It’s not just James Bond who gets to play with all the cool gadgets. More and more business executives are investing in secret agent-style hardware to make sure their top-secret company plans stay under wraps. Bug-detectors disguised as fountain pens, keyboards that can secretly record everything typed on them, and clock radios with hidden cameras–devices once only of interest to spies–are now being bought by company chiefs who fear they are being spied on. “The majority of the customers are buying counter surveillance equipment,” said Julia Adams, director of surveillance gadget store Spymaster. “The majority are concerned with what is being leaked. They want to make sure they aren’t being bugged and that the competition isn’t listening.”

The massive video screens, neon lights and perpetual crowds of Times Square are enough to make anyone dizzy. But throw in a Nintendo Wii launch event, and the energy reaches a whole new level. The line began at the entrance to the Toys “R” Us store on 44th Street and 7th Avenue, New York’s official Wii venue, and snaked around nearly the entire block: up to 45th Street, around to 6th Avenue, and back. By midnight, there were approximately 3,000 Wii fans and gawkers. There was no talk of Wii shortages, and the Toys “R” Us store was very open about the fact that 4,000 units would be in the store at midnight–10 times as many as the 400 PS3s that had been available at the SonyStyle store for Thursday’s launch party.

The MPAA studios are at it again, snatching away our fair use rights, so they can sell them back to us for an “additional fee.” In a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York, Paramount Pictures v. Load ‘N Go Video, the MPAA member companies have sued a small business for loading DVDs onto personal media players on behalf of customers. According to the suit, Load ‘N Go sells both DVDs and iPods and loads the former onto the latter for customers who purchase both. The company then sends the iPod and the original DVDs to the customer. So the customer has purchased every DVD, and Load ‘N Go just saves them the trouble of ripping the DVD. The movie studios’ suit claims that this is illegal, because ripping a DVD is illegal under the DMCA. The suit also claims that this constitutes copyright infringement. Although this lawsuit happens to be aimed at Load ‘N Go, the DMCA theory in the complaint makes it crystal clear that the MPAA believes it is just as illegal for you to do the same thing for yourself at home. Apparently, Hollywood believes that you should have to re-purchase all your DVD movies a second time if you want to watch them on your iPod.

Scientists said they have created a brainy, four-legged robot resembling a starfish that can sense damage to its body and, on its own, think up a way to recover. Researchers Hod Lipson and Victor Zykov of Cornell University and Josh Bongard of the University of Vermont made a robot that observed its own motion using built-in sensors in its joints and then generated its own concept of itself, or at least its physical structure, in its internal computer. It used this internal model of itself to figure out how to walk on its four legs and eight motorized joints. Lipson said the robot used various movements of its joints, first to generate hypotheses and then to formulate an accurate conception of itself. The researchers then tested the robot’s ability to adapt to new situations–in this case injury–by shortening one of its legs. “The robot knows something’s wrong,” Lipson said. This robot responded by generating on its own a new concept of its structure, accurately sensing it had been altered, and then devising a new way to walk using a different gait to compensate for the injury.

Synaptics Incorporated, a developer of interface software for mobile computing, communications and entertainment devices, announced that it has developed a ChiralMotion-enabled TouchPad for Logitech International’s new diNovo Edge wireless keyboard, which integrates standard user control with scrolling to allow users to switch between the two while navigating through their PC. Fidel Zawde, product marketing manager for Synaptics, told eWEEK that within the diNovo Edge wireless keyboard, the “ChiralMotion-enabled TouchPad allows users to convert a standard cursor control to a scroller interface, giving users the ability navigate a PC at a quicker pace.” The diNovo Edge wireless keyboard includes a number of features such as wireless Bluetooth technology, backlighted icons and media controls and now, Synaptic’s custom-designed ChiralMotion-enabled TouchPad, which will allow users to scroll continuously and not be restricted to any specific location or motion on the TouchPad, once the scrolling mode is started by placing one’s finger in the 12 o’clock or 3 o’clock position of the circle-shaped area of the TouchPad.

Gamers lined up by the thousands early on Friday, aiming to be one of the first in the United States to buy Sony’s PlayStation 3, the multimedia and video game machine that is key to the future of the beleaguered electronics and media conglomerate. Sony is sure to rake in millions of dollars in revenue on Friday alone, with some 400,000 units expected to be available one week after an initial launch in Japan. Depending on the size of its hard drive, each PlayStation will sell for $500 or $600. But Sony is expected to lose money initially on each sale of the PS3, which in addition to playing games, can surf the Web, download video and music and play movies with its Blu-ray high-definition disc drive. The Blu-ray player and other components have run up production costs, dragging Sony’s game unit into a deep loss for the year to March. Experts suggest each PS3 could last 10 years and could go a long way toward helping Sony meet its goal of keeping atop the $30 billion gaming market, as well as make Blu-ray the standard for next-generation DVD.

SanDisk announced that it is shipping special edition SanDisk SD memory cards to major retailers in conjunction with the release of Nintendo’s new Wii game console, which is compatible with removable flash memory to store game saves, download games and view digital photos. The white cards, bearing the label SanDisk For Wii, will be available in three capacities–512MB, 1GB, and 2GB–at gaming and major consumer electronics stores. Suggested retail prices range from $34.99 to $89.99.

Motorola and Sprint Nextel announced the launching of Motorola’s i880, an Integrated Digital Enhanced Network handset wireless phone that will have a 2.0 megapixel camera as well as other multimedia features. The i880 targets a range of users from the home consumer to the business professional. The 2.0 megapixel camera/camcorder featured on the i880 offers a picture resolution that will be good enough for 5 by 7 prints, as well as video playback with sound. In addition to the camera, the i880 also sports an integrated music player that will let users listen to MP3s and other audio files through the front dual-ported speakers in stereo sound, as the media files can also be stored on the included 64MB MicroSD removable memory card.

Gmail’s popularity may be viral, but the email software is not a virus–despite a Microsoft alert. From late last week until Sunday night, the Windows Live OneCare security software incorrectly flagged the Google email service as a threat. A warning popped up when OneCare users opened the Gmail Web site, telling them that their systems were infected with a virus called “BAT/BWG.A.”

As more people subscribe to cell phone services–nearly 220 million in the U.S as of June, according to the CTIA Wireless Association–marketers see the mobile market as a ripe opportunity. According to research firm Informa, marketers will spend more than $11 billion on mobile advertising by 2011. Some of the marketing is being done through legitimate channels. Companies such as eBay and Orbitz allow customers to sign up for services that send text message alerts. Cell phone operators are also starting to experiment with sending text messages promoting new services. But if mobile operators want to exploit this marketing opportunity, they must tread lightly so as not to annoy customers with messages they don’t want, experts say. And a recent rise in text message spam could jeopardize these efforts.