Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA’s Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda goes on sale in stores this day. I know you think I probably milked it for all it’s worth, but there’s actually a ton of mind-boggling spy gear in there that I didn’t have a chance to cover on Giz, such as:

• Robotic critters, from the insectothopter of the 1970s to the robofish of today

• Cigars developed to kill, confuse or embarrass Fidel Castro—not surprisingly, one would have made his beard fall out.

• The beloved skyhook—yes, the thing that yanks people from the ground up into airplanes. Learn of its origins, early animal test runs and its one successful on-record mission.

• The Soviet’s most incredible spy gadget, dubbed “The Thing” by befuddled CIA agents who didn’t know how on earth it worked. It was built by Theremin, inventor of that wacky musical thingy, himself a part-time Soviet agent and researcher.

• Spies, spying and spy talk. Yes, the book might be focused on hardware, but man it’s full of crazy stories about spies. The most interesting tales are about the Russians who were leaking info to the US, often upon pain of death. Stories of American traitors are pretty familiar, but you rarely get to hear about what went on over on the other side of the Curtain.

Meanwhile, here’s a recap of what I did cover, in case you missed it:
• My interview with the authors
• Blow-up Sex Toys as In-Car Decoys
• A Speedboat Disguised as a Junk
• Hide and Seek, CIA Style
• The Inflatable Rescue Plane
• Animal Agents, Live and Dead
• A Gallery of CIA Spy Cameras

Anyway, I enjoyed the book and the authors, and I highly suggest it for a Father’s Day gift. Needless to state, I’ve not received anything in return for this endorsement except a copy of the book itself, which they have the ability to have back when they pry it from my cold dead hands. [CIA Spycraft; Amazon Sales Page]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Samsung has announced the Soulb, which they say contains “all the merits of Soul DNA” in a candy bar form factor. The names an interesting one — though I’m unable to copy it here without using an image, the trailing b in Soulb is actually written as if it were a superscript, like so: . […]

Samsung has announced the Soulb, which they state contains “all the merits of Soul DNA” in a candy bar form factor. The names an interesting one — though I’m unable to replicate it here without using an image, the trailing b in Soulb is actually written as if it were a superscript, like so: . How would that be pronounced? Soul to the power of b? Soul-bee? Soul bar?

The handset squeezes a good amount into its 9.9mm thick body: HSDPA/Triband, 2.0″ QVGA screen, 3 megapixel camera with PowerLED flash, User created UI skins, Office document viewing, multimedia playback, FM radio, 1 gig of internal memory, and a microSD slot. Not a fan of the Soul Grey shown above? It also comes in Platinum Silver, Metallic Black, Soul Pink and Amethyst Violet.

It’ll launch in Germany in early June, and then trickle out to everywhere besides North America in the months thereafter. No word yet on pricing.

Via [crunchgear]

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Google is planning a few announcements for their web application platform, Google App Engine, at tomorrow’s I/O Conference, but the folks over at ReadWriteWeb managed to get the details a bit early in a pre-conference interview. One of the announcements will be pricing plans for resource allotments past what Google offers developers with their free […]

Google is planning a few announcements for their web application platform, Google App Engine, at tomorrow’s I/O Conference, but the folks over at ReadWriteWeb managed to get the details a bit early in a pre-conference interview.

One of the announcements will be pricing plans for resource allotments past what Google offers developers with their free accounts. Though free accounts come packed with a hefty allotment of 500 MB of storage per month and “enough bandwidth and CPU for 5 million monthly page views”, this might not be enough for the more popular or data intensive web apps. Starting sometime around the end of the year, Devs will be able to buy additional storage, CPU time, and bandwidth at the following rates:

• $0.10 - $0.12 per CPU core-hour
• $0.15 - $0.18 per GB-month of storage
• $0.11 - $0.13 per GB outgoing bandwidth
• $0.09 - $0.11 per GB incoming bandwidth

Also being announced are two new APIs: One is for tying in image manipulation features such as resizing and cropping, while the other is for utilizing memcached, a caching system that drastically decreases strain on databases by storing data in memory.

Last but not least: they’re getting rid of the waiting list! Google App Engine’s open slots were filled ridiculously quickly, after which hopeful sign-ups were put on a waiting list. I hopped on the waiting list a few days ago, so this is awesome news. Now I just have to go brush up on my Python. (Fine. I have to go start learning Python.)

Via [crunchgear]

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Sir Howard Stringer of Sony just unveiled a 0.3mm OLED that is thin as a playing card and can be used in a 27 inch Television that will ship soon. But not at reasonable prices. [All Things D]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Don’t look for Palm OS 2.0 to come to your Centro any time soon. Sure, Palm’s sold millions of the small smartphones, but it also has a perpetual license for the current Palm OS and will likely continue to use it for the consumer handsets. Palm OS 2, as it’s unofficially called, will be geared towards […]

Don’t look for Palm OS 2.0 to come to your Centro any time soon. Sure, Palm’s sold millions of the small smartphones, but it also has a perpetual license for the current Palm OS and will likely continue to use it for the consumer handsets.

