This is a pen that is also a slingshot. That means you can shoot a rock at the head of that dick in the cubicle across the aisle from you that always listens to his headphones loud enough for you to hear it, but then when he goes looking for a culprit, you’ll just be making some notes on the latest earnings report. The perfect crime! Hit the jump for a video of this bad boy in action.

[Product Page]

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Filed under: Home Entertainment

Just when the members of the Blu-ray Disc Association were settling down to enjoy the fruits of victory, another challenger has entered the ring — oh wait, it’s just NME, makers of VMD, so it’s really more like “remained in the ring and basically ignored.” The company just issued a press release saying “All indications are that VMD can fill the void left by HD DVD,” and that “The way is now clear for VMD to be embraced by the industry.” We suppose that’s true — the Asian bootlegging industry really hasn’t weighed in with a format choice yet, has it? In any event, VMD players have apparently been shipping to the US for a month now, so all you HD DVD fans out there looking to back yet another losing horse can probably find one — start at the shadiest retailer you can think of, and then move downwards.

[Thanks, Chris]

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iLounge says they’ve gotten an inside look at the iPhone SDK and came up with a few interesting details, one of which is the limitation imposed on developers that they won’t be able to use the dock connector to interface with accessories. That means no third-party GPS connector (or other similar devices). What supposedly will be accessible is the camera, the Wi-Fi, and the “phone” itself, which is slightly more permissive than we thought Apple would be.

As for iTunes, it seems like the iTunes Store is going to be a “hub” for application downloads. If you’re a developer and want to charge for your app, you’ve got a method to do that through the store. This, assuming that Apple has approved your app, because they’re going to “act as a gatekeeper for all applications,” meaning that if you’re making something a little risque or hack-ish, you run the risk of being turned down. [iLounge]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Maybe it’s just us, but here recently it feels as if there’s been quite the outpouring of HD media streamers. Next up is Mvix’s MX-780HD, which doesn’t innovate much in the design department, but does include space for your own HDD along with support for wired Ethernet or 802.11b/g/n WiFi. Best of all, you’ll find 1080p output via HDMI, and there’s file support for DivX, XviD, AVI, MPEG, WMV, ASF, AAC, OGG, AC3, MP3, WMA, JPEG and lots, lots more. There’s also component outs and coaxial / optical audio ports, but we’re still teetering on whether that cute LCD on the front makes this thing a bargain at $299.99.

[Via Unplggd]

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Filed under: Robots

Not that we’re experts on the matter or anything, but if barrister and engineer Chris Elliot knows a thing or two about legal issues, a kind of “military Turing test” could be the key to legally deploying autonomous systems in battle. As it stands, “weapons intrinsically incapable of distinguishing between civilian and military targets are illegal” — at least according to Mr. Elliot — but by testing an intelligent war machine’s ability to hone in on legitimate targets and brush off friendlies, all that could change. Of course, actually administering the test still remains a mystery, but considering that remotely controlled armed bots are currently being used in Iraq, we reckon someone’s already figuring out a solution to said dilemma.

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