HP has introduced a line of cameras with slimming features — the camera has a special filter for removing weight. So much for, “the camera never lies.”

If you’re into gadgets, student industrial design projects are a kind of boiled down essence of the future. They’ll rarely lead to real products, but they sure are fun to look at. In that spirit, have a look at I.D. magazine’s student design awards.

How can you add a new edge to the retail park experience? And how can you get into the pockets of the richest people there are? From the sound of discussions at the Space 2006 conference, the answer is to leverage the public sector into the space industry and start getting retail outlets into orbit, so that bored space tourists have somewhere to get a good cup of joe. Should the delights of retail therapy start to pale, they might be able to shuttle over to the Moon, where another NASA boffin proposes we should build an immense library and book repository. All great ideas, of course, but I’d be more pleased to see concrete solutions to actually getting people and materials up into space in the first place.

Marketers! Need a new location to place your adverts? Somewhere big? Somewhere watched by millions on television at certain times? Somewhere that associates your product with the cutting edge of science and technology? Maybe you’d be interested in buying ad space on Russian Soyuz rockets and their launch facilities – but don’t delay, there’s only so much surface to spare! A visit to the facility to check out what’s on offer will cost an additional $2000, though, so check your budget before making any serious plans.

How would you power electronic devices if you’re ‘off the grid’, like a soldier or aid worker? Batteries are cumbersome and wasteful, and solar panels aren’t very portable yet. Researchers at MIT believe the answer may be a tiny gas turbine engine, made from etched silicon wafers in the same manner as microchips. This is still conceptual vapourware at the moment, but MIT are nororious for building incredible projects, and the promised utility of this little device should ensure investment interest.