Here's the Sikorsky X2, a prototype helicopter with three blades that is set to fly at the end of the year at 287mph. That's 240 knots vs the usual 170kt of conventional choppers. We saw the idea a while ago and, after some cancellations of the program by the military, Sikorsky is now building it on their own. To keep the costs down enough for Batman to buy a dozen and paint them black, they are building them using already existing components for the most part. – Jesus Diaz Sikorsky X2 heralds the DIY helicopter [Flight Global]

For those artists whose desire of a fat pen is accompanied by the need for a two-button scrolling mouse, Salient Tech swoops in with the VM-203, a wireless pen mouse with 1000dpi resolution. It's designed to be easy to use, with its rubberized grip and rounded ergonomic shape, but to us it just looks like it's too big. Couldn't they have slimmed it down a bit? Maybe it's actually not fat enough for its obvious secondary use. Wonder if it vibrates.

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A leak or two was sprung about the Samsung YP-U3 MP3 player last month, but we didn't have such pretty pictures available then. Now it's official, the USB player from Sammy that supports 66 hours of voice recording and has an FM tuner was officially rolled out, and look at that quintet of eye-popping colors. Jump for a product shot and another one of those classic Samsung babe pics.

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Here's a new picture of the Anti-Jesus Phone just released by Meizu's CEO Jack Wong in their bulletin board. Looks like the false prophet wants to steal some thunder off the iPhone launch, because he says that there are more to come very soon. In the meantime, the rest of the world keeps watching some dude in a train again and again. – Jesus Diaz Meizu Planning New M8 Mini One Photo Release [Meizu Me]

Here's the new iRiver NV in all its glorious smoked Korean shininess. With a 7-inch screen and two SD ports, this thing can do anything except calling: it has an integrated Global Positioning System unit, terrestrial digital TV, FM radio and plays back every format under the sun: MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF, WMV, MPG, Xvid and H.264. I specially like its sexy monochrome display in the thumb control, which will not only show its functions but also show icons indicating what kind of turn you have to do next. And if that wasn't cool enough, check out the beautiful Bang & Olufsenesque remote control in the gallery. Hopefully, it will be available everywhere soon. – Jesus Diaz Product page [iRiver via Akihabara News]

The new PillCam ESO 2, a pill that you have to swallow to take images of your digestive system, has just been approved by the FDA. Now, it will take 14 images per second during 30 minutes, with a 21%-wider view angle and new Automatic Light Control for even more juicy and crispy details. Obligatory gross image samples after the jump.

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Steampunk this, steampunk that, even steampunk Star Trek and now steampunk Star Wars. This is R2S2, a working steam version of everyone's favorite astromechanical droid created by I-Wei Huang. It won't be able to calculate a hyperspace jump, but it will probably be able plot a Nautilus trip across some subterranean sea under Australia. Or at least it looks like it can, which is all that matters with all the artifacts that Wired has collected into a gallery. Here are our favorites, including a Gilliamesque Macintosh SE, but check out their gallery for other wonders, like the Original Model 420 Pneumatiform Infumationizer. – Jesus Diaz Steam-Driven Dreams: The Wondrously Whimsical World of Steampunk [Wired]

Thanko's latest wacky invention is an update to one of their old models, a USB Microscope. The new version increases the LED count from 4 to 8, which means that when you're looking at things anywhere from 20x to 200x larger than they usually are, you'll actually be able to see it better than a blind zombie in the dark during an eclipse. The USB scope hooks up to any Win 2000/XP/Vista machine with a USB 1.1/2.0 port and gives you mindblowing resolutions all the way up to 640x480. It's probably not small enough to fit inside your ear, but it does make reproducing a whole lot easier. How'd you think I had all that room in my pants for those gadgets? – Jason Chen Product Page [Thanko]

iRiver keeps releasing nice Japan-only stuff for us to drool over. Like this U:MO, a satellite TV/music receiver/MPEG-4 recorder/multimedia player tiny wonder with 320 x 240 screen and miniSD slot. It uses the same control as the Clix and... Read More »

