Designed by Frenchman Charles Teyssier, the "Caffe Inn" concept is purely aesthetic, offering little in the way of improvements on the tried and true espresso machine formula. It does, however, remind me of Iron Man, and that's enough. [Design Blog]

The full suit comes in three sizes, with the largest weighing 50lbs (though it seems you don't notice that when you're wearing it). It now looks like single and two leg versions will rent for about $1570 and $2300 per month.

Despite the tests, Cyberdyne still won't say when the HAL suit will reach the greater public. Check out the vid, the future looks super strange. [HPlus Magazine]

Older video showing the suit can help users lift up to 10x the weight they normally could:

That bad guy is creepy—like a cross between M. Bison and this dude I saw on the cover of an anime in Blockbuster when I was 5 and gave me nightmares for a while and Guyver.

The show's for the Japanese market by the animation giant Madhouse, so except for Iron Man looking like Iron Man and beating ass, it won't be a whole lot like the all-American Iron Man we know. Still, I seriously hope they consider re-importing it so I don't have to download fansubs.

But uh, don't <a href="even ask what they're doing to Wolverine. It's just better that way. [Topless Robot via Technabob]

Robert Downey Jr. appears to be taking a break here, wearing only the top half of the suit, but it's still cool to see how he actually gets the thing on in a candid shot from the set. [People via Ain't It Cool News]

Director Jon Favreau says that Iron Man 2 will take place six months after Tony Stark tells the world that he's Iron Man, and they want "play with idea" of a superhero who's open about his identity. "But it obviously has consequences-in his relationships, on the team. There are a lot of areas we can explore." Yes, like what if all of his suits got together and formed a dance troupe?

In the photo we see the original suit used to break out of his hellish imprisonment, his Mark II armor and two sets of the Mark III—the old and busted one from fighting Iron Monger and a brighter, shinier one that's all cleaned up. I know I've still got Terminator, Star Trek and Harry Potter and Transformers this summer, but I want Iron Man 2 to come out now. [USA Today]

The Pre-likeness goes beyond the shape and style of the slider—the front panel is touch-sensitive too. Besides that it's got 3G, Wi-Fi, a high-res camera and a "screamin' CPU." Okay, I'm starting to the like the idea of Android running on this a bit more. And besides, given Tony Stark's fondness for dinky LG handsets in the movie, maybe he would use this. What kind of phone do you think Tony would use, anyway? [Boy Genius]

[Thanks Karl]

There aren't a whole lot of movies from this crop that astound us, so these three capture the landscape of 2008's special effects fairly well. Which one should win? [Oscar]

And a second bonus poll.

The trades are powering up the speculation, regarding Jon Favreau’s next Iron Man installation. Rumors have it Mickey Rourke is on board to play the Crimson Dynamo (which has been reported as a character in supposed casting calls). Which would mean get ready to see Rourke power armor clad beating the crap out of Iron Man.

The Hollywood Reporter says they've heard rumors that Rourke could also be up for the role of Whiplash, but many entertainment sites are standing by the Dynamo reporting.

Sam Rockwell is rumored to be portraying Justin Hammer, the bazillionaire rival of Tony Stark. Similar to Stark, Hammer is a genius and has his fingers in hundreds of gadgety pies. So he's smart, rich and well equipped, just like Tony, but he makes his money from criminals.

[Variety]

• Repulsor Air - Blows air with CO2 air pump on hip and hose back to his hand.
• Repulsor Missile - Using CO2 air pump can also launch a paper missile.
• Repulsor Sensor/Light - A magnetic switch sensor lights his repulsor hand light and fades out and in his glowing eyes. Arduino handles this effect.
• Repulsor Sound Effect(s) - Originally not working. Worked around problem by using right-mouse, middle-mouse button and configured Elightenment17 to playback sound effects using Mplayer script. Mouse buttons activated by Arduino Digital output triggered by sensors.
• Arc Reactor - A LED night light from Costco embedded in his chest.
• BeagleBoard: Powerful Computer - With BeagleBoard already running in JARVUS box on my son's back need to add other features. Possibilities: Web cam, mobile router with hotspot and a head-mounted display, VoIP, streaming video of Iron Man view.
• Arduino: Super Input/Output Board - Handles repulsor effects but can add other sensors to enable even cooler special effects!!

And in the off chance that the LED arc reactor ever fails, we hear the suit is powered by backup generators that run on pure adorableness. [Nice job Enrique!]

