While this is by no means the first time we've seen a robotic snake prototype, it isn't every day that we find one so close to deployment. This self-propelling, two feet long robot can crawl along the ground, climb through debris, and even stand erect to give the operator a better view. The Israeli Defense Force is will use this thing for routine surveillance and reconnaissance, broadcasting video and sound to a monitor and control station. And if this is not enough? In that case, the prototype can be wired with explosives -- making it, according to the Jerusalem Post, a "suicide snake." Fun! And rather upsetting. No proposed price or timetable yet, but you can see the thing in action for yourself after the break.

This sexy MID has been dropping jaws for more than a year now. Unfortunately, the plastic mock-up has always been a non-working, gutless model with little more than a glossy screen and backlight to demonstrate the form factor Intel's gunning for with its future Moorestown Mobile Internet Devices. That all changed today when a world's first working, Moorestown prototype (which we think is the device above) hit the stage at Intel's Taipei, Developer Forum in the familiar hands of Anand Chandrasekher. Moorestown consists of a Lincroft micro-architecture that integrates the 45nm processor, graphics, memory controller, and video encode/decode functions onto a single, tiny chip with 10x less idle power draw than those first-gen, Atom-based MIDs and UMPCs. That's pretty Impressive. As we've heard before, we can expect the new Moorestown MIDs to hit in 2009 / 2010 with support for wireless 3G, WiMAX, GPS, Bluetooth and digital mobile TV. We can hardly wait. We'll update you with video just as soon as we can track it down. Until then, check Anand's original video demonstration of the concept from 2007 after the break.

Update: Sadly, it now appears that the demonstration was little more than a validation board running fresh from the factory, three-day old Moorestown silicon in an Intel lab. Significant, but hardly a working MID prototype. A working Moorestown MID like that pictured above remains the stuff of Intel's graphics department fantasy for the time being.

Read -- World's first Moorestown platform
Read -- Moorestown MID prototype on display in Taipei

ZPower has made a few promises before that haven't exactly panned out, but that apparently hasn't stopped it from making another bold claim at IDF this week, with it boasting that its newfangled Silver-Zinc battery will be rolled out in a "major notebook computer" sometime in 2009. According to ZPower, that battery will provide up to 40% more runtime than traditional lithium-ion batteries and, just as importantly, be far more "chemically stable" than its sometimes explosion-prone lithium-ion counterpart. ZPower also looks to be going the extra mile when it comes to recycling the batteries, with 95% of the battery itself apparently recyclable, and the company offering "financial discounts" to folks when they trade in their old Silver-Zinc batteries.

We already got a decent enough look at Intel's new convertible Classmate PC when it made its debut at IDF yesterday, but if you're looking for a slightly more thorough examination of it, you may want to hit up Laptop Magazine, which got a chance to spend some time with the device and offer some initial impressions. As is even more apparent in these pics, the hardware is very much not finalized, with it sporting some mismatched parts and some components that may or may not make it into the final version. That said, they do seem fairly impressed by the laptop, with the built-in accelerometer working well, and the included "Quick Launcher" software shell making Windows XP considerably more accessible to students, and adults for that matter. Hit up the link below for the video hands-on and, of course, plenty more pics.

It's been quite a while since Viliv last popped up on our radar, but the company has just rolled into IDF with a pair of new devices to rectify that situation, including the S5 MID and S7 UMPC. From the looks of it, the S7 (pictured above) is the more interesting of the two, with it sporting a convertible form factor, the usual Atom processor, built-in GPS, and an integrated Wimax or HSDPA module. Pricing doesn't look to have been nailed down just yet, but the company is apparently looking to launch it in the first quarter of 2009. The S5 (after the break), on the other hand, looks to be a fairly run of the mill MID, although UMPC Portal says that a 3G option is "possible," and its promised video playback time of five to six hours is certainly respectable enough. No word on a price or release date for it either, but you can check out some more pics and videos of each device by digging into the links below.

P.S. We should note that the S7 is still in the "final design stages." We hear that last "P" is always the toughest.

Read - UMPC Portal, "Viliv S5 MID"
Read - UMPC Portal, "Viliv S7 Atom-based UMPC"

Intel wasn't exactly all that forthcoming with details about its next-gen Classmate PC when the subject last came up (describing it only as having both hardware and software upgrades), but it looks to have dropped its guard at this week's IDF, with it not only dishing out details, but an actual unit as well. As you can see, this one's a convertible, but Intel is quick to point out that it's not the Classmate 3.0 some have been expecting -- it'll apparently exist alongside the current generation model. Also, as you might have guessed, there's not a lot of surprises in terms of specs, with it boasting the same 1.6GHz Atom processor as every other netbook out there, along with an 8.9-inch 1024 x 600 display, an SD card slot, a pair of USB ports, and an SSD drive of unspecified size. Intel is apparently still promising to provide a few more details a bit later on but, in the meantime, you can bide your time by digging into the pics available at the link below.

Update: Check out a video from Intel after the break, and even more pics at jkkmobile.