If you've found yourself tempted by other interesting DIY aerial photography rigs, but spent all your dough on the Nokia N95 instead, you may still be able to make a lifelong (or momentary) dream come true. A pioneering lad over at the N95 Blog has suggested that nearly unlimited high-resolution aerial photography can be yours if you're willing to strap your precious handset to an RC plane and get savvy with Pict'Earth software. The application allows users to create a theoretical Google Earth of their own if the existing imagery isn't up to snuff with their personal standards. Still, we'd have to mull this one over mighty hard before attaching such a valuable communicator to a potential death bed, but feel free to let us know how things go if you can muster the courage.

[Via AllAboutSymbian]

Sure, Apple's latest 15-inch MacBook Pro may have stolen the thunder from HP Compaq's 2510p by getting its LED-backlit machine out to customers first, but for the purely Wintel crowd, this one's sure to please. In some foreign lair, the amigos (and chicas) over at TecnoSquad were able to apprehend a loose 2510p laptop long enough to snap a few detailed pictures showing off its exterior and even its posture while parked in a docking station. You already know what's inside, so make sure you leap past the jump in order to catch some external photos including one that unscientifically shows it as the brightest of the three pictured machines.

Nah, MediaStreet can't be considered a pioneer by throwing in Bluetooth functionality with its eMotion digiframe, but considering that only a few others have made such a gesture thus far, you won't find us bellyaching. The firm is upping the ante on its seven-inch widescreen digital photo frame by adding in the ability to instantly transfer photos snapped on your cameraphone or BT-enabled device onto the frame, but didn't forget about the traditional loading methods in the process; users can still import media onto its 256MB of internal memory via SD, CF, SDHC, MMC, MS / MSPro, xD, or USB 2.0. The device plays nice with JPEG / BMP photos, MP3 and WMA on the audio front, and AVI / MPEG1/2/4 when looking at video, and while this may not be the biggest buck on the block, it manages to support a variety of interchangeable wood frames and a wireless remote while ringing up at just $149.

[Via Slashgear]

It's no secret that people have been fascinated, or at least intrigued, by wallpapers and screensavers since the desktop first graced their eyes, and judging by the sheer multitude of websites and man-hours devoted to perfecting the screen that you so rarely see once you launch that first app, it's also no shock to hear a tale of such obsession. Although Autumn may not be most people's default background in Windows XP, it's still well regarded, and for one Vanity Fair writer, it sparked a worldwide quest to find its origin. Expecting the task to be one of relative ease in the age of email, meta tags, and digital archives, he began by questioning the usual suspects about its humble beginnings, but to his dismay, was turned down time and time again by rights protectors who wouldn't divulge the author nor location of such a highly prized stock photograph. Eventually, his entire team was onboard in a furious (albeit seemingly futile) search to discover precisely where this image was shot, once leading to thoughts of permanent relocation if the locale was finally unearthed. After what seemed like months of running into brick walls, an email to Bill Gates himself resulted in an apparently automated response that belted out nothing more but the snapshot's place of origin, which incited fits of jovial celebration office-wide. To Campbellville, Ontario, Canada they headed, in desperate need to visit the orangey area so burned into their memories, and thanks to the purportedly mysterious workings of a co-worker, they even landed the shooter's name. Eventually, the journey led them to a rarely traveled path in the city of Burlington, where the old Harris Homestead quietly sat behind a vigilant row of bare trees surrounded by glistening white snow. It truly was Winter, at last for the adventurous crew, but it certainly gives us pause when deciding whether or not to seek out the origin of Ascent and Azul in our spare time.

We're absolutely certain there's a vast array of naturally gifted photographers out there that don't need a robot to do a man's job, but for those of us who can't hold our elbows perfectly still and snap a dozen or so photographs in a panoramic pattern without ruining the entire shot, Gigapan's got you covered. The robotic shooting platform was developed by Carnegie Mellon University and the NASA Ames Intelligent Robot Group, and can manhandle almost any digital camera in order to capture a wide-angle view of any particular scene without the breaks we humans often inject. The robot will click away depending on a timer and the number of snapshots that users program in, resulting in a very high resolution, widescreen image of a crime scene, vacation overlook, or your entire basement wall of Transformers posters. Moreover, the team has developed accompanying software to "piece together" the resulting images, leaving a nearly flawless reproduction of a panoramic view with an immensely increased level of detail. Expected to cost "around $200 or less," the Gigapan could be in civilian hands as early as next month, after which we'll have to start an entirely new photo contest devoted to cramming as many miles as possible into a single, uber-wide shot, but for now, be sure to click on through for a small taste of what this monkey can do.

[Via Primidi]