The iPhone OS 2.2 is taking shape at a good rhythm. The user interface is being refined and development of new features keeps going on steady. While I'm sure most of us can only think "copy and paste! copy and paste! copy and paste!" and increased speed and reliability, there are a few new things that we would definitely like to have as soon as possible:

Walking directions
Having just arrived to New York, I would definitely use this feature more than anything else. This would make Maps a lot more useful for all pedestrians, who can make a better use of the iPhone hardware than drivers.

Public transport information
Another great feature specially for big cities. I wish they could invest more on this, like connecting to status servers of public transport networks. That would actually make it perfect for commuters.

Street View
This will allow you to see any location in Google Maps that has Street Views, which is useful to get familiar with unknown places and for those people who are map-reading impaired.

Share location
If you are in the Maps application, you can share a location by just clicking a button, which will send an email with the URL to see the address in Maps. It's not actual real-time location sharing (and very low tech) but since we don't have any kind of copy and paste, it's better than nothing. Other than actually talking on the phone, that is.

Line-In sound access for developers
Apparently, the new OS update allows developers to have access to the sound part of the iPhone hardware. This opens the door for better microphones or high quality voice recognition.

Over-the-air podcast updates
This one will make TV and radio lovers happy, as many programs would be available from anywhere rather than having to connect to your computer every time you want to synchronize to get the lastest updates.

Japan will also get exclusive Emoji emoticons, as well as TV streaming support using a Wi-Fi accessory. [iPhone Hellas, MacRumors, Apple Blog]

During these uncertain financial times, buying in bulk is a good way to save some extra cash. Whether you are looking for razorblades, TP or electric sports cars—Sam's Club has you covered. Their "Once-In-A-Lifetime Electric Super Car Package" includes Hybrid Technologies' new electric sports car with a top speed of 150 MPH, a 5 second 0-60 time and a range of 200 miles along with an invite to a race track in LA (with first-class airfare and accommodations) to put the car through its paces. Hybrid Technologies will even ship the car to your home free of charge after your racetrack experience. All you need is a Sam's Club membership (check), $100K to burn (damn), and be the first to complete the purchase online starting after 12 p.m. CST on November 12, 2008. [Sam's Club via Jalopnik]

Yeah, Best Buy is known for using less-than-kosher tactics to pull in extra loot, but this is pretty despicable, even for them, since it manipulates the fact that most people have heard you need to a calibrate an HDTV for the best picture. At a demo for their $300 Geek Squad calibration service in an NC store, they have two identical HDTVs showing ESPN—one calibrated, which looks fantastic, and one that's supposedly not, which looks like total ass. That would be because it's showing standard def ESPN next to the "calibrated" set's ESPN HD. But it's even worse than that.

Besides using a promotional sign to cover up the standard ESPN's logo (which would make it obvious it's not ESPN HD), an employee actually told Consumerist reader that "the difference was strictly because of their color calibration." When pressed further, he admitted that they even made the standard def picture look even crappier by stretching it out. Really, really abhorrent.

Home Entertainment mag has a great guide on how to shop for an HDTV at a big box store to make sure you don't get screwed when looking for a killer deal amidst the smoldering ashes of the financiapocalypse. You can also check out how the pros evaluate HDTVs, so you know what to look for in a set's picture. [Consumerist]

A few gamers who purchased Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 encountered a problem with their installs—EA had misprinted some of the serial numbers needed for activation. While the necessary code was 20 characters long, they'd only printed 19-character codes.

No biggie. The logical solution is that EA supplies customers with new codes, which they're happy to do if you're willing to photograph your serial and email it in. Otherwise, they've offered the public what must be one of the saddest "workarounds" in DRM history:

There is currently a work around that may allow you to bypass this issue. Since you have the first 19 characters of the code already, you can basically try "guessing" the last character. To do this, simply enter your existing code, and then for the last character, try the letters A-Z, and then the numbers 0-9. You should eventually get the right combination, and be able to play the game.

In other words, try all 36 possible combinations and you'll get there soon enough. If you've been shorted the complete serial number, we'd recommend guessing all 1.33674945

Gizmodo is not endorsing a presidential candidate. Nearly everyone on staff agreed that it would be a bad idea, for a lot of valid reasons. Besides the fact that Gizmodo is seen by many as a means of escape from the the real world, we simply don't cover politics. Many on our staff felt that, even if we weighted our selection using just the candidates' statements on technology, we'd just be trivializing the truly pressing issues—the economy, the wars, national security, America's cultural divide and our standing in the international community, to toss out a handful. But I think you guys should know where at least one of us is coming from: Technology is political, because it's tightly intertwined with every major issue. If you don't grasp technology, you no longer understand the world. I'm voting for the guy who gets that.

I'm not suggesting you have to use Twitter—or know what Twitter is—to make sound judgments as a leader of the free world. It's not about being pro-net neutrality, either. These things are trivial. It's the long view—can someone who doesn't know how to read a newspaper online by himself truly comprehend just how connected the world is? (How can someone who can't read newspapers online function at all when they cease to be printed on paper?)

