Whenever a gadget is focused on ergonomics, buckle up for some seriously weird looking design. A prime example of this phenomenon can be seen in this "Alien Mouse" concept from designer Mizanur Rehman. The idea was to create a mouse that would strictly adhere to the principles of ergonomics and provide maximum comfort by molding itself to the user's hand with a body constructed of soft gel and cellulose. It even features a pulsating central core that reverberates throughout the frame to help relieve stress.

As for the controls—all functionality is handled by the sphere-shaped section at the top. A central joystick is flanked by fairly standard right and left click buttons, but the layout of the controls means that the mouse never needs to be physically moved. As mentioned, the Alien Mouse is only in the concept stage at this point, so I doubt that we will be seeing it on store shelves anytime soon. Hell, we may not even be using a computer mouse in 5 years time (if "experts" are to be believed). [Project Page via The Design Blog]

Rumors have been floating around about it for quite some time, but it appears that all systems are go for the entire Star Wars franchise to be re-released in the 3D format. DreamWorks Animations CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg confirmed the details in a recent interview with Comingsoon.net saying "Lucas is excited about it" and "He isn't going to put a product out, I think, that isn't anything other than first rate."

Apparently, the cost of converting a traditional 2-D movie into 3D is between $50,000 and $100,000 per minute. I'm sure that Lucasfilm will make their money back and then some, but is it really worth it? Does anyone care to see this or is it just another case of Lucas screwing around too much with the franchise? [Comingsoon via io9 via Wired]

Microsoft is going to debut its spherical multi-touch Surface next week at its annual Research Faculty Summit. We're pretty curious about what you can do with a big ball of multi-touch (and wondering about the little things—is it a perfect sphere? How are you supposed to hold it? Is it like a globe?). They pulled references to it off the exhibit list (to keep it a surprise, probably), but it's still very much on the floor display map, as you can see. We're stoked. [Mary-Jo Foley]

While some of us at Giz actually have better reception with the iPhone 3G than before, that's not the story raging in Apple's support forums, where few or no bars is the order of the day—and not just in the US, but worldwide, apparently. For AT&T's part, they're redeploying a bunch of 850MHz spectrum (which penetrates indoors better) for 3G service through the end of the year, so it should get a little better, at least. In the meantime, how's your reception? [Apple]

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It's been a while since Solid Alliance charmed us with their food-shaped USB drives, but Brando's shot back with edible-looking disks of their own. At our count, there's chicken, hot wings, a slab of pork, a pizza slice, a burger, a watermelon slice, a strawberry, cookies and biscuits—all lifelike enough that your kid would accidentally put it in his mouth. Best of all, these hold 4GB worth of junk and cost only $28. Has anyone made a bacon USB drive yet? Huge gallery after the jump.

[Pizza]
[Meat]
[Fruit]
[Cookies]

Unwired View just dug through several of Samsung's patents to get at what the types of form factors possibly rolling out of their trough in the near future. They're all weird.

There's sliders three keyboard pieces that form together to make one Voltron keyboard, one that has a dual-screen clamshell (which we've seen before in other people's patents), one with OLED hard-keys that change displays depending on where you are (think Optimus) and one with a display that stretches from normal size to King Kong/Naomi Watts/weird bestiality theme size. We're not sure how these will actually play out on phones, but it's good that Samsung's not standing still. [Unwired View]

NASA's getting set to launch the NanoSail-D next week, its first solar-sail powered spacecraft which catches photons like wind on a 10 square-meter sail made of a thin metallic polymer. The craft uses a crazy Rube Goldberg-like method to deploy the sail that involves burning fishing line at critical moments to release the spring-loaded sail, which is getting shown off in the video here.

It is hoped that sails many times larger (we're talking football fields) will eventually propel long-range missions into deep space, with the help of lasers here on Earth firing light into their sails. The NanoSail-D is sticking in near-Earth orbit to perform its tests, which will inform later uses of the tech.

One caveat is that the launch is scheduled for July 29 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket, which like to go ka-boom and have yet to deliver a payload into orbit successfully. Our fingers are crossed for the little sailor. [Technology Review]

Saving a little extra money on your next power bill is as easy as unplugging your power cables now and then. After all, those greedy gadgets keep sucking power from the grid even when not in use. Designer Paulo Oh has come up with an extremely simple solution to this problem with an outlet that includes hangers for your plugs. Naturally, this little feature means that you don't have to deal with cords lying all willy-nilly on the floor. It is only a concept at this point, but with this whole power conservation thing catching on, I wouldn't be surprised to see something similar available in the near future. [Yanko via Ubergizmo]

The M.A.D. Gamepad is a mini USB gamepad that features an even minier steering wheel. We're not sure it's the most practical, ergonomic gamepad we've ever seen, but we sure admire the effort and, we'll be honest, the ludicrousness. Here's what just the wheel looks like:

Actually, with the USB port right on the back, this wheel could make for a pretty snazzy DIY add-on to existing hardware. If only it were mini USB, the modders could really have some fun. Pick yours up for $20. [Brando]

A Japanese company named Ymup is set to unveil what is being touted as the world's first oxygen generating backpack. The generator itself is battery powered and should give climbers about 2 hours of O2 at a 30% concentration. It can even be operated via remote control should you need to remove your gear to negotiate a tight space. I don't think that the Ymup backpack is ready for an Everest expedition just yet, but it could be extremely useful for less extreme climbs (especially if a solar panel was added down the line). The Ymup is set to be released on July 31st with price-points ranging from $880 to $1,150. [Ymup via Crave via Ubergizmo via Crunchgear]