If you are planning on showing Gizmodo no love this morning, we shall excuse you if you ditch us for the awesome DARPA Urban Challenge. The DARPA Urban Challenge hopes to pursue technologies that may replace humans on the battlefield. Teams enter an unmanned, robotic and autonomous vehicle, which is released in a mock city environment and must complete certain tasks to succeed. The main objective is for the robotic vehicle to carry out simulated military supply missions, whilst simultaneously negotiating their way through traffic and past obstacles.

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We've had our share of cool water bottles make their way through the site. Now we get BevyTech's Gadget Bottle, which is just sad. Not only does this seem like a broken cellphone/MP3 player/pill bottle(!?) waiting to happen, but what practical reason is there for affixing a gadget to a water bottle? Granted the knife-bottle option does look extra grimy, but it'd be cooler if they built it into the bottle. I'll spend my $8.25 elsewhere, thanks. [Gadget Bottle]

Microsoft's HD Photo standard is now officially tapped to become JPEG's successor by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, but it'll be known as JPEG XR. XR stands for extended range, given the wider colour palette and finer gradations it can show. Other benefits include in-camera imaging processing support and, supposedly, better compression. Besides losing its Windows-y name (in a former life, it was Windows Media Photo) it's dropping proprietary control by Microsoft to become as neutral as JPEG is now. Though support's already built-in to Windows Vista, it'll take a year to get standardized, at which point large-scale adoption will probably start picking up steam. [Cnet via Electronista]

They say that the best way to develop a great product is to find a need and fill it. Perhaps the design team at DigitalTech didn't look hard enough when they came up with their Touchstone portable gadget charger / hand warmer hybrid. It's not that the two functions of the device aren't useful —it can charge just about anything and my hands could stand to be a little toastier in the winter months —I'm just not sure that these functions make a lot of sense together. Still, if you would prefer a compact charger with some added yet unrelated functionality, you will be happy to know that the Touchstone can provide up to 9 hours of continuous cell phone charging and up to 6 hours of hand warming. Available for around $44. [Product Page via TFTS]

Patton would've killed for a battalion of these babies. The British Army's testing an "invisible" tank that works like the invisibility jacket Susumu Tachi put out a couple of years ago. Basically a camera/projector setup throws images of the surroundings onto the tank, letting you see through it, so it's not quite the kind of future-y awesomeness DARPA's working on. Yet, anyway, according to the project head: "The next stage is to make the tank invisible without them - which is intricate and complicated, but possible." Add a couple of legs and a rail gun, and we'll see Metal Gears walking around in no time. [Daily Mail via Geekologie]

Samsung has officially announced the SGH-i780 and its QWERTY keyboard, 2.55" TFT touch screen with 320x320 resolution, optical joystick, Windows Mobile PPC, A-GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and support for triband GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 900/1800/1900 MHz and singleband UMTS/HSDPA. No word on pricing information, or where this phone might end up, but availability is expected to begin in January 2008. [Pocket PC Thougts via The Unwired]

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google will be announcing its phone plans on Monday, hopefully putting a stop to the endless rumours floating out there regarding the GPhone. The announcement is expected to reveal a series of alliances with multiple handset makers and cellphone operators that are open to the idea of pushing Google phone applications. WSJ notes that the timing of the announcement could always change, but at this point Monday is looking good. [WSJ]

After tripling its earnings in the most recent quarter to $105.26 million, Lenovo has decided that it doesn't need any stinking IBM logo on its products from here on out. As a result of their success, the decision has come 2 years earlier than planned. [CNET]

In case you didn't want to rip through the pages upon pages of the EAC's Voluntary Voting System Guidlines or the 600-page monster version before firing off your two cents on e-voting, Ars Technica nicely overviews them for us. For one, paper trails are now a de facto requirement, since "independent, voter-verifiable records" are required for certification, meaning we no longer have to pray that the machine's software is up to snuff.