How can the techno-illiterate appreciate that technology is both the cause and the cure for our bruised economy, from the globally connected financial crises at hand to America's potential economic revitalization through a charge into green energy systems that spur innovation, create jobs and help to shatter our dependence on oil? Temporarily cheaper gas is a not a means to economics growth—and we will run out in our lifetime. US entrepreneurship is driven by technology and innovation, and it's key to maintaining our superpower status. A green energy—i.e., technology—economy would reboot all of that.

Technology constantly redefines the way we wage war, but it also aims to assuage the global food crisis. It will heal sick people who couldn't be cured before better. Hell, it's what will make flights finally arrive on time. The person at the wheel should know how to use a GPS—and Google, online newspapers, maybe even a smartphone.

That's a small list, but there's a big point. No, I'm not na

We've always been fans of the Dash Express, with its real-time web-delivered traffic monitoring and its constantly evolving app platform. Somewhat sad news today is that Dash Navigation will be pulling out of the consumer hardware business entirely and cutting 50 jobs (two-thirds of its work force)—enabling them to move toward licensing their innovative software platform to other GPS nav makers, as well as to cellphones and MID platforms in the future. But in a lot of ways, the move makes perfect sense.

The nav market is a tough one, and with the added economic difficulties, Dash feels it can do better work by focusing on their open-source OS, which they will then sell business-to-business. More important than the OS, which is fine but not fantastic, is the back end traffic mesh system. A Dash-powered mid-range Garmin nav sounds like a pretty appealing propect, and will help bring a Dash-like system to more people for less dough. New CEO Rob Currie also notes that the Dash's GPRS chip and 400MHz ARM processor are quickly being outpaced by even low-end mobiles, so a move toward adding Dash functionality to GPS-equipped smartphones sounds like a plan to me.

Dash is going to keep the Express back end running for existing owners, but no word on for how long; because these devices hold almost zero local data, once the service goes you will have yourself a nav that can't do much more than direct address routing. Dash friends, care to let us know how long we have? [GigaOM]

A Taiwanese professor by the name of Chungpin Hovering Liao has created what he believes is the world's first chlorophyll organic battery. Precisely how the battery works is a mystery, but the inventor claims that it can use any liquid (even urine) to generate a charge within 10 seconds. He also claims that the storage capacity is double that of Japan's water-powered fuel cells, but it only puts out half the power of a traditional battery. Still, it would only cost 3 to 6 cents to produce a single, completely biodegradable unit. Liao has patents pending on his chlorophyll batteries, although I don't think pee-powered portable gadgets will be arriving on store shelves anytime soon. [eTaiwan News via Ecofriend via CleanTechnica]

Sometimes, you just want to see an ugly girl in Bulgaria taking her clothes off for you in real time, but you aren't near a computer. Oh, cruel fate! If only there was a way to see a tiny, low-quality video of said ugly girl stripping on your iPhone! Well, good news (I guess): now there is. Yes, it's the first iPhone-only porn cam site.

Xgoes.mobi is definitely iPhone-only – it won't work on your computer's browser if you try it. What do you get when you go there and plunk down a membership fee? Access to a slew of cam feeds of both the single and couple variety, although mostly just single, sad girls on ugly bedspreads. The quality ain't great, and this is on WiFi. And if it's not worth it on WiFi, it's definitely not worth it on 3G. But hey, this is the only game in town for mobile cam feeds, so if you're the type of person who really gets your rocks off talking to a stripper on the internet in the back of a cab, your ship has come in. [Xgoes.mobi (iPhone only, NSFW) via Fleshbot (NSFW)]

We're sorry, fellow humans. As of last Halloween, our reign as supreme beings of the Earth has ended. Robots, cleverly disguised as our readers, documented the first stages of robotic upheaval. And to those with weak stomachs, we simply cannot recommend reading on.

Second Runner Up, Uyen Thai
We think the horror of this image speaks for itself.

First Runner Up, Jesse Clark
"After the Robots destroyed their homes, these humans have to huddle around old Macintoshes to keep warm. They live in consent fear that the Robot overlords will discover what they are doing with their ancestors."

Winner, Jeff Rames
Not the most original take on the theme, but these guys sent us a whole storyline worth of robotic brutality. We were promised there were more pictures if we needed them, but we passed because we assumed the inclusion of puppies and kittens.

More photos sent to us by readers: Thanks to everyone for participating. Jeff, write mark@giz to claim your prize!

Imagine being able to install a skylight into your gloomy, windowless office—even if it is located on the 10th floor of a 20 story building. One way to achieve this would be to install faux skylights with LED backlighting—but stationary images take away from the illusion. On the other hand, SkyV skylights utilize high definition LCD screens to accurately represent the great outdoors.

According to the Sky Factory:

The system includes multi-channel graphics processors and specialized synchronization software for display of its terabytes of proprietary HD content. SkyV simulates a real skylight, presenting hours of visual content captured from beneath beautiful skies and trees world-wide.

No pricing details have been released, but I wouldn't expect a custom job like this one to come cheap. However, it is certainly better than flipping out on your walls with an axe. Plus, you get to keep your job—which would make it cheaper in the long run. SkyV skylights are expected to be available for purchase in Q1 of 2009. [SkyV]