Many years from now when Tricorders are common place, we just might look back on October 30th 2009 as the birth of the first real tricorder. While the iPhone currently has motion, sound, light, location, radio wave and distance sensors, Jing Li a physical scientist, along with several other researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California developed a working prototype of a harmful gas detector for the iPhone.

The team, working under the Cell-All program in the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, created a small stamp sized detector to be plugged in to an iPhone to “collect, process and transmit sensor data.” The sensor can detect and identify low concentrations of airborne ammonia, chlorine gas and methane.

[Via NASA]

The force runs strong with these chopsticks! While these have been available at the Panda Express in Mos Eisley for “a long time” now, they are now coming to earth. Available in Jedi Blue and Green as well as Sith Red. You can find them for approximately 10,000 credits [$10 US-Earth]. If you can read Japanese, you can order them now from Amazon.com.

[Via Japan Star Wars]

Kodachrome is gone forever, digital cameras are out numbering film cameras and good luck trying to find a FotoMat. Photographers can still have a little “old school” reminder on their desks with this Film Canister Clock. The clock is 208mm x 172mm x 96mm and includes an AC power adaptor.

[Via Gadget4all.com]

Vonage announced today that “Apple approved its mobile application for iPhone and iPod Touch. Vonage is currently conducting a beta test and general availability will be announced at a later date.” This post will be updated as more information becomes available.

TomTom, a major player in the GPS market who’s software is the closest thing we have to an Apple produced GPS, has finally delivered on their Macworld promise and released TomTom for the iPhone. Starting with New Zealand, Australia, North America and Western Europe you can now order the software fro, the iTunes store. Keep in mind that this does not include the announced TomTom iPhone car kit, which is rumored to be bundled with the mapping software, that mounts and charges your iPhone 3G or 3GS while enhancing its GPS performance. performance, speaker, and microphone.

[via the iTunes Store]