More to the nitty-gritty, what emerges from the guidelines is something along the lines of an actual technical standard with "revised and clarified language." And they actually have to be tested, not just rubber-stamped by third-parties hand-picked by vendors. Best of all, while technically the guidelines are voluntary, a bunch of state legislatures are voting to make them mandatory, giving them the force of law. Must be a glum day over at Diebold Premier Election Systems' HQ, lamenting the days of a total lack of oversight. [Ars, Flickr]

Using traditional photovoltaics and a very non-traditional inflatable concentrator and tensegrity truss rigging structure, the folks at Cool Earth Solar have developed a system that could be far cheaper than polished aluminium mirrors. In fact, the inflatable versions are up to 400 times cheaper than regular mirrors and they are so lightweight that they can be suspended on cable lines as opposed to individual base systems —thereby using far less steel in construction. That means faster installation and minimal land use disruption.

Unfortunately, the design does have its drawbacks. For one, the inflatable mirrors would be fragile and less efficient than traditional methods due to the unique shape and the effects of wind on the non-rigid frame. So, in reality, the true cost effectiveness of such a set up is still unknown. Still, Cool Earth hopes to make solar power as cheap as non-renewable power within the next three years. [Cool Earth via Eco-Geek]

Based on the information contained in a Sling Media patent, it may be possible for the company to send you ads over their popular Slingbox media players. Specifically, it would be possible to send ads to the user's computer, display ads in fromt or behind the media stream, ads may be sent through a phone call, fax, traditional mail, or displayed through a text ticker at the bottom of the program content —among other methods.

The patent goes into quite a bit of detail on the subject, but it is important to note that as far as anyone knows, Sling Media has not made any plans to use this technology. The patent simply illustrates that they could if they chose to do so —although it would probably be akin to suicide. [Patent Application via Sling Community]

We've been playing around with News Corp. and NBC's answer to internet video, Hulu, for a couple of days, letting the low-traffic, buttery smooth launch day stretch out more into real time and real traffic conditions before we let loose with our judgment. Let's get this out of the way: YouTube killer it ain't. Same genus, different species.

As Ars called it, Hulu is a "corporate sandbox" loaded with content from NBC, News Corp., Sony, MGM, as well as their various subsidiary channels like FX, Sci-Fi Channel and so forth, offering anything from full episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Buffy to SNL Digital Shorts and an entire Russell Crowe flick, Master & Commander. It's Flash-based, it streams, just like YouTube, and it's ad-supported, with bumpers and "commercial breaks," just like the TV it's trying to ape. Despite the potential of being a corporate bomb, Hulu actually succeeds in a lot of ways. For one, the interface is pretty slick, the site itself not overwrought and easy enough to navigate, which is something of a miracle given how FUBAR productions of this sort typically turn out. The animations are smooth, with lots of scrollover popups and transparency, and buttons for all of the few things you can do with a video. Grays and blacks surround the video in a widescreen format, making it easier on your eyes.

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Nintendo's Wii may be on everyone's minds as the one gaming item that will be hard to find this Christmas, but Rock Band could even beat that. Why? Here are a few reasons. One, the Wii's been available for more than a year. Two, Guitar Hero 2 was almost impossible to find when that was released. Three, Rock Band will only be available as a bundle until early 2008, meaning each package will be taking up lots of shelf space, which also means fewer units in stock. If you want Rock Band this year, you should pre-order now. [GamaSutra - Wired]

This "Daylight" concept from Philips is being touted as "the hotel room of the future" thanks to a window that can be customised to suit the visitor's preferences. Guests can change the ambiance, lighting, block out noise, and add some awesome virtual foliage with a simple wave of the arm. In time, Phillips hopes that guests will be able to pre-order the atmosphere in their room to help them recover from the stresses of travelling and the effects of jetlag. Still, if you have the cash to stay in a hotel like this you shouldn't have too much to be depressed about in the first place. After all, the only "ambiance" you are likely to get a a Motel 6 is a room strewn with condom wrappers and drug paraphernalia. [T3]

The City Car, a design from the MIT Media Lab, is a stackable, foldable car concept that hopes to alleviate the urban traffic jams we waste so much of our lives in. These cars—which are supposed to be rentable near major transportation hubs such as airports and train stations—solve the last mile of public transportation by giving folks a small, low-cost way to drop their vehicles altogether. The cars themselves are supposed to be incredibly agile, being able to turn on the spot and drive sideways to parallel park. Only time can tell whether this will be more or less successful than the Segway. [Technology Review via CarLounge]

