, letting you snag pictures from photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Windows Live Spaces and Webshots without shelling out for a paid subscription service. Plus, it can play a variety of sound and video files, and includes a remote control.

Hey, this is looking good! Are there any drawbacks?

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Last month we got to check out Onkyo's new line of receivers and speakers. Today one of the users at AVS Forums has posted what appears to be a first-hand shot of Denon's new offerings. In particular, it's a shot of the GUI. Why the big deal?

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Quick reminder: we launched our first competition yesterday. All comments posted anywhere on the site over the next two weeks put you in the running. It ain't random either. The best comment wins, so find something insightful to say and win yourself the XtremeMac Luna. Good times! -Seamus Byrne

This device from Seiko easily falls into the "Why didn't I think of that?" category. The Seiko EM-49 is simply a power strip for the 12V power adapter in most vehicles. It also includes a USB port for charging your MP3 player, cellphone, etc. It goes for a cool $19, if you can find a way to get one over here from Korea. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via AVING]

The Smoking Jacket is a conceptual work by Fiona Carswell. It includes a giant popped collar where smoke can be blown in to. There is a pair of lungs on the front that kind of act like a warning system to others and filters the smoke. Over time the lungs will darken from the cigarette smoke and eventually turn black. I like it. This jacket gets rid of secondhand smoke and tells me what people to avoid chatting up. Not bad, Fiona. –Travis Hudson

Smoking Jacket [WMMNA]

PC World names Top 100 of 2007?
Talk about premature evaluation!

Vanity mirror tracks your face wherever you go
So good it will even track vampires... still can't show them, though.

Tesla car freaks build giant bunny slipper vehicles.
I can't help but wonder what Anya would do if she saw these coming.

USB mini fridge: one can, chilled fast.
Who needs a bigger fridge if it only takes 5 minutes to chill one at a time?

80GB PS3 shipping in Korea.
33% more hard drive -- why? Because you can!

Advice: what to expect from Dell's Ubuntu.
A good primer, even though we can't get it here just yet.

In case you can't get enough of real cellphones, designer Bence Bogar has a fake one for you to drool over. The concept, a luxury twist/slide smartphone, combines what we've seen in dual-screen phones wiht crazy expensive features.

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When the AVL-900 is properly installed in a car, it contains enough gadgetry to successfully ruin every high-school student's Friday night.

Not only does it send out the GPS coordinates of the car's current location or alert the owner/parent the second their car has been moved, but it can spy on the driver as well. That's right, with a simple text message you can instantly gain access to all of the conversations going on inside the car. So even though little Jimmy said on the phone that he was going to the library, once dialed in you can hear all about how he and his friends are on their way to the deadly drug party with all the strippers and illegal activities.

Luckily for the young'uns they still have some time, since there's no word yet on where to pick up one of these snitches. But if the moms I knew growing up are any indication, they will find it—and they will use it.– Ben Longo

AVL-900 tracker lets you listen conversations in your vehicle [Navigadget]

No doubt about it. Nokia's Scentsory cellphone concept looks like something you'd launch across the room aimed squarely at a friend's head. But this foldable cellie is a scent-enabled handheld (much like this one), which gives your nose a treat via its built-in pores. Open it up and you get a whiff of petunias, close it shut and you can plop it in your pocket with room to spare. Not bad design-wise, though I'm still not sold on why I'd want a smell-o-phone. – Louis Ramirez

Product Page [via Gadget Lab]

To go along with their HD DVD rebate promotion, the HD DVD camp is making a big push and releasing popular titles this week. The list:

The Complete Matrix Trilogy, 40-year-old Virgin, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Mission Impossible 1 + 2, Freedom Writers, the Skeleton Key, Smokey and the Bandit, and the Ultimate Matrix Collection.

So when you get in on HD DVD with the $100 rebate, you actually have some nice movies to watch.

Blu-ray's not lying down either.

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Some shit is going down at XM today. Apparently one of the satellites has lost its downlinking capability and XM is currently working to resolve the issue. Our buddy Ryan at Orbitcast is also reporting that repeaters are down... Read More »

The little phone provider that could, Alltel Wireless, was picked up for a very respectable $27.5 billion. Surprisingly, Verizon didn't end up being the admirer, it turned out to be a combination of investors, TPG & GS Capital.

There's a new place to properly recycle your old computers now, Staples. For $10 they'll take any computer or screen off of your hands. Peripherals are free, though.

