The art of the tech spy shot is a sophisticated one. There are a few rules that must be followed. Firstly, the product must be unreleased. Secondly, the product must be eagerly anticipated by at least a few people. Thirdly, and most importantly, when you take the shot, you have to shake your arm around as much as you possibly can, so that no-one can remotely see what's going on.

After a few blurry pics of new Macbooks that have surfaced over the last few days, I thought it'd be nice to put together a gallery of some of the least legible photos that we've seen over the last few years.

Have some aspirin on hand and click the blurry Palm Treo below to begin your tour.

With the bottom falling out of just about every market the papers can think of, it might be time to start cutting down on those expensive dinners out. So, instead have some expensive dinners in by kitting yourself out with any or all of this high price, hi-tech kitchen gadgetry in Tech Digest's Top 10 Expensive Kitchen Gadgets.

Click the image below to start thinking about emptying your wallet

Related posts: Credit Crunch Top 10 | Top 10 OSs

So Bradford & Bingley get nationalised but the US Congress reject their multi-billion dollar scheme to bail out the fat cats and help steady the economy. Let's face it, times are not looking economically awesome - not in the short to medium term at least - and it might be wise to rethink that jewel-encrusted gold MacBook Air.

But we wouldn't want you to go gadget hungry here at TD. Certainly not. So rather than have to decide between your next meal and a DVD player I bring you the Top 10 Credit Crunch Bargains for under £50. Come, get your gadgets here, they're lovely. Fifty pound a pound!

Click the image to start the show

With the release of the Google Android mobile operating system widely expected later on today - around 3.30pm I should think - I thought to myself, "What better way to kick of our Top 10 Tuesdays than by looking at operating systems that changed the world." So here indeed are the Top 10 operating systems that changed the world.

Click on the picture below to start the countdown.

Related posts: Google Android | More Google Android

There seems to be a fascination with burning recognisable images into toast, and we've covered quite a few already, but this concept (which I really hope Electrolux decide to make) is for a USB-powered Scan Toaster.

One of the nine finalists of this year's DesignLab competition, the Scan Toaster can "print" news, weather, and pictures on to bread, and was developed by Sung Bae Chang of Sejong University in South Korea.

The concept is fairly simple. Plug in the toaster to a free USB port, place the bread, and the software will then start burning whatever it is you want.

I'm sure overzealous health and safety officers would instantly ban this should it ever make it to production. I suppose in an age of saving paper, this method of creating a hard copy of a document needn't go to waste after being read. Just don't try to fax it.

And now, for your stomach's pleasure, here are the Top Ten Tech Toasties. If you can recreate these in an ordinary toaster, we'll be really impressed. Click on the image below to see the whole gallery.

(Via OhGizmo)

Yesterday Twitter annoyed thousands of its UK users by dropping the SMS text message notification feature for UK users, citing money woe as the reason behind it. But don't despair, Twitterati! There are many other ways to feed your Twitter addiction, rather than just via the web or SMS, so here's our Top 10 alternative Twitter clients.

One of the three themes of the Beijing Olympics is to make it a "High-tech Olympics." But how will this benefit the viewing public? Michael Cox outlines the top ten innovations that will improve coverage.

1. HD coverage
For the first time, the Olympics will be available in HD. In fact, the entire event is being produced in HD, although obviously you will only get the full effect of this if you have an HD-ready TV. Visit this page if you're still unsure about HDTV, or if you're looking to enter the HD world in time for the Olympics, check out this rather neat HANNSpree 19-inch HDTV, which is perfect as a smart TV for the bedroom - after all, the time difference means that some events will be on whilst you would usually be tucked up in bed.

Rubbish! That's what I reckon. iWhat? Sure, it's sexy little number but at what cost, I ask you? What cost? If you go for the cheapest iPhone 3G package, you're going to spend £639 over 18 months and that, my friends, is a lot of wonga.

Do you really want to spend all of that on a phone? My mobile bill over the same period is nearly half that at £360, and, let's examine the evidence here, while I receive a healthy 250 texts per month and a muscular 750 minutes, you get poxy 125 SMSs with the iPhone 3G and a minuscule 75 minutes and most of those will be taken up with "Can you call me back?"

No, the iPhone 3G package is all kinds of wrong. You don't want to buy one of those. Instead here are 10 other much better items that'll bring you far greater happiness and value for your hard slaved £639. Click on the pic to begin.

After Apple confirmed the release of their new operating system, OS X Snow Leopard, on Monday, it occurred to us at TD that pretty soon Steve Jobs is going to run out of big cats to name his products after.

