The usual spy camera devices out there require that you either harness some ungainly contraption to yourself, or don some accessory that may not stand out but definitely won't win you any style points. The new Spy Button Camera from Thanko allows you record all the spy footage you want while maintaining a semblance of fashion sense.

The camera is attached to a 4 gigabyte USB drive that easily plugs into your computer for video/audio transfer after you're done shooting. Perhaps the coolest thing about this set-up is that it is activated by a very unassuming ring that is worn like any other piece of jewelry. You can pick up your ultimate spy rig for 5,980 yen ($61.78) here.

Via Akihabara News

China's Spring Airlines is in a bit of a pickle. The air carrier has enjoyed a steady increase in passengers since its start in '05 thanks to low fares (which means next to no complimentary in-flight amenities), and now its fleet of 13 planes can't handle all the prospective customers. The airline already has 14 new jets on the way, but that's not enough, officials say.

The solution? Make passengers stand! Well, not completely, but close enough. "It's just like bar stools. The safety belt is the most important thing. It will still be fastened around the waist," Spring Airlines' Zhang Wuan told China's CCTV. The new arrangement, according to Spring Airlines, would allow 40% more passengers on every flight and help reduce the carrier's cost by up to 20%, which would in turn lower fares.

Spring Airlines president Wang Zhenghua may even want to take the idea further, after talking with China's vice premier, Zhang Dejiang. "He suggested that, for a lower price, passengers should be able to get on a plane like catching a bus, with no seat, no luggage consignment, no food, no water, but very convenient," Mr. Zhenghua said.

That kind of reasoning is entirely opposite to most airlines, which seek to recoup losses through luxury services and optimized routes while still providing comfort. Still, it's just a proposal for the time being. Spring Airlines wants to submit its plan by the end of the year.

Via Sky News

Browsing a newspaper on an Amazon Kindle DX has a lot of advantages over doing it for real. Riding the subway into Manhattan this morning, I managed to get through a dozen articles in the Wall Street Journal without flipping a single page. But as I stumbled upon a piece on Chinese drywall while clicking around the Personal Journal section, it dawned on me that this is the kind of article I probably wouldn't even notice in the print edition.

Why? Simple: Page layout. The design of the page — including position, headline size, and the number of columns — would have subtly encouraged me to read other articles before that one, or possibly skip it altogether. Curious, I picked up a hard copy of the Journal to confirm if the paper's diligent copy editors working late last night agreed with me that Chinese drywall was, well, rather dry. And there it was, stuck on the bottom of page 2 with a fairly small headline.

Of course, those visual cues are lost on the Kindle's screen; the drywall story is the top story on page 2 of the PJ section on the DX. Stories are typically ordered first to last in a section, with few hints as to their relative importance. Sure, the ones up top are on the front page of that section, but beyond that all articles are created equal in the Kindleverse.

Does this matter? Do the benefits of a gadget that does away with paper, delivery, and all the hassle and expense that go with them outweigh the tradeoff in graphic design? And what can the next generation of e-readers do to improve in this area? Browse the photos beyond the Continue jump that compare the paper journal with the DX's section lists, and let us know what you think in the comments.

In a recent foray into the deep South, we spotted a plethora of Ford F-150 trucks, but none like this. Chris Lentz of Michigan strapped an M-701 turbojet to his pickup, and the result? A 2,700hp jet truck, even crazier than that jet cycle we showed you last month.

Fed by a 20-gallon kerosene tank, the $10,000 jet engine develops that impressive 2,700hp only when it's going 516mph. Because of the vehicle's 6,600-pound weight, it takes a while to get going, but we can imagine it might be able to go plenty fast given the right conditions.

Never mind those pesky details of 0-60 acceleration and weight — the guy is driving a jet truck! Is this street legal? Hardly. It might be a bit problematic if you follow too closely. Here's a video of this monster truck in action:

Just when we got used to the new iPhone OS 3.0, Apple rolls out a beta of version 3.1. Top of the list of this bug fix is the ability to nondestructively edit video. With the current OS 3.0, if you trim the beginning or the end of the clip and save it, those edited parts of your video are gone forever. In OS 3.1, you'll have the option to save a copy of the edited video, leaving the original intact. But wait, there's more:

• Voice Control now works over Bluetooth
• Faster boot time
• iPhone vibrates when moving icons
• Updated AT&T profile to 4.2
• Updated modem firmware to 5.08.01
• Improvements to OpenGL and Quartz.
• APIs to allow third party apps to access videos and edit them.

Developers are getting the beta software and firmware now, but the official release date for the rest of us iPhone-totin' suckas is unknown.

The iPhone Blog, via Geeky Gadgets

Kitchen islands are common in roomy seven-bedroom split-levels, but they're not a staple of your average downtown studio apartment. That could change if the Modern Space Saving Mini Kitchen catches on. Created by students at French design school Ensci, the all-in-one kitchen island combines all your essential kitchen appliances into a single piece of furniture, including a sink, range and cabinets. All done with your meal and cleanup? Transform! Everything in the island folds up and tucks away, leaving just a sleek white block that you can use as a desktop.

The idea has some merit, especially for small spaces in big urban centers. The design is probably too modern to work in a lot of apartments — in the photos below, you can see it really clashes with the hardwood floors. But if it gets back a chunk of floor space, what the hell?