The online Russian music provider, AllofMP3.com was dealt yet another blow. One of their few sources of income from England, credit vouchers, were seized during a raid in East London.

We're sure that Microsoft has a little smirk on its face right now, they claimed that zero manufacturers have chosen to license the special European Union version of Windows Vista. You know, the one that took out Windows Media Player. – Ben Longo art by Loren Long

Graduation is something I thought I would never see hacked, until now. David Worden recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin and hacked up his mortar board to have blinking LEDs. While other people think they are crafty by writing "Hi Mom" on their cap, Worden showed them all up with this LED mod. His degree is in electrical engineering, go figure.

I wish I would have done something like this at my graduation, but I was too hungover to handle anything more than walking across a stage and shaking hands. Hit the link below to see the detailed instructions of how he pulled it off. –Travis Hudson

Grad Hack [DavidWorden]

Now that Dell's on the verge of shipping Ubuntu-installed computers, potential Linux converters could have some questions as to what they're getting when they buy the package. Dell's got some answers.

First off, Dell's going to be shipping the default install of Ubuntu. However, when it comes to drivers, they're going to be supporting a subset of other OS installations, and using some closed source drivers when it's necessary—as in, when there's no equivalent open source version. For you, this means better compatibility.

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What has the world come to? Why is Fat Joe trying to do our job and review the Helio Ocean? We're not going out and mackin' on the ladies and rapping it up. C'mon Fat Joe, stick to what... Read More »

Things are shaping up for an eventual Korea vs. Japan robot wars in the next 20 to 30 years, and Korea is getting ready with a robot that keeps your home safe. Unlike previous robots, this one from KornTech (snicker, snicker) is named Rogun and has high-end face tracking software, which means it can both recognize and track your kids by turning its head to face you no matter where you move.

Also, Rogun will use that same facial recognition to detect if strangers visit, and will call you on your phone if you're out. If you've left your kids at home, it can monitor them, and will stream updates to you over the Internet as well. Plus, there's a 7-inch LCD monitor in its chest so kids can interact with it. If you want one, be prepared to shell out more than $100,000 for the privilege. – Jason Chen

Robot Keeps Home Safe in Korea [Far East Gizmos via Uber Gizmo]

The folks at Mio took the wraps off their latest GPS unit this morning, unveiling the new DigiWalker C520. The slick little unit sells for $399 and comes packed with everything from Bluetooth to a 4.3-inch widescreen LCD. Does it deserve a spot on your dashboard? Check out the gallery and our quick take after the jump.

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Remember that sexy Sony VAIO TZ90 tenth-anniversary laptop we showed you last week? It's now a shipping product, complete with that 32GB of solid-state storage tucked inside. The carbon fiber notebook with its 10.4-inch screen and 1GB of RAM is a bit pricey, though—it'll cost you just shy of $3K. But at 2.25 lb. and available in a variety of purdy colors, this might just be one of the great notebooks of the year. Check out the gallery below to see what we mean.

Sony VAIO TZ90 [Dynamism]

Go may not be very popular here in the US, but that didn't stop me from actually taking a few lessons when I was a kid (ladies, quit knocking down my door). Plus, it didn't stop this guy from designing an electronic roll-up Go board.

Shaped like a roll of parchment when contracted, the Go board rolls out to show the black and white pieces with what looks like e-ink. That's a fantastic idea, which could be extended to chess, checkers or Chinese checkers—since when I play somebody usually gets angry and knocks the pieces off the board when they lose. And by somebody, I mean me. – Jason Chen

Electronic Go (Chinese Chess) Board [Yanko Design]

Sweden is known for two things: supermodels and apparently, snot suckers, since this nasal aspirator has been used by "Swedish Moms and Dads for years." Basically, if your child is refusing to blow their nose, jam the $15 NoseFrida against their nostril (but not inside) and start sucking on the end to pull out all kinds of nasty nastiness. Don't worry about it getting into your mouth though, because they assure us:

WITH THE FILTER IN PLACE, THE PARENT DOES NOT COME IN CONTACT WITH THE MUCOUS FROM THE CHILD. There is no risk of bacterial contamination, in other words, you will not get the cold your child has.

Uh huh. Sorry, but I don't care how good the filter is, I don't go anywhere near sick children (or well ones, for that matter.) The last thing I'm going to do is pull their creepy-crawlies directly toward my mouth. – Matt Buchanan

Product Page [NoseFrida via Medgadgets]

Hey folks, while you were busy doing chores and spending time with the kids, we were off galavanting around Maker Faire in San Mateo with all kinds of crazy craftsmen! We know you couldn't be there yourselves, so live vicariously through our pictures.