He's gone through Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger and Leopard already and, with only Lion left, he's going to have to move on to some different animals and eventually some other ideas altogether. So, knowing the Apple Master like we do, this is the Tech Digest Top 10 of what Apple will call their operating system next:

1.) OS X Amoeba - retro version harking back to the original Mac OSs

2.) OS X Badger - constantly double-checking with users for every single operation

3.) OS X Meerkat - stripped down, sleek and nimble Linux-like version

4.) OS XXY Hermaphrodite - the one that costs twice as much with no improvements at all - go fuck yourself

5.) OS X George Clooney - heavy on design, best looking version; one for the ladies

If you are as yet to navigate to the Google homepage today, you may be unaware that it's Earth Day today. Happy Earth Day everyone!

Earth Day is a day as old as the hills - even older. It's as old as the mud the hills are made from. Earth Day started back in ancient Egypt when the villages on the banks of the Nile would celebrate the annual floods which brought silt deposits to fertilize their land.

In celebration, the villagers would throw the mud at one another in joy and to this day people still mark the event with the giving and receiving of pieces of earth.

Actually, that's a complete lie but it was a nice story, wasn't it? No, Earth Day is about awareness of the environment as started in 1970 by a gentleman named Gaylord Nelson and to do our part at Tech Digest we're going to look at the best Earth-saving gadgets that money can buy.

According to virtually every tech or gaming-orientated blog on the internet superhighway, come July the rumour is that Nintendo will be announcing the next-gen DS console at the E3 expo.

As someone who's rushed out and bought both previous incarnations of the portable gaming console, I can appreciate the huge lead made between the two, and as much as I adore the Lite, I can think of a couple improvements I'd like to see in the next version, which is rumoured to be called the 'Liter' or 'Extreme'.

The rumour mill has already started grinding, with fingers being pointed at 'larger screens', with both possibly being touch-screen, and the hardware being 'lighter and thinner'. So far, the DS fans aren't really thinking outside the box, so if you read below, you'll see my hopes for the next version...

Yesterday the second official teaser trailer for the upcoming X-Files 2 film was uploaded to YouTube (above), churning Files fans' stomachs with the possibilities for the hugely-awaited film. Snow! It has snow! What does that mean? Ooh, Scully looks gorgeous with long hair! Wow, Billy Connolly looks even more insane than normal! Amanda Peet - oh noes! Wait, was that Xzibit?!

To celebrate the film getting a release date of July 25th, I've rounded up some of the best X-Files related products and applications available on the internet. It's what Mulder would've wanted.

1.) Fanmade PC tower case on eBay - currently on $50 with no bids, the tower has six drive bays and two floppy bays, plus several carefully-chiseled see-through bits. Plus a big 'X' etched into that metallic green spraypaint, which, as the seller says, is 'great for THE X FILES Fan!'

MP4 watches! It's basically the technology we thought we'd be using by now, back in 1996. "Imagine the day you can - how's this for laughs, Doogie - watch video on your wristwatch! Oh man, imagine that! Porn on your wrist!"

Porn, indeed. Feast your eyes on these seven contraptions that will not only give your wrist a strange sweaty odor when you take it off each night, but allow you to watch MP4s on the move as well. Oh, and tell the time too I suppose...

1.) Firebox watch (top left) - with 2GB of storage capacity, not only can you watch movies on its 1.5" 260K OLED screen, but also listen to MP3s and view photos. Charging is completed by plugging the watch into your USB slot on your PC, giving you eight hours of video playback. £59.95.

2.) Vavolo watch (middle left) - as with the Firebox watch, it's got 2GB of memory, and allows for video playback and photo-viewing on the 128 x 128 pixel screen. MP3 and WMA playback is also a feature, as is digital recording. $99.99.

3.) GeekStuff4U metal watch (bottom left) - it's metal, it's got a 1.8" display, and yes, it can play MP3s as well. It's got one thing the others don't have, however - the initial 2GB capacity can be boosted to 4GB for a tiny bit extra dosh. $167.40.

Al from our PS3 blog, PSPSPS, has put together a handy top ten list of the sweetest couples within gaming. Featuring Carl Johnson and Catalina from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2 (pictured), Wander and Mono from Shadow of the Colossus and a bunch of others, it's enough to make any hardened fanboy's heart warm up by a few degrees. Almost.