After testing out both Blu-ray and HD DVD rentals in 250 of its 1,450 stores, movie rental chain Blockbuster has gone with Blu-ray as the format its going to widely deploy next month. The decision comes as customers in those 250 stores chose Blu-ray 70% of the time, obviously more than doubling the amount of HD DVDs rented. That's a pretty big margin this early in the format war. However, HD DVD die hards have a slight bit of hope left. Blockbuster will still continue renting HD DVDs in the original 250 locations, so there could be a possibility in changing the decision if customers start renting a lot more of the HD discs or studios start pumping out a lot more movies on that format. We wouldn't count on it. – Jason Chen

AU: This reflects our own developments, such as JB Hi-Fi firmly supporting Blu-ray, with shelf real estate rolling out to stock a lot of Blu-ray but no HD DVD by the end of the year. If you can't use a format, you have no reason to buy a format. -SB

It may be its beautiful japanese simplicity or just our obsession with wood, but M's System MS0801 and MS1001 cylindrical wood speakers make me drool. A single unit will give you stereo sound and the manufacturer says that they are designed "like a musical instrument" for "amazing reproduction of live performances." Specs and more pictures after the jump.

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Nokia fans who can't quite afford the extravagance of the N95 or the N75, will appreciate the company's latest mid-range handsets. The three, in from left to right order above: the 6121 Classic, the 3500 Classic (two candybars) and the 6267 (the clamshell).

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Sling's just released the Slinglink TURBO 1 and Slinglink TURBO 4, two powerline network adapters so you can connect your Slingboxes through your home network by way of the electrical system. Aptly named, the TURBO 1 has one Ethernet port and the TURBO 4 has four, and will retail for $99 and $149 respectively. It's a pretty good last-shot method to get your stuff wired up you really hate wiring Ethernet through your house and your home's construction makes wireless networking impossible. – Jason Chen Product Page [Slingmedia via Crunchgear]

The Mogul (PPC-6800), HTC and Sprint's Windows Mobile 6 followup to the PPC-6700 we told you about has finally arrived. It definitely improves on its predecessor, but is HTC's latest innovation in its Windows Mobile line the best slide... Read More »

Next time you're renovating the kitchen, why not go for a designer stovetop? These Britannia range cookers form their 'couture' range, inspired by the designs of Avsh Alom Gur.

If these are a little too bling for your home, you can order a Britannia stove matched to the colour of your choice.

At a cool £4,800, you can afford to swap these in and out with the changing of the seasons. Sorry? You aren't living off the interest of a major inheritance? You poor, poor soul... -Seamus Byrne

Britannia Couture Range [via Luxist]

Who cares? Well we like to throw some love to local kids, and most of you probably didn't even realise that PC Tools, maker of Spyware Doctor, is actually an Aussie software shop. Earlier this year it had a big win when Spyware Doctor was added to Google Pack, and now, after three years on the market, Spyware Doctor has broken its 100 millionth download.

PC Tools' background was in registry editing, with its Registry Mechanic still one of the best in show, so it makes sense that it was well placed to deliver a top notch anti-malware package.

So here's to a grouse Aussie dev done good! -Seamus Byrne

Official Site [PC Tools]

The name is utterly meaningless (to us English speakers, perhaps), but the idea is a fairly advanced take on the phone home laptop security software we hear about from time to time. Built for OS X, Verey I asks the lappy user to authenticate their identity when they connect to a network. If they don't within a pre-defined period of time, the security system kicks into action.

Emails will be sent to your address, with info on IP addresses (for the computer and for nearby wireless networks, if any, to help pin point a location), serial number, MAC address... and a piece of video, with audio, of the person sitting in front of the computer.

It even helps the thief get it back to you, telling them about the info it has just passed on.

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More clever science, with a British company developing an underwater buoy tech to harness tidal power from 50m beneath the surface. The system doesn't capture the to and fro of the water so much as the change in pressure forced upon the buoys as the water rises and falls around it.

They're claiming half a square kilometre, and 100 of the buoys, would power a town of 55,000 homes. Considering we're a very coastal population, could we have something this cool taking care of business soon? These guys are talking wide installations after Scottish testing next year. -Seamus Byrne

AWS Ocean Energy [via Treehugger]

US scientists have developed an atom trap, a device that can hold hundreds of atoms in a 3D optical lattice array, which they say is an important stepping stone to one day building a bona fide quantum computer.