To get a look at Kill Bill and The Bourne Ultimatum, head on over to Antrepo's site. [Antrepo via TrendsNow]

More seriously, the rush to download Iron Man BD-Live content from Paramount left many consumers completely unable to download the content contained on Paramount's servers. The standstills got so bad that the hapless Paramount was forced to issue a statement on the server snafu:

"The Iron Man Blu-ray went on sale Tuesday and due to the overwhelming popularity of the release an unprecedented demand was placed on the BD-Live connection. The disc represents a truly state-of-the art Blu-ray presentation with a first of its kind BD-Live application. As such, the heavy amount of traffic strained the servers due to so many people heading to the same destination.

The bandwidth capacity was increased in preparation for the release but the demand exceeded all expectations so capacity was expanded dramatically last night and local servers were established worldwide to accommodate all the fans. The issue should be completely resolved but if anyone experiences a brief traffic jam, we have provided consumers with a menu option during disc startup that allows them to go directly to the movie main menu or continue to download the BD-Live features."

I suppose this is one of those "good problems to have," because it shows the popularity of the title (and Blu-ray? Maybe?), while at the same time "educating" Paramount on what not to do with the sequel. Or maybe it's just a straight up problem—you decide. [High Def Digest]

*My editor mandated that I throw "bitches" on the end of this post. I think it was a good call. [Format War Central]

Reigning movie marathoner Ashish Sharma claims he will retain the title for India, but he's a little cocky since he only stole that title in June from Germany's Claudia Wavra, a three-time champ in her own right.

Suresh Joachim has a Heroes-sounding name and with good reason: He's got 32 damn Guinness World Records, including TV watching, dancing, DJing and ironing clothes.

Other contenders (with maybe less of a shot) include 2003 continuous-movie-watching contender Cheryl Jones, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire champ (but non-millionaire) Jeff Jones and film lover and competitive eating champion Crazy Legs Conti.

While I am genuinely excited for these couch-bound sojourners, I am a little leery of the film choices. First they saw Iron Man, then Best in Show and then Ghostbusters, great. But by now they're probably midway through The English Patient. WHAT? Is there a rule that says some movies have to deliberately try to put them to sleep? Going to romantic tragic period piece this early is a bad sign, especially if that's it for the superhero, mockumentary and supernatural action-comedy genres. I will pray for you people—pray for some Batman. [Gothamist; Netflix]

Target also goes the Iron Man trophy head route, though it just has the Ultimate 2-Disc Edition, in both DVD and Blu flavors, inside.

FYE and Suncoast deliver the Ultimate 2-Disc Edition in a superclassy steelbook case that I really, really like.

Walmart waltzes in with not one, but two exclusives, though only the first one matters to you: Ultimate 2-Disc edition with an exclusive Nick Fury comic. The other packs the first ep of the Iron Man animated series in with the single disc edition of the movie.

Costco's gift set throws in a bobblehead of each Iron Man suit from the movie. Feh for bobbleheads.

Borders rolls with a collectible book loaded with sketches and the top 24 Iron Man comic covers.

Circuit City gives you access to some exclusive Marvel Digital comics, snore.

Kmart and Sears are knocking five bucks off the Ultimate Edition if you buy $25 in Craftsman tools. I'm...not really sure what's going on there either.

Which version are you going to pluck from this overloaded orgy of marketing? This "exclusive" crap—and most of it is crap—has really gotten out of hand. Update Best Buy is just selling the bust, the DVDs aren't in it, as some of you guys pointed out.

On September 30th, Paramount Home Entertainment will release the critically acclaimed box office smash IRON MAN: 2-DISC ULTIMATE EDITION on DVD and Blu-ray!

With this release comes EIGHT fantastic retail exclusives! Below, you will find details and article work on these eight exciting, exclusive offers!

Here are the details for these Eight Exciting Retail Exclusives:

**Circuit City - Access to exclusive Marvel Digital Comics featuring the artwork of Adi Granov.

**Best Buy - Custom Lithograph created by Marvel artist Gerald Parel.

**Target - Target Deluxe Edition includes exclusive Mark III mask packaging. Available on both the Ultimate 2-Disc Edition and 2-Disc Blu-ray.

**Costco - Giftset includes the Ultimate 2 Disc Edition DVD and 3 Iron Man Bobbleheads, with all 3 Iron Man suits from the film. Giftset includes the "Battle Damaged Mark II", available exclusively in this giftset at Costco.

**Walmart - Two exclusive SKUs. Ultimate 2 Disc Edition packed with an exclusive comic book chronicling the Nick Fury story. The single disc giftset is packed with the 1st episode of the new Iron Man animated series.

**Kmart & Sears - Save $5 on the Ultimate 2 Disc edition with any $25 Craftsman purchase.

**Trans World - FYE and Suncoast Exclusive Steelbook Package available on the Ultimate 2- disc Edition. (pictured above, left)

**Borders - On pack collectible book featuring original sketches by Bob Layton and the top 24 comic cover of Iron Man.

[Paramount]