Palm OS 2, as it’s unofficially called, will be geared towards a “prosumer” model of smartphone, something with more features than the Centro but not business specific, as the Windows Mobile Treos are. No word on the name for the new device, but we’re guessing a form factor somewhere around a Blackberry Curve with a touch screen, and we’ll likely see one before the end of the year.

Via [crunchgear]

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Microsoft seems to think the future of the personal doesn’t lie in traditional keyboards but in gesture-based controls, such as those used on the iPhone and its own Surface device. And the next version of Windows, for now just called Windows 7 or Vienna, will have much touchscreen and gesture support built in. While we’re still […]

Microsoft seems to think the future of the personal doesn’t lie in traditional keyboards but in gesture-based controls, such as those used on the iPhone and its own Surface device. And the next version of Windows, for now just called Windows 7 or Vienna, will have much touchscreen and gesture support built in.

While we’re still a few years away from all having Surfaces in our homes, Microsoft recently showed off a new, cheaper application of gesture control that could be integrated into monitors or laptops fairly easily. Is this what Microsoft wants to do? You bet. Microsoft knows that gesture-based input is hot, as iPhone’s popularity shows, and the surface and touch wall devices, when coupled with Windows 7, could change the way we use personal. If it works.

Via [crunchgear]

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If you’re a Tivo user and are also a fan of Maureen Ryan, then today’s you’re lucky day. The TV critic, via her paper, the Chicago Tribune, has inked a deal with Tivo to automatically push her recommended shows to Tivos across the country who subscribe to the service. Personally, this sounds rather weird to these […]

If you’re a Tivo user and are also a fan of Maureen Ryan, then today’s you’re lucky day. The Television critic, via her paper, the Chicago Tribune, has inked a deal with Tivo to automatically push her recommended shows to Tivos across the country who subscribe to the service.

Personally, this sounds rather weird to these ears. The idea of someone else, even if they’re an expert, recommending what I should watch — and filling my hard drive with the suggestions — is very odd. But then she’s not going to advocate the stuff I watch, as she’s not much of a Skinemax fan.

Via [crunchgear]

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I can’t speak for you, dear reader, but I was once a Select Your Own Adventure addict. While the other kids on the playground were dropping acid and huffing, I was flipping to page 67 with a finger firmly bookmarking page 15…just in case. The new Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay DVD will celebrate this narrative choice of yore as you can “change the course of the film.” Here’s what we know from the box description:

DUDE, CHANGE THE MOVIE! Interactive feature puts you in control of Harold and Kumar’s trip! Select from new and alternate scenes to change the course of the film! Many possible options!

Whether or not this is one or two scenes that have little effect on the story or quite a few that can lead to absolutely different outcomes is yet to be seen. Just watch out for the “Neil Patrick Harris has sodomized your car, The End” screen. [videoETA]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Borders is back on the web after a long hiatus, and its looking to take on Amazon for the on the web book buying marketplace. But its got an uphill battle, with retail giant Amazon firmly in first place. Besides being massive, Amazon has features Borders can’t match, such as the Kindle eBook reader and in-book on the internet searching. But […]

Borders is back on the web after a long hiatus, and its looking to take on Amazon for the on the web book buying marketplace. But its got an uphill battle, with retail giant Amazon firmly in first place. Besides being big, Amazon has features Borders can’t match, such as the Kindle eBook reader and in-book on the web searching. But Borders isn’t counting on high-tech to challenge Amazon, it’s instead turning to a rather time tested method of selling books: the bookstore.

The new retail presence is designed to evoke the feeling of browsing a bookstore, something many bookworms spend their weekends doing. It’s too early to tell if the strategy will work, but if there’s one thing many people dislike about Amazon its the actual shopping experience. Sure, if you know what you want it’s a great way to get a deal, but if you’re unsure it’s a hassle. We’re all for any substitute, let’s hope it works like it’s supposed to.

Via [crunchgear]

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It seems that only now are we beginning to really see decent image quality combine with truly small form factor in digital cameras. This new sensor from OmniVision solves one of the problems facing the tiny cameras in cell phones, webcams, and embedded electronics: low light sensitivity. Because of the nature of the sensors and […]

It seems that only now are we beginning to really see decent image quality combine with truly small form factor in digital cameras. This new sensor from OmniVision solves one of the problems facing the tiny cameras in cell phones, webcams, and embedded electronics: low light sensitivity. Because of the nature of the sensors and their small size, each photon counts and more often than not, on current sensors, you’re getting a lot of noise because of outrageous ISO levels for normally lit shots. OmniVision has reorganized the micrometer-thick layers so that the actual light-sensing part is closer to the light source, resulting in vastly increased light sensitivity.

Good for them, but the other problem with tiny sensors remains: you can’t get a clear image out of them. Being so small, the image must be focused on an extremely small plane, which to do without distortion or blurriness is extremely difficult at any reasonable cost. Basically, you’re not going to have the glass to create a decent image to capture, so no matter how sensitive the sensor is, the image quality is going to suck. [via Electronista]

Via [crunchgear]

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