We take a break from reporting on the impending doom of the human race to bring you news of the latest innovation designed specifically for making our pre-apocalypse lives miserable. Japanese firm DSS is now offering to snap video cameras and ankle sensors -- yes, the same kind that convicts under home arrest have to wear -- onto your employees for the ultimate in workplace surveillance. Sure, you might find out Bob in accounting takes a really long lunch, but do you really need to spend $20,000 and piss off your entire workforce to prove that? Just stalk his Tweets and Facebook status updates like a good old-fashioned employer would do.

Don't worry, everybody, your iPhone baking itself to a crisp is no cause for panic, now that Apple has found the culprit: the weather and your heartless negligence. Apparently you've been leaving your brand new iPhone 3GS in a hot car, and the warm sensation you feel any time you hold the phone has nothing to do with beefed up processors or inadequate cooling. Phew, glad that's all sorted and now nobody will have any problems with self-destructive iPhones they paid hundreds of dollars for. Besides, it serves you right.

Meanwhile, hapless Samsas Traum has found a problem of his own (pictured) that's sure to be blamed on some other act of god in the near future by Apple's spin team: the oleophobic coating is getting rubbed right off his screen. Apparently he has a bit of a fondness for a certain "Flick Fishing" app, which explains the highly localized nature of his oleophobic destruction. We haven't heard many other reports of a similar nature, but we'll keep an eye out for telltale Tap Tap Revenge markings on the iPhones of our rhythm-addled loved ones.

[Thanks, Rafa]

Read - Apple blames overheating iPhones on the weather
Read - Oleophobic coating wearing off fast

Colorware's well known for offering up all sorts of consumer electronics in all sorts of hues, but the outfit has definitely stepped up its game with the Stealth MacBook Pro. This limited edition piece is an all-black 15-inch MacBook Pro with a matte display, 3.06GHz CPU, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 256GB SSD, an 8x SuperDrive, zero gloss finish and a SofTouch coating that'll make it downright impossible for your fingers to stop stroking it. Reportedly, these will be limited to just ten units, and each one will cost a not-at-all affordable $5,999. See Apple, this is what you get when you voluntarily axe the BlackBook. Opportunity, lost.

[Via Engadget Polska]

That supposedly upcoming Android XPERIA that Mobil dug up might have our minds, but it's this leaked handset (which, to be fair, looks fairly sketchily rendered), the Sony Ericsson Kiki, that has won our hearts. The screen is made of glass, with an image seemingly rear-projected onto it (teleprompter style), while the keys are, um, scarce. Mobil was able to offer few hints as to how this works or what all it does, and it seems like it falls far short of the functionality of a feature phone, but we're sure we want one whatever it is.

Hello, beautiful. Danish phone site Mobil has uncovered "internal documents" on what appears to be Sony Ericsson's upcoming Android-based handset, an XPERIA number codenamed Rachael. Under the hood is a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, HSPA and an 8 megapixel camera. It's unclear how big the touchscreen is, and other details are scarce -- there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, so that's nice, but unless we're severely misguided, there doesn't seem to be a slide-out keyboard tucked away inside this thin chassis.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Are you in the market for a "Summer Fun" Wii bundle to get your Independence Day started right? Oh, yeah? Fantastic, 'cause GameStop has just the packages for you. For the low, low price of $249.99, the aforementioned bundle consists of a Nintendo Wii console, a water gun and... wait, what? Amazingly enough, GameStop has seen fit to bundle a $0.25 water gun with a Wii and call it a bundle; heck, it's even limiting them to two per household. If that's not strange enough for you, there's also the Pirate Tattoo bundle and Take a Bath with a Buddy (a rubber ducky, just so we're clear) bundle. Talk about really taking advantage of that whole "freedom" thing.

Read - Summer Fun bundle
Read - Pirate Tattoo bundle
Read - Take a Bath with a Buddy bundle

[Via Joystiq]

If the world required that you complete an expert DDR jam each morning only moments after you awoke, there's a solid chance the global death toll would far outpace the birth rate. Thankfully, all that's typically necessary is that you actually listen to whatever device you've got ringing. If you've noticed lately that said noises just aren't cutting it, here's a little puzzler that's pretty much guaranteed to either get you up or entangle you in infinite frustration. The £9.99 ($16) Finger Dance Alarm Clock sounds at a user-determined time, and once your weary eyes begin to focus, you then have to use your digits to follow a lighted dance pattern in order to shut the cacophony off. It's half torture, half genius -- precisely the way we like it.

