Posted by: Nik Taylor

Zombies are ace, but being one is a bit of a pain. You have to spend all day dragging your leg around, moaning and shuffling after people you haven't bitten yet.

Which is why the world has waited too long for the catchily titled George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead Zombie Face Changer.

Using this, you can make yourself look like a zombie (a bit) without the hassle of actually having to be one. Result. Above you can see how Jane and myself would look were we to get caught up in some kind of zombie apocalypse. Just for future reference.

Moving swiftly on, if you've not been paying attention this week, here's some of the top stuff you might have missed. Go take a look...

More links, you say?
Getting excited about the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 yet? Get in the mood with Top 10 wacky moments in Metal Gear history.

Don't push past this woman when catching a train - she's wired to 80,000 volts.

Yahtzee sums up Japanese RPGs perfectly.

And, surely this is not hard, so why has it not already been invented for mobile phones?

Be lucky.

Posted by: Jane Douglas

"Nasa's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a bizarre ring of material around the magnetic remains of a star that blasted itself to smithereens...

...It appears to be flat, or two dimensional, but the data do not rule out the possibility of a more complex 3-dimensional shell."

Wait... Is that... Could it be... a Halo?

I kid. It's about seven light-years across at it's widest point, which would make it a bit too big for even Master Chief to traverse. It's still fascinating stuff, though. See the full article here: Nasa telescope finds bizarre ring

In other news, I completed the short-but-sweet and epically titled Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. I'm going to heartily recommend it to fans of the Penny Arcade web comic and aficionados of the underrated steampunk-pulp-horror-comedy genre.

Gadget of the week award goes to to Asus's petite white gem of an ultraportable budget laptop: the Eee PC 900.

Our Search & Dev Editor Dan recently treated himself to one of these babies. 'Baby' is, in fact, a good word for it: when Dan brought his Eee into the office, everyone clustered around to get a better look at the shiny new lappie and cooed. Much like when someone brings their newborn into the workplace to show off...

The adorable all-flash memory and too-cute 1.3 megapixel webcam is enough to make me consider having one of my own.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

It's getting beyond a joke now. It appears movie-makers have decided to make a film out of EVERY game ever made. Earlier this week we had the news that Jake Gyllenhaal would be playing the lead in a Prince of Persia movie.

That one sounded like it could even be quite good, but now we have the news that Pacman: The Movie is going to be made. What next? Frogger: The Revenge? Donkey Kong Does Dallas? Super Mario Bros?? (oh, hang on...)

Oh well, the world may be going completely barking, but you can always rely on Tech & Gadgets to bring you top quality content. Oh, and a feature on videogame totty. Have a good weekend.

Yeah, and we've also got a gaming quiz you can have a go at.

Need more? Check out the latest from Yahtzee - start saving up for a wearable motorcycle - keep your fingers crossed for a safe landing for Nasa's Martian explorer - and, the Terminator is becoming reality...maybe.

Now go out and get some sunshine.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Here we go again, there's another movie based on a game on the way. This time it's Prince of Persia getting the silver screen treatment, with Jake Gyllenhaal - out of Donnie Darko, Jarhead and cowboy-friendly flick Brokeback Mountain - signed up to play the starring role.

Bond-girl-to-be, Gemma Arteton (who will star in new 007 flick Quantum of Solace) will also be in it, playing Princess Tamina.

The movie's full title is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and it sounds like it will be quite closely based on the 2003 game of the same name. The plot follows Gyllenhaal's Prince Dastan (so that's the prince's name...) as he teams up with Tamina to save the planet from an evil nobleman who's trying to take over the world using the all-powerful sands of time. The whole thing's set in 6th century Persia - though part of it will be filmed in England (with the rest in Morocco).

So, will it be any good? Well, your guess is as good as mine, but one thing's for sure - you can expect plenty of explosions and swashbuckling. Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Rock, Bad Boys II) is producing, and he's not renowned for holding back on the action.

Then again, maybe the Prince will be a stuttering, socially inept Englishman. After all Mike 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' Newell is penning the script... 

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Well, I don't know about where you are, but the weather outside the T&G Towers window is murky cloudiness. What happened to summer?? Sigh. Still, it's a good reason to lounge about indoors over the weekend playing games.

Speaking of which, this one looks a bit good. Valve are back soon with survival horror take-out-all-the-zombies-and-run-like-the-clappers title Left 4 Dead. Take a look at the trailer.

Miss anything on the site this week? Check out the pick of the articles...

Need more to see off the last hour or so of your Friday arvo? Try these...

The anime laws of physics.

Yahtzee reviews Grand Theft Auto IV and asks, why exactly would you want to stop driving around like a loon to watch in-game TV?

Round up all the mates you've ever known, then head off to take on the world's biggest football table.

Toys weren't like that when I were a lad - it's a Transformers iPod dock.

And just in case you haven't already seen him - check out FusionMan.

Cheerio.

Posted by: Jane Douglas

This just in: Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski is set to direct a movie version of last year's Bioshock game. Can he handle objectivist survival horror like he handles Disneyland kiddies' rides? (That is to say, quite well in the beginning but getting a bit loopy by the end?) Only time, as they say, will tell.

In all fairness, the guy did give us The Ring remake as well.

I've been all about the science fiction of late, without quite meaning to be: two friends lent me books that both happened to be sci-fi and I casually picked up another second hand - mostly because of the lurid front cover.

As a result, I finished Fire Upon the Deep, The Ghost Brigades and Blood Music this week. (Long train journeys give me a lot of time to read.)

[If you've read any of these (or have some great science, technology or sci-fi books to recommend), how about a Tech & Gadgets book club of sorts? If it looks like there's some interest, maybe we'll get a message board started.]

But enough about me, how was your week?

Best of Tech & Gadgets

Best of the rest (of the web)

Passive-aggressive notes and signage from passiveagressivenotes.com. Compelling, mystifying stuff.

Melt an Oyster card with acetone and you're left with just the surprisingly versatile wire antenna: video here.

You want geeky, graph-based humour? You want graphjam.com.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Earlier this week I went along to the Grand Designs Live exhibition at the London ExCel centre. There's plenty to see there, but the stuff on building your own house/log-cabin/castle wasn't what interested me.

What I wanted to see was Sony's House of the Future. You can see the gadgets from there in our gallery on the main site - and if you want to check it out in person the show runs until this Sunday (11th May).

Anyway, several of intriguing gadgets on show had Electrolux branding, and it turns out they are previous finalists from the company's annual Design Lab competition.

This year's competition is running at the moment, and they're accepting entries until May 30th. As you can see from the blueprints of last year's finalists, you don't have to be a top-ranking scientist to take part. All you need is an idea and the ability to put it down on paper.

So here's the challenge. It would be great if a Tech & Gadgets reader could make it to the finals. Get your thinking cap on and submit your idea to the Electrolux Design Lab website before the end of the month. Then let us know how you get on and remember your favourite tech editors when you're an uber-rich inventor...

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Just time for a quick round-up of the week that was on T&G. (Not that I'm in a hurry to get home for more GTA IV, or anything...)Just click on the images below to go to this week's content.

Speaking of GTA...

(and scroll down for my blog on the first few hours' play)