There are plenty of unique looking computer mice on the market, but few look as interesting (and ergonomic) as this Aircraft Mouse with flashing LED lights. It is only sporting an 800dpi optical sensor, so it is far from being a true "top gun" of the peripheral world, but it definitely will earn a few style points —if you can get your hands on it that is. No pricing details are available and it appears that the design was a limited run. [Design Town via GeekAlerts]

It appears that the CrackBerry is set to be a little more crack-tastic. A Crackberry.com hands-on with the upcoming BlackBerry OS v4.3 has revealed that users will finally have the ability to record video. The new OS is already shipping on the 8130 and rumour has it that the Curve and the Pearl 8100 won't be far behind. [Crackberry via Digital Inspiration via JKOTR]

As part of the Slide review process, Benny G and I just made this super-quick video of all four recent models: Sidekick 3, Sidekick iD, Sidekick LX and Sidekick Slide. What will you notice? Changes in flip action, changes in the flip sound effects, and remarkable difference in screen brightness and clarity. But one question, Motorola: if you're so cool building the Sidekick Slide, how come you didn't put a slide-open sound effect? I'll be sure to follow up on that mystery. [T-Mobile Sidekick]

A companion to the newly released 3200dpi Cyborg Gaming Mouse, the Cyborg Keyboard looks like something yanked from the set of Knight Rider. Whether you consider that to be a good thing or not, the Cyborg Keyboard does have a few features that will undoubtedly appeal to gamers. This includes an independently backlit WASD, cursor, 'Cyborg' and NumPad keys to highlight commonly used gaming controls (these keys are also metal plated), 12 macro keys, Pass-through USB, audio and microphone sockets, and enhanced multiple key presses for complex gaming commands. It appears that Saitek intended on maintaining what is essentially a basic keyboard with separated and enhanced gaming features. Both the Cyborg keyboard and mouse are available now for $80 and $60 respectively. [Product Page via UberReview]

It was only a couple days ago that the Toshiba HD-A2 being on sale for $197 was a good deal, but Best Buy's raised the stakes and put the newer Toshiba HD-A3 on sale for $199. Best of all, Best... Read More »

I showed you an incredible steampunk laptop this morning — perhaps the coolest steampunk gadget I've seen — now take a look at how it was made and the man behind it. This WSJ video profile shows us exactly how Datamancer makes his steampunk contraptions. It also goes into a bit of the background behind steampunk for the uninitiated. Fascinating stuff. [YouTube]

This wool felt and laminated bamboo ply mouse is soft and ergonomic the same way that a brick is not. Instead of being angled and curve and rounded to fit exactly to your hand (when in the claw position), it's box-shaped and conforms when you squeeze down on it. It's unclear why the designer made the right mouse button so much smaller than the left, but we're glad there's still room for that laser sight on the bottom. How this thing is going to charge is beyond our puny understanding of physics. You charge it by removing the bottom layer and replacing the batteries. [Joey Roth via Yanko Design]

Journos and music fans from all corners fawned over Radiohead for their bold release strategy for In Rainbows. After breaking with the majors, Trent Reznor and his parter-in-crime Saul Williams are taking that strategy and stepping it up to the next level of awesome. Saul's new Trent-produced album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust is now available two ways: Free or $5. For zilch, you get the whole album in DRM-free 192kbps MP3 encoded with LAME 3.97 "and love," plus the digital booklet (take that, Radiohead). For $5, you get the digital booklet and a choice between 320kbps MP3 or FLAC lossless, meaning even audiophiles can feel good about purchasing a digital copy.

