The article 14 of the ISS agreement says: "The Space Station together with its additions of evolutionary capability will remain a civil station, and its operation and utilization will be for peaceful purposes, in accordance with international law."

According to Russia, the photos were taken to "support potential humanitarian activities in the area, including serious water resource management issues" as part of the Russian "Uragan" project, which studies glaciers and water sources in the country. However, I don't remember all those tanks with reactive armor participating in any humanitarian activities in the area two days after the invasion, the day the photos were taken.

The whole thing smells quite fishy, but apparently NASA has preferred to avoid confrontation and not investigate the matter. Put your conspiracy hats on and give us your explanation in the comments. [Aviation Week]

The 6-D project is headed by Ramesh Raskar, who together with his MIT colleagues created the display using nothing but a series of lenses and screens. The prototype is due out at this week's annual SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques) conference, but here's a few teaser details to tide you over until the unveiling on August 11:

By using an array of tiny square lenses instead of the linear ones, [those inexpensive postcard 3-D images] can also be made to change as you change the viewing angle up or down - making a "4-D" image. This reveals different views with horizontal as well as vertical movement of the viewer. The new "lighting aware" [6-D] system adds additional layers of lenses and screens to add two more dimensions of change. The image that is seen is then not only based on the position of the viewer, but also on the direction of the illumination.

Now the good news is this device will be on display in a raw, low resolution form next week. The bad news? A working, high res model, with all its interactive, true hologram goodness, is some 10 years away. My Princess Leia rescue fantasies will have to wait another decade, it would seem. [MIT]

The scale, developed by the German Fraunhofer Institute, works by snapping an image of the fruit or vegetable in question and comparing it to a produce database. If you're one of the Earth-hating people who needs their fruit wrapped in plastic bags, don't worry, because the scale's image processing can see through them. It can even differentiate between various pieces of fruit that are at different stages of ripeness (yellow versus green bananas, for example).

The 300 or so scales in the field now are being tested in Europe, with US plans taking shape for the near future. [I4U via OhGizmo]

...like a robot exploded in there, its silver blood splattered with Pollockian imprecision. [Wacky Archives via MAKE]

The electrode in the pic above was attached to a rotating apex, once turned on, the revolving surface was fed by an electricity supply, which gave rise to the effect above via a multiplier. Using various photography techniques, the images above were captured. Disconcertingly, the hot electrode was quite close to the user's face, maintaining a constant distance away by only a few centimeters. We have to ask; when will this madness stop? Electrocution is not cool. [Tesladownunder]

Steampunkish? You bet. Still, I bet he can kick Hulk's ass. At least for two minutes. Iron Monger, un cappuccino, prego? [io9 and Toysrevil]

The look of the alleged store appears to be very similar to installer.app, and why not? It sure as hell works. Strangely, the applications already had a shed load of user ratings, but if this is part of Apple's testing routine, that fact is probably not too out of place. What do you, the discriminating public make of it all? [Monsterandfriends via Modmyifone]

Sure, DSC00001.jpg is not necessarily the first picture; you can reset some digi-cams so they start numbering at the beginning again, but for the most part, most people don't bother to do that. So take a look at this Google search, and you'll notice there is a certain over-representation here. Better be careful, the results may not be safe for work. Well, unless you have Safe Search on. [BlogStorm]

The cool kids are getting into custom-design furniture, like Vuunlimited's Loft Collection coffee table. Since it comes with a printed acrylic top, Vu encourages you to choose one of its soothing nature shots, or send in your own digital image. Might we suggest your mom, your girlfriend or KITT from Knight Rider? If you're going for a self portrait, remember to think like a Third World dictator. Choose a stately image, one you won't mind staring at every day as you make those important decisions like what to eat and who to kill. – Wilson Rothman

Product Page [Vuunlimited via MoCo Loco]

Jump to see another sexy picture (hint: it is of the ass).

– Travis Hudson

Nikon D40 [Livingroom]

It's a remarkable image, and a tribute to the human brain which is acutely attuned to the shape of faces. Let's face it, we see them everywhere—in clouds, pieces of toast, on the sides of water tanks, on Mars, and indeed, in satellite images. – Charlie White

Huge Native American face on Google Earth [Dark Vision Hardware]

Unfortunately, many of my digital images end up looking more like this picture than I'd like to admit, so it was with a happy heart that I read about a new technology that could refocus photos after they've been taken. A team at Stanford University are claiming to have figured out how to adjust the rays of light after they've reached the camera, thereby letting us make blurry, nasty images look good as new. To do this, they inserted a sheet of 90,000 lenses between a cameras main lens and its image sensor. The angle and the amount of the rays of light are then recorded, letting software adjust them, basically reconstructing the image to what it would have looked like if properly focused. Not a bad deal. Now how can we convince the camera manufacturers to get on board?

Shoot a picture first, focus later [New Scientist]