Jet packs, army tech and Victorian gadgets

The British Library in London is playing host to an exhibition of gadgets and technology from the Victorian era and early 20th century.

This is a self pouring teapot in action. It works by pushing down the lid to create a vacuum, which then forces tea out of the spout.

Take a trip through history here.

Photo credit: Tim Ferguson

See the technology that gave birth to the internet - packet switching.

Forty years after packet switching was invented, silicon.com took a wander through the history of its birthplace: the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Bushy Park, Middlesex.

This is the Pilot Ace computer at NPL in 1950: one of the first modern computers in the world and the first in London.

Delve deeper into packet switching here.

Photo credit: NPL

silicon.com explored the best gadgets to pack in your suitcase in its top five summer gadgets feature.

This Sony Reader promises to improve the breadth of holiday reading by packing in 160 e-books at a time and uses an e-ink technology to produce a text- and paper-like effect that can be read even in bright sunlight.

Dive into the selection of gadgety goodness here.

Photo credit: Sony

RIM unveiled its latest addition to the BlackBerry line-up with the Bold. The device is due to arrive in the UK in September, squaring up to Apple's iPhone and vying to be the enterprise's gadget of choice.

Feast your eyes on more BlackBerry boldness.

Photo credit: RIM

The digital forensics unit of the Serious Fraud Office showed silicon.com how it sniffs out incriminating evidence from crime scenes.

Armed with laptops and suitcases containing specialist forensic tools the 21-strong team can swiftly capture information from nearly any device - from laptops to mobile phones and PCs to games consoles.

Uncover the truth about digital forensics here.

Photo credit: Nick Heath

This is the new Latitude family of ultra-portable laptops from Dell, which the company claims are the lightest in history.

Get the lowdown on the Latitude here.

Photo credit: Dell

The UK Ministry of Defence's Watchkeeper programme is aiming to develop an unmanned 'spy in the sky' plane that will provide the armed forces with vital intelligence and surveillance capability by 2010.

A ground crew of just two is required to operate the Watchkeeper unmanned air vehicle.

Take a peek at the future of espionage here.

Photo credit: Thales

Lenovo unveiled its new IdeaPad S9 and S10 that will be available from early October.

The models allow users to surf the internet, check and write emails, listen to music and run basic applications.

Indulge your taste for more slimline computers here.

Photo credit: Lenovo

The top 10 iPhone apps were laid bare in an exhaustive exploration of the best apps.

Here is the Vicinity app that takes advantage of the GPS chip inside the new 3G iPhone.

See more iPhone apps here.

Photo credit: Seb Janacek

Fancy a Webcam Missile Launcher or maybe a portable dance mat? Then you need to explore this weird and wonderful collection of USB gadgets.

Photo credit: Dream Cheeky

Nokia has added a new line in luxury to its 8800 Arte series of fashion phones, announcing Carbon Arte - a mobile made of carbon fibre, titanium, polished glass and stainless steel.

It describes carbon fibre as "an ultra-light and strong material that expresses a woven pattern that is both high-tech and sensuous".

Indulge your passion for cutting edge phone fashion here.

Photo credit: Nokia

The Proton Breeze M rocket has successfully launched the third Inmarsat-4 (I-4) satellite, which weighs more than six tonnes and is the size of a London double-decker bus.

This satellite (pictured here during integration) will increase Inmarsat's global mobile satellite comms coverage from 98 per cent to complete coverage of the world's population, servicing industries including shipping, oil, defence, aviation and the media.

Ascend into the stratosphere with more satellite pictures here.

Photo credit: Inmarsat

The MoD announced the winner of its Grand Challenge competition to produce a vehicle capable of identifying threats encountered by UK troops on current operations.

Team Stellar beat off six other hopefuls, whittled down from an original field of 23, in the final competition set in Copehill Down, a military training facility on Salisbury Plain.

Here is Stellar's Saturn Unmanned Ground Vehicle working with two other types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to gather data about the battlefield from a variety of perspectives.

Take to Salisbury Plain with more MoD contenders here.

Photo credit: Ministry of Defence

With its inspiration coming from the One Laptop Per Child initiative, Intel has teamed up with Zoostorm to launch a budget laptop for school kids in the UK.

It is based on the second generation Intel Classmate PC and goes by the name of the Fizzbook. It includes a fully functioning Windows XP operating system and comes with the Intel Atom chip processor.

Find out more about what the cool kids are using here.

Photo credit: Zoostorm

Microsoft has released the second beta edition of its upcoming Internet Explorer 8 browser.

While Microsoft is still playing catch-up with Opera, Safari and Firefox, its latest browser offers a few unique features of its own. The final version of the IE8 browser will be released in November.

Check out more from the browser here.

Photo credit: Microsoft

Mobile maker HTC has added to its smart phone line-up with the HTC S740 - a Windows Mobile 6.1 device with HSDPA and GPS, aimed squarely at heaving messaging users.

The phone has a 2.4-inch screen, with the device itself measuring 116.3mm x 43.4mm x 16.3mm.

See if the new HTC handset pushes your buttons with more pictures here.

Photo credit: HTC

US smart phone maker Palm has launched the latest iteration of its Treo handset, the Palm Treo Pro.

The device runs the latest version of Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS - 6.1. Get to grips with the device here.

Photo credit: Palm