FORD’S VERTREK CONCEPT PREVIEWS NEXT ESCAPE

Dubbed Vertrek, the small crossover utility vehicle is based on Ford’s European kinetic design language, although the automaker says it offers the off road capability, cargo space and trailer towing features necessary for buyers in the United States. Hit read more for details and videos!

Misa Digital Kitara - Digital Guitar? (Video)

Ambidextrous, capacitive, programmable, open source, five simultaneous touch inputs. The Misa Digital Kitara has quite the laundry list of goodies to boast about. The first thing that strikes you about this guitar-shaped synthesizer is its weight distribution -- it's no heavier than a good electric guitar, but a lot more of that weight is contained within its neck -- and the second will inevitably be its lightning-quick response to touch. Misa tells us latency is less than 5 milliseconds and it felt like it. Hit read more for details.

LG LSM-100 Scanner Mouse

We found this multifaceted gizmo at CES that LG is dubbing the Scanner Mouse. It does exactly what you think -- works as a mouse and scanner. You might recall something similar from back in the day, but LG is looking to commercialize the idea. The bottom of the rodent has a clear (glass or