Is there a correlation between speakers looking crazy, costing an exorbitant amount and sounding great? If so, the Maxx Series 3 speakers must sounds absolutely unbelievable. Because these things not only look absolutely ridiculous, but they cost $68,000. How can they not sound great?

Sure, they were built with all sorts of crazy audiophile jargon like "Aspherical Propagation Delay" that probably doesn't mean anything, but hey, let's give them the benefit of the doubt. I mean, no company would make up wacky terms and use out-there design to justify overcharging for speakers to take advantage of monied audiophiles, would they? Would they??

UberGizmo via BornRich

It sucks when you see objects of lust that are unavailable — like this remote-controlled Mecha Godzilla. Japanese toymakers at Bandai are the geniuses behind this this lifesize, if you're a mouse 20-inch-high silver creation complete with flashing lights that can roam about your house striking fear into its inhabitants and causing hours of unproductivity — that is, if you work from home, like I do.

It walks, it roars, it spews crazy lights from its mouth, chest and fingertips. But by far the most excellent thing it does is the crazy Exorcist-reminiscent head-spinning gesture. It's not often I wish I were an $870 toy, but I see this and I am filled with the icy shards of irrational envy that make me want to beat my chest, roar angrily, destroy cities and eat their citizens as if they were chocolate-covered raisins.

*Memo to those nice people at Bandai. Make some more of these shiny toys for us robo-chumps, please. PLEASE.

Via I.Z. Reloaded

If your USB storage tastes lean toward the high-end of style and price then the new MNEMOSYNE 16-gigabyte USB storage cube may be the device for you. Created by Italy-based designers Toshi Satoji and Katsuya Masaki, each black cube is constructed with a unique puzzle pattern and carved from a single block of aluminum.

In order to use the USB key you need to completely disassemble the puzzle-like cube to find the USB key in the center, and then re-assemble it when finished. In addition to honing your puzzle skills, an additional hurdle will have to be overcome in the form of the device's price tag — 1,000,000 yen ($10,442)! You can find out more about the most expensive 16GB in the world here.

Via IT Media

Remember the Star Wars Force Trainer from New York's Toy Fair — the toy that lets you lift a ball using only your mind? Our friends across the street at The New York Post got hold of one, and it looks like it really works. After mounting the brain-machine interface on his head (in a rare example of design competence, it actually doesn't look 100% dorky), reporter Don Kaplan managed to lift a ball about a foot and a half. Well, more accurately, he managed to tell the powered tabletop device that he wanted the ball to go up, and the device pushed it up. Still cool.

The trainer, from Uncle Milton Toys, drops July 23 for $120. We have got to get us one of these.

Via SCI FI Wire

It's probably no coincidence that the same day ailing GM has its bankruptcy proceedings heard in court, Andrew Farah, chief engineer of the Chevrolet Volt project touts his car's "sportiness" compared to two of its hybrid competitors, the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight.

High on the list of refinements for the Volt design team is the electric car's ride height and spring rates, important factors in the vehicle's handling characteristics. This is especially significant given Consumer Reports recent negative reviews of the Honda Insight, skewering its ride quality and handling, and placing Honda's hybrid in a laggard position of 21st in a field of 22 small hatchback and wagons it rated in its latest issue.

Let's hope the 2011 Volt's acceleration will also be a lot more spirited than that of the dog-slow Prius and Insight. Along with today's PR push from GM comes a group of publicity shots of the Chevy Volt we haven't seen before:

Aeronaut Bertrand "Jean Luc" Piccard (nickname ours) has already been around the world once. The first time he did it in a hot air balloon, called the Breitling Orbiter 3. Now he wants to do it again with the Solar Impulse, which looks like a pretty good candidate to win the title of first solar aircraft to circumnavigate the globe.

Before it does the long haul, though, it'll tackle a short one. The Solar Impulse is scheduled for a test run toward the end of this year, with those involved planning a continuous two-day-long trip, which includes the night. It will be powered entirely by solar energy.

As for the aircraft itself, it's made out of carbon fiber materials, has a wingspan of about 200 feet, and it's covered with over 12,000 solar cells that power four individual 10-horsepower motors. Check out more of the Solar Impulse in the gallery below.

The NES controller may be the most hacked device ever. It's been turned into everything from a cellphone to an alarm clock while still retaining its iconic form factor. This time? An iPhone dock.

This mod is pretty straightforward, putting the dock connector at the back of the top of the controller. The buttons don't do anything, unfortunately, but it's still a pretty neat setup. After all, everybody loves the NES controller.

iPhone.fr via Geeky Gadgets

E Ink, the display tech used in the Amazon Kindle, is a practical choice in a lot of devices. Since it only consumes power when you refresh the screen, it could theoretically replace a lot of products based on paper. This E Ink Electronic Coach Playboard from designer Gordon Yeh is a good example.

Just a concept right now, the Playboard would come preloaded with templates for various sports — from basketball courts to soccer fields. Blow the whistle, gather the team around, and plan the next play by drawing with your finger. Having the ability to save drawings gives it an advantage over your typical whiteboard. Nice idea, as long as it doesn't run out of power of break in the middle of a game. You might still want to keep that mini whiteboard handy.