While he kind of dodged the question in the famed interview he revealed he was a former OiNK member, this feels like a pointer toward where the release of the next NIN album is heading. I'd still prefer a physical CD, personally, but this kind of digital release I can get behind—the price and the format are right. The rest of the industry would do well to pay close attention to how this turns out—or not, and simply follow suit. [Niggy Tardust]

This rechargeable USB lighter concept is really great, and if it ever gets made you can say goodbye to disposable and refillable lighters forever. Rather than creating a flame with lighter fluid, it uses resistance coils to create heat, just like the cigarette lighters in cars. It uses USB to recharge the small battery that gives the coils juice, and it's also loaded up with flash memory. It sure makes regular lighters look crappy in comparison, that's for sure. Let's get this thing made, OK? [Yanko Design]

FireFly Media Server, a third-party app for the iPhone/iTouch, allows you to directly stream music from your handheld to any iTunes computer. In fact, since it acts like a shared library on the network, you can actually stream music to two different computers at once without any sort of problems. It's of limited use in a home environment unless you have a fancy music rig set up, but it's definitely cool when you can hold an impromptu robot dance party at Lifehacker's office with your own music. [TUAW via Lifehacker]

This is a demonstration of the previously seen iPod glove control concept, allowing snowboarders to control their music without reaching into a pocket and fiddling with the not-made-for-gloves Click Wheel. As you can see, different combinations of finger presses bring up tracks in Postal Service's serviceable studio album, which look like an awkward thing to do while you're trying to avoid being tree'd. The upshot is we'd hate to fall, try and catch ourselves, and accidentally turn up the volume with an unintended gesture and blast out our ears. [YouTube]

In the Kenyan slum of Kibera, outside of Nairobi, an oven fuelled by garbage is now in testing. At its heart is a superheated steel plate that vaporizes drops of water. The oxygen released burns discarded sump oil from vehicles, reaching even higher temperatures up to 930° Fahrenheit. Garbage is then used to maintain the heat.

Residents can use the oven to cook hot meals or make hot water for washing. The system's added benefit is that it reduces waste in the area, a problem that has gotten so bad that it is beginning to destroy Kenya's plains.

Recognized as the first of its kind, the concept has caught on quickly, and plans for 20 more are already in the works. As people are increasingly drawn to urban areas, excess waste is rapidly becoming a critical problem. There are still some obvious kinks to be worked out, such as containing the fumes from the burning garbage.

The oven was built with the help of a $10,000 grant from the United Nations Environment Programme. Advocates of the oven hope that the technology works well enough to be employed in large cities everywhere. [Christian Science Monitor via Treehugger]

The folks over at Crave discovered that Ask.com's new search algorithm gives you some pretty questionable suggestions when you type in the beginning of questions. To answer your question, getting preggers in a hot tub all depends on how virile you are. Consider that a challenge. Another challenge: find the most ludicrous suggestion it gives and post it in the comments. [Ask.com via Crave]

This isn't new (obviously), but many of you might not know that back at CES 1985, Nintendo demoed an Advanced Video System that was the spiritual design predecessor to the grey and black NES we all grew up with. This consoleputer was supposed to be entirely wireless and tied together via line-of-sight infrared, and contained a keyboard, joystick, light gun, NES controllers, something that looks like a tape deck, a Klingon Bat'leth, the hopes and dreams of one Japanese salaryman designer that has since offed himself, and design features that were slightly too ahead of its time. Still, if we had this instead of the NES, we'd probably be typing 180wpm instead of the 130wpm we do now. [TechEBlog]

Instead of gouging you for hundreds of dollars in international iPhone data roaming charges, AT&T is now giving you a Global Data Plan that tacks on $59.99 a month on top of your calling and existing iPhone Data plan and gives you 50MB to play with. After your 50MB is up, you're going to be charged $0.005/KB (which ends up being $5 a megabyte—ouch) in covered countries, and $0.010/KB in non-covered countries. If that's too much for you, there's also a $24.99 plan that gives you 20MB a month, after which you're charged the same $0.005/KB rate as the other plan in 29 covered countries, and $0.0195/KB (which is an atrocious $19.50 a megabyte) in non-covered countries. [AT&T]

If you have the balls to weave your bike through heavy traffic on city streets, you might not even consider Bicygnals, battery-operated LED turn signals that make your bike look like a cop car. For the rest of us, we can appreciate how these front and rear signals communicate with each other wirelessly with a quick flip of a switch. That's certainly better than taking your hands off the handlebars and flashing hand signals, which won't do you much good at night, anyway.