[Via OhGizmo]

Just under a month ago at Archos' Paris reveal, we were somewhat dismayed that an Android-based device didn't show up... officially, at least. We were told to expect more information about a Google-powered unit this September, but it looks as if said wait has been hacked considerably. According to The Inquirer, Archos has informed it that a 5-inch internet media tablet loaded with Android will be unveiled on September 15th, a date that certainly jibes with prior information. The handheld will boast Google's sauce underneath with a layer of Archos applications on top, and while the Windows 7-equipped Archos 9 PCTablet (pictured) is expected in October, this here device should hit shelves a few weeks prior. In related news, the briefing also included word that Archos was working on a few "telephony products," which is just barely enough to get you simultaneously excited / hot and bothered.

[Via TrustedReviews]

You knew it was on deck, and at long last, here it is. Your one and only shot (okay, so maybe that's a gentle stretch) to tell the world -- and Palm, since it's a part of the world -- exactly what you think about the Pre. Since going on sale to the general public just under a month ago, some analysts have suggested that some 300,000 or so units have been moved. We're quite confident that at least some of that bunch have their eyes peering at this here post, so we'd like to formally ask for your opinions in comments below. Is there anything you'd like to see changed on Palm's Pre? Is the build quality up to snuff? Is webOS everything you thought it'd be (and more)? Is the QWERTY keyboard doing it for you? Do you wish it supported something that it doesn't? Unleash your wrath below -- we'll keep your true identity a secret. Maybe.

You might have seen solar-powered planes before, but few of them come with as much world-changing ambition as the Solar Impulse. Launched in 2003, the project aims to demonstrate the viability of renewable energy sources by being the first to perform a manned flight around the globe using only solar power. The technology is nothing to scoff at, as the 200-foot wingspan features 12,000 photovoltaic solar cells bringing power to four electric motors. Captain Bertrand Piccard, one of the key men behind this project, is best known as one half of the first team to circumnavigate the world in a balloon in 1999. He hopes, together with partner André Borschberg, to repeat that achievement in Solar Impulse's next iteration, the HB-SIB, in 2012. Make it so, guys.

[Via Gizmag]

We haven't heard a solitary peep out of IXI Mobile in a hot minute, even though its Ogo line -- once a member of Cingular's lineup -- had found some niche popularity among teens and the deaf community. We'd even thought they'd gone into R&D hibernation, actually, but apparently not -- they're innovating. They're innovating so much, in fact, that they've innovated themselves right out of the landscape clamshell form factor that made the Ogo famous. This Inventec-sourced CC-10 we just spotted in the FCC looks more Centro than Ogo, though all of the original's features -- notably strong IM and social networking support -- carry on through to the new model. At any rate, we can say that IXI doesn't intend to break back into the North American market -- at least not with this exact unit, anyway -- since GSM 1900 and Bluetooth are the only features it bothered testing.

It's been nearly a month since the launch of Palm's newest handset, the Pre. Since then, we here at Engadget have heard some vague and hard to substantiate claims of hardware failures -- cracked screens, a little broken plastic here and there -- but nothing on a large scale, so far as we can tell. We thought it was about time to turn it over to you the readers (the ones lucky enough to have a Pre, anyway), to tell us how the phone is holding up physically. Is it tough as nails or is it falling apart? Poll is after the break.

It was only a few months ago that we were fielding rumors about Sony's CyberShot DSC-HX1, and now we're struggling to keep our credit card at bay each time we waltz by one in the local camera shop. Today, Sony Insider has pointed out that the outfit may be readying a new duo to complement the megazoom: the DSC-TX1 and DSC-WX1. If the latest whispers prove legitimate, the TX1 will boast a 10 megapixel sensor, 4x optical zoom, 3-inch LCD, 720p movie mode and a price tag somewhere south of $400. The WX1 should check in as a lower-end model with 10 megapixels, a 5x optical zoom, 2.7-inch LCD and the same 720p movie mode; why exactly it'll be cheaper we're not sure, but that's the good word at the moment. E-tailer Provantage already has listings for both cameras up, so it seems as if it's just a matter of time before Sony confirms all the good news.

[Via Sony Insider]

Seriously folks, what's up with these prototype iPhones falling out of nondescript white vans and ending up on eBay in the shadiest of manners? Just months after we saw an original iPhone prototype (ancient OS included) pop up on The 'Bay, now we've got one of the world's first iPhone 3GSs on there as well. According to the highly ranked eBay seller, the "guy" he "got it from" actually stumbled upon it at an airport, and rather than doing the nonsensical thing of hitting up lost and found, he decided to make the most of the sudden opportunity. According to the new owner, an Apple Genius has confirmed that it is an iPhone 3GS, but due to its prototype nature, they can't help him get past the "Connect to iTunes" screen. In other words, it's an incredibly rare brick. If that sounds like just the thing to complete your collection, you can visit the road to overpaying through the read link below.

[Via ElectricPig]