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Remember that rumour about the 80GB PS3? Well, it's becoming pretty solid since Sony of South Korea just announced that they're shipping out an 80GB version for the Korean market.

As for Japan, the US and everywhere else? We're just going to have to wait. Damn, first Starcraft II, then this? Koreans are making out big time this week. – Jason Chen

Press Release [PlayStation Korea]

There's two types of "homage" that we usually see from Chinese vendors. First, the Meizu type, who grab the look and feel and some functionality from other products but make them into something pretty respectable. Then, there's the Amycoll PS3.

First, there's the obvious "Amycoll" instead of Samsung's Anycall. Then there's the even more obvious "PS3." They didn't even try with that one. Add to that the PSP-like buttons on the top, which can be used in landscape mode with the D-pad on the left for gaming. Oh, there's more.

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Check out Episode 88 of the Coolness Roundup with Gizmodo's Charlie White and Sci Fi Tech's Stephen Schleicher talking about how the latest NVidia cards might shift the balance of convergence in the home theater. They also dive into... Read More »

We know a lot of guys whose crotches do the thinking for them, but we've yet to see anyone pressing a cellphone up against the old 'nads for a cellphone conversation. If there are such people, here's some radiation-proof underwear that'll keep those balls protected from deadly radiation, keeping their billions and billions of delicate sperm out of harm's way. You do know that cellphones emit killer rays that fry your brain with every call, don't you? Imagine what they could do to your family jewels.

These most excellent black briefs have silver threads woven within, keeping that cellphone radiation out of your pants. Now what will Jason do when he puts that perhaps-pantsworthy iPhone down his pants next month? Voicemail will have to do, because according to the Swiss underwear maker Isabodywear, he won't get very good reception wearing a pair of these $24 bloomers. – Charlie White

New men's underwear protects from harmful cell phone rays [Textually]

Plug this USB mini fridge into your PC, and Brando says you'll have that drink chilled down to 8.5°C (that's 47°F for us Luddite Americans) after five minutes. Plunk down your $33 and you get this tiny plastic refrigerator that's reminiscent of those old-fashioned Coke machines. Too bad there's not a Coca-Cola logo across the side, but then, that would mean big trouble for Brando.

While 47°F is not exactly ice cold, if this thing can cool down drinks that quickly, might be good for a brewski or two. Five minutes? Heck yeah, we can drink them that fast. Anyway, this little cooler would be perfect for that insecure, perpetually thirsty workmate of yours who walks around with a soda can as if it were a baby bottle. Seems like a pacifier would be easier and cheaper. – Charlie White

Update: Yeah, Brando must mean the unit chills down to 47°F in five minutes, not the drink itself. CW

Product Page [Brando]

Remember that Fujitsu UMPC we showed you last week? Thanks to the folks at Dynamism you'll soon be able to buy one. They're importing the Tablet/UMPC hybrid over from Japan for $2,099. It's expected to arrive mid-to-late June in two configurations, one with Windows XP and one with Windows Vista (we'd choose the former). Still no word on when/if Fujitsu will bring it to the States, so this could be your only chance to snatch one. – Louis Ramirez

Product Page [via Gadget Lab]

Gizmodo has done a fair few posts about electric car company Tesla in the past, but none have moved me quite as much as I'd like these vehicles to move me. And you all know how much pink products make me feel normally (nausea, intense anger, psychosis...). Well, not these. Firmware Engineer Greg Solberg has posted pictures of a pair of motorised pink bunny slippers that he and partner Lisa have created together. Details and a pic of Bunny Control after the jump.

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Good gawd, now they're adding those tacky Swarovski crystals to coffee makers? Nespresso, which should know better, brings you a choice of pink or black sparkles on its Limited Edition Essenza machines. These little "Crystal Couture" espresso makers will set you back $1000, and there will only be 100 of each variety made. Maybe this is a great idea for espresso coffee machine collectors. That, along with luxury doggie hotels, is yet another harbinger of the fall of the Empire.

That's a nice head of crema foaming up on top of those little espresso cups, however we're not convinced that all those crystalline pieces of plastic spangled all over the outside of these machines will make the coffee taste any better. But then, stranger things have happened. – Charlie White

Nespresso "Fashion" Espresso Machine in "Crystal Couture" [Single Serve Coffee]