The front and rear signal indicators each run on two AA batteries, but we're thinking it's too bad those batteries can't be charged up with a generator from your bicycle's wheel. Anyway, sure, simple forward and rear-facing lights might do the trick, anything that increases visibility couldn't hurt, and if Bicygnals save your life, they might prove themselves well worth their $83 price. [Bicygnals , via The Uber Review and Sci Fi Tech]

Tucked away in a basement in Roppongi (easily the sleaziest neighbourhood I went to in Tokyo, as it's the one that caters to foreigners) lies Hollow Point, a bar with a twist. Sure, you can get drinks and bar food here, but down at the end of the narrow space is a shooting gallery. You can rent any number of realistic-looking air guns (ranging from pistols with laser sights, like the one I'm using, to big semi-automatic and automatic rifles), buy a clip or three, and go to town on either the bottles set up or a zombie-headed target. Who knew that drinking and shooting guns would be such a fun combo?

Because real guns are illegal, there's a huge market for very realistic air guns in Japan. There are groups of people who dress up in authentic military uniforms and then take to the countryside where they battle it out with the weapons. It's kind of like paintball here, but you get a lot more little red welts on you at the end of the day. It's a huge subculture that I didn't even know existed. It's a wonder that bars like this don't exist in the States (maybe they do, but I've never seen them or heard about them), as drinking beer and shooting guns seems like as American a pastime as driving SUVs or eating hot dogs. Tokyo's beating us at our own game here, people.

Fortune magazine must have been sniffing around our haunts lately, because there's a fresh piece in its pages today about the ongoing war between your friends here at the Giz and our respected and worthy competitors at Engadget.

Entitled "The blogs of war: Engadget vs. Gizmodo," the one-page story recounts the origins of the two tech sites and competitiveness between us two, rightly surmising that the fight between us makes gadget blogging better overall.

While nobody's screaming, "Cry havoc! and let slip the dogs of war" (Shakespeare's Julius Caesar), we do have a competitive instinct around here, and any time there's a race going on, we intend to win. But maybe it's not a zero-sum game; while some say Giz vs. Engag is a fight between the cats and the dogs, others think matching up the two sites is more like comparing apples (lower-case) to oranges. [Fortune]

Those of you who have chosen to decorate your kitchen with an eye toward all things Apple will delight in Williams-Sonoma's iPod-lookin' Triple Timer. The basic kitchen timer allows you to set three alerts for different dishes, using what looks like a handy iPod clickwheel. (Somebody's patent's getting infringed.) The Triple timer also has a clock on its LED-backlit display. Unlike any new iPod, the Triple Timer includes a dock, runs on AA batteries—and costs just $20. [Williams-Sonoma via Gadget Lab]

Without trying to stuff the ballot box or anything, the 2007 Weblog Awards ballots are now online, with November 8 being last day you can vote Giz for Best Technology Blog. We've been a good little Gizmodo, haven't we? And you, well, you're the best little readers, yes you are. Yes you are. If we win, we promise to give each of you a ride in our private Gizmodo jet, taking you to a week-long frolic at the Gawker recreational compound, and then you'll each walk away with your own pony, complete with iPhone holster. That's right, we'll buy you a pony. Vote here. [2007 Weblog Awards]

We've been eying up gaming chairs for some time, but crescent-shaped ground rockers feel a bit too 13-year-old's room for us. But the Renegade Gaming Chair may just be the obnoxious gaming chair that we can finally justify, as it also combines the obnoxiousness of a massage/recliner—all into one, efficiently glorious, ubergeek seat.

USB compatible with Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PC and iPod, the Renegade features 3D stereo speakers in the headrest, 12 motor "rumble" vibration system, game synced ground effect lighting, inputs for more peripherals, multiple massage settings (that can sync to rumble) and, of course, a beverage holder. It's tough to be certain just how much this chair is actually supported for every console game on every platform, but for $530 we might be willing to give it a try...if bought from a store with a good return policy. [automated home via bornrich]