PSPSPS's list of gaming lovers

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Some YouTube videos stay with you long after the first viewing. Sometimes because they have scarred and terrified you, other times because the sheer stupidity on display has lowered the bar further than previously thought possible.

Or sometimes it's just because they've got Carl Vorderman wearing a leather skirt in them and you've got the house to yourself for half an hour.

Whatever the reason for it, these are the 10 YouTube classics we go back to time and time again, for endless free entertainment - and have even considered trying to work out how to save to our computer just in case YouTube ever breaks or closes, such is their 'national treasure' status.

1. Carol Vorderman spelling out MILF on Countdown. Could literally watch this on a loop 24-hours-a day without any other form of stimulation whatsoever. Would pay to watch a three-hour loop of it at the cinema. Would buy an HD Blu-ray loop of it. And it'd still be hilarious in 2012. She doesn't even understand, the poor thing.

2. ASIMO falling over. It's the dramatic, "YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO SEE!" build-up that makes this such a classic. Just imagine how much more money Honda would have now if it hadn't bothered making a rubbish robot that can barely support its own weight. Just invest in anti-gravity technology instead, Honda, like the Daleks did for the new series of Doctor Who.

We love technology. You love technology. But do you really love it? Being a proper fanboy or fangirl is about more than trolling the internetweb finding people with an opposing view to flame. You've got to really go the extra mile, to prove you're a genuine fanatic. How? Here's some ideas...

1. Show up to every Steve Jobs keynote dressed in exactly the same clothes as him (note, this requires some early-morning stalking, a big credit-card limit, and fast transport).

2. No matter what the fancy-dress party theme is, even if it's pirates, or tarts'n'vicars, always dress up as Mario. Then come up with a plausible reason why.

3. Insist on only making love to a looped version of the Nokia Tune. You're allowed to switch to the polyphonic version when things get hot'n'nasty.

Apparently 95% of all email sent is spam, the experts say. Even my Gmail spam folder is creaking under the strain, but while going through it rescuing mis-filed CES press releases, at least there's some spam emails that gave me a laugh. Here they are. And yes, sorry, many of them are genital-related.

"It's a bird, it's a plane, no its humungous new cock..."
Gain marks for Superman metaphor. Lose them again for missing apostrophe.

"Are you a real man?"
Nope, I'm a spambot too. Ha!

"Feel the joy of giving beautiful things for Christmas!"
Not to be rude, but do strange websites selling hooky watches via spam emails have guaranteed delivery dates in December?

Pre-Christmas fever is about to get into full swing in UK high streets - this weekend, I saw my first dancing/singing Santa mannequin of the year in Argos, while several other shops are rolling out their Winter Wonderland compilation CDs already.

Meanwhile, us consumers are busy compiling our Christmas lists, which are doubtless full of the latest gadgets and gizmos. But they shouldn't be. Here's ten sensible reasons why you shouldn't be asking Santa for any high-tech toys this year.

1. You asked for lots of gadgets last Christmas. They're still working.

2. You'll spend valuable turkey-gobbling time on Christmas Day downloading "essential" firmware updates off the internetweb.

As you would've garnered from our previous post and my ever so descriptive title on this one, it's International Talk Like A Pirate Day. To get lots and lots of hits from Google search entries celebrate, we haven't just uncorked a bottle of rum and donned an eye-patch, we've taken it one step further and hunted down the best 10 pirate-themed gadgets money can buy. And, in true pirate style, the last one, below the jump, doesn't need any money at all to acquire, as it's stolen. Arrrr!

1.) Pirate toast stamper from Perpetual Kid - pirates eat toast, right? Right? Well, they certainly don't eat their fruit and veg. Simply press the stamper on a piece of bread before toasting, and when it's been burnt to taste, a pirate symbol will be printed. $2.99.

Football crazy, we're football mad... And we were football crazy enough to do a Top 10 Football Gadgets post at the start of last season so, dammit, we're doing it again.

Whether your favourite team is a purring Continental goals machine or a dreadful park-level bunch of cloggers, you'll find something to spend your money on here. And you won't need a Thaksin Shinawatra sized wallet (or human rights allegation) to afford them either.

1. Sensible Soccer Plug'n'Play (pictured). It doesn't get any better than two grown adults yelling abuse at each other after a last-minute lobbed goal from the centre circle in Sensi Soccer, and this plug-in gadget gives you just that. Oh, and it's also got Cannon Fodder and Mega-Lo-Mania on it, if you ever get bored with tiny little men pinging passes around like pinballs. Which you won't. MORE INFO