Every now and then we like to have a little fun here at DVICE HQ. (And by fun I mean doing awful, awful things.) This time, we decided to leave out a Zune and an iPod side-by-side to see which one random office passersby would be interested in.

We also asked some of the big minds behind robotics why the heck we don't have protocol droids or terminators yet. Check out our conversations with Carnegie Mellon's James Kuffner, movie robot whiz Matt Denton, and Steve Norris, homemade robot builder extraordinaire.

Want more? Here are other great stories from this week:

SHIFT: How I became a power-vampire slayer
S.E. Kramer takes a closer look at the latest tech trends in our weekly column, Shift.

Steampunk Cylon Design Contest: The end is near
Draw it, Photoshop it, build it — do anything you like, but send it in soon!

6 reasons to replace your digital camera in 2009
See what fancy features you'd be surprised to find in entry-level cameras.

What happens when you lash together 24 solid-state drives?
You're about to find out!

Robot teacher unleashed on the schoolchildren of Japan
Will the children of the future have favorite/hated substitute robots?

Wolfram search engine: Tomorrow's Google?
The return of the ask-a-question search engine.

Fat-fighting body mod approved for Europe
Your stomach, now easily controlled by remote.