The lasers detect CCDs, or charge-coupled devices, which are used in most (but not all; CMOS chips are also around) photoelectric sensors. Guards can activate the lasers when they spot any suspicious glint of a camera's lens, which will then shoot a bright, focused light directly at the camera, ruining any photography.

Predictably, paparazzi (the only Italian plural I know, embarrassingly Looks like I don't know any Italian, and will never pretend to know even a single word again) are angry about the laser shield, whining that:

Intermeddling with goods belonging to someone else, or altering their condition, is a trespass to goods and will entitle the photographer to claim compensation without having to prove loss.

It might be kind of a lost cause, since it's awfully hard to hide a 557-foot boat at all times without, like, sinking it, but anything that involves lasers shooting at paparazzi sounds pretty good to me. [Wired]

The new aircraft hired from JetLite will take off at 3:30 in the morning for the Delhi to Delhi 4hr 20min flight. The aircraft will intercept the eclipse shadow at midpoint at 6.26 am IST near Gaya and give around a 3-minute long eclipse view at an altitude of 41,000 feet.

Now, I'm sure the views are going to be unbelievable. But what's hilarious is that only people on one side of the plane will get that view, and those seats will obviously cost more. The people on the other side? Well, they'll have an opportunity to take pictures of the shadow on the Earth's surface. That hardly seems worth it to me. Who's going to only do this halfway?

In any case, tickets range from $600 to $1,600 and the flight will take place on Wednesday, July 22, if you're interested. [Eclipse Chasers via BornRich]

The launch bests the lavish $350 million Dubai that set sail from, yes, Dubai. At 551-ft. in length, the Dubai had been the longest yacht in the world. The Eclipse also cost a cool $350 mil to complete, but it comes with a host of modern extras and a decidedly un-tacky interior so we're giving it the edge not only on length, but in the taste department as well.

Take for example the missile defense system that allows the crew to jam incoming pirate missiles. Or, perhaps you'll consider the secret underwater submarine entrance, perfect for James Bond style escapes—just watch out for those underwater knife fights!

Then there's the two heli-pads, pool with surrounding Havana bars, cinema, library, restaurant, private garden and a 5,000-sq.-ft. master bedroom, the latter of which had me feeling pretty stupid about all the bragging I did last night regarding what I pay for my new "spacious one bedroom apartment." [Morgan Post via Born Rich]

The Eclipse, so named because Abramovich desires that it overshadow all other boats at sea, also includes an escape submarine, just in case pirates or other rapscallions make it on board. The submarine seats two, so Abramovich and his gorgeous girlfriend Daria Zhukova, 26, can make a hasty flight to safer waters (or go down to 160 ft. deep) while his hired guns secure the decks.

Abramovich's Eclipse will also have room for 24 guests, a cinema, aquarium, disco and a hospital. But no weapons—under maritime law, private vessels are banned from carrying them. Hence, the yellow submarine action and missile defenses that border on paranoia. [The Daily Mail]

World War Two vet Levchenko built the scope from scratch with his bare hands in the 70s—the rickety tower, the assemblies for the 16-inch lens, everything. Since his death in 2002, neighbors have had to fend off scrap metal collectors and salvagers from wrecking the thing as it lay dormant next to Levchenko's cabbage field. Since western Siberia will be a prime viewing spot for the eclipse in August, neighbors are hoping to restore it in time. Best of luck, as anything that can pry a bottle out of an old Russian drunk's hands has got to be pretty damn impressive. [Reuters]

• After Warner's announcement, HD DVD won't be attending CES this week, a fact that only looks worse after they put their logo on the press bags. Adding insult to HD DVD's injury, New Line Cinema also joined the Blu-ray exclusive crew.

• WowWee showed us three robots aiming to attack AIBOs, Robosapiens and autonomous helicopters everywhere. The only thing missing was a robot to bring us beer. Luckily, Inter Active Toy covered that with the RC Cooler.

• Other good finds included the Celestron SkyScout Scope, Cobra's OLED radar detectors, and an in-dash CD player for audiophiles. On the GPS front, Magellan's 5340 with built-in Google local search and Garmin's 880 with voice recognition stood out the most. Finally, Logitech unveiled a whole bunch of stuff, including a networked music player, a sleek set of speakers, and an IR remote with capacitive touch.

So far, so good, CES. We'll be looking forward to the press conferences today, and the floor opening on Monday. Until then, keep up with all of our CES 2008 coverage to date.

It's USB and Bluetooth-friendly, storing six Bluetooth presets that are sure to accommodate every gadget you carry. Just like fancy schmancy cables, all the connectors are gold plated, and there's even high-voltage/low impedance 24-bit D-to-A converters. Sounds like some serious audio guff. [Eclipse]

The workspace includes integrated speakers, a wireless recharging mat for your electronics, and a wireless camera/projector built into the hood for teleconferencing. Another cool thing is that the hood can be lowered and optional contoured furniture can be arranged to fit against the Eclipse system. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go shave and prepare my resume in anticipation of these things. [Yanko Design]

–Brian Lam

Eclipse [Eclipse]

This makes us wonder. Are people actually interested in higher megapixel counts, more memory, more connectivity, more media playback, and more everything in their phones? Or do they only want one like this, simple and for phone-use only? What's your reasoning for each?

For us, we'd like as many features as you can cram into a package. Damn the torpedoes—and battery life.

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Product Page [Via Gearlog]

In addition to the lighting, the 'board comes with four large rubber feet so it doesn't go sliding, and an integrated wrist-rest for carpal-tunnel prevention. Available now for $70. It should hold you over until the Microsoft Ultimate Keyboard is released. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Saitek via Gearlog]

You gotta love that bullet shape, too, which looks like the classic Shure 520D green bullet microphone that s a favorite of blues harmonica players everywhere. The speaker s shape is intended to offer greater rigidity, reducing the amount of sound-spoiling resonance. They re $1048 for a pair, but don't forget to add a nice, powerful sub.

Eclipse TD508II Time Domain speakers [Tech Digest]