From the article:

In the past, researchers have used optical lattices to trap millions of atoms. "The difference in what we're doing in this apparatus is that we have a large array where we can observe each individual atom," Weiss says. Until now, the only lattices where individual atoms were visible were one-or two-dimensional arrays, and contained only a handful of atoms.

In the new study, though, the team used three lasers arranged at right angles to create a 3D lattice in which they trapped 250 atoms of cesium.

I look forward to the day we break reality wide open with a freaky quantum computer. I've heard stories that, in theory, a quantum computer can be set to perform tasks even when they're turned off... or that quantum computers across all possible realities of said computers could come to deliver power far in excess of the single computer... my brain hurts... -Seamus Byrne

Atom trap is a step toward a quantum computer [New Scientist]

Crazy Moog + Theremin + Star Trek action.
The tubes of the innerwebs are lined by awesome vids like this.

Scramjet test rocket goes Mach 10.
And it all went down at Woomera.

New super small camera chip for phones.
For those who feel the need for wafer-thin handsets.

Crazy human Tetris video.
Let's lose the reality TV and get some Asian-style game shows out here.

Which PCs are the most bloated?
A nice video looking at which systems come with the most crap pre-installed.

YouTube Mobile goes live!
YouTube on a mobile phone equals a far more entertaining commute.

Blu-ray disc rot?
Seems some copies of 'The Prestige' are dying already.

For those who may have missed it, our friends over at The Consumerist ran a little story called 22 Confessions of a Former Dell Sales Manager that received over 130,000 hits. Needless to say, it wasn't the sort of story that makes Dell look like a great company. After demanding the post be removed, Dell switched gears, writing a response called Dell's 23 Confessions. Their response to the article was #1: "we goofed".

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For those who've been listening to us rant about multitouch, accelerometers and IR sensing, but have completely ignored the brainwashing Apple content, hit the link for Apple's new 3D QuickTours of the iPhone. Even if you aren't interested in reshingling the House that Jobs Built with solid gold, the demos are exceedingly successful at showing how some of the phone's more widespread technologies work. – Mark Wilson QuickTours [apple]

Believe it or not, when we say "Jesus Phone", we mean it as a joke. – Mark Wilson Yes, This Is Real... OK, It's Fake

These GeekPark figures may look like cheap McDonald's toys, but they are actually fully-functional webcams. Capturing resolutions up to 1280x960 at 30fps, each little person has movable appendages and...well that's about where the extra functionality starts/stops. Coming in four colors, these $22 webcams just tease us with their useless color identities that in no way promote the assembly of a giant robot to fight evil. Oh well. – Mark Wilson Product Page [via technabob]

The Contraforma Imperial Tiles are modular carpeting, perfect for quick fixes after spills (or cat puke, if you live in my home).

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Using infrared light to penetrate the skin, the Lima is a blood sugar analyzer that requires no blood for a reading. After placing your hand on the Lima, football style, you hit a power button to take the reading. Then, without tearing up in front of your friend/girlfriend/pitbull, your blood sugar level will appear on the display. It's an interesting concept, but why not remove the power button completely and allow pressure to activate the device? Concept Page [via gearfuse]

The Froggetmee chopsticks may not be electronic, but they are a gadget nonetheless. Combining chopsticks and spoons into one utensil, the culinary world is calling the Froggetmee the biggest breakthrough in efficient eating technologies since the spork. I've been wanting a pair of reusable chopsticks and these run a reasonable $8. What do you think? Should I lean toward practicality, or a just pick some up with a badass dragon design that I'll then enlarge for my car to match? – Mark Wilson Product Page [via uberreview]

As recently published by the German (not BBC) magazine Focus, Apple will be making an in-car system for Mercedes. This mystery unit will tackle "maintenance entertainment, communication and navigation". From Focus (translated):

Mercedes will exclusively offer the new Apple set for six months. On an introduction on the market presumably 2009 are to be counted. Unclear it is still whether Apple - similar as with iPhone - on Google will trust maps as navigation aid.

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Over on AVS Forums, a few members are complaining about a problem with copies of The Prestige: disc rot.

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