Start with an umbrella. Add a network connection and a blinking LED, and it's a weather forecaster. Get yourself a truck. Add a laser cannon, and you have armored vehicles from the future. Start with a Blu-ray player. Add the ability to play HD DVDs, and Samsung's Duo player is born. The ordinary can advance to the extraordinary by adding a just little extra technology, a recurring theme in gadget news this week. Didn't really mean for this to start sounding like a promo for Heroes, but there we are. Speaking of ordinary, have you seen the state of video games lately? Peter Suciu examines where they should go to become extraor… uh, awesome in Shift.

More top stories in tech:

Saturday: Sony's magic surround sound only has 2 speakers
Sunday: Peer Review: iPhone madness continues
Monday: New record for world's tallest building set in UAE
Tuesday: Toshiba really needs some advice, as the Gigabeat U-Series makes clear
Wednesday: Tornadoes: Your next free energy source
Thursday: Kameraflage: Hiding images only digital cameras can see
Friday: Top 10 Reasons to Hate the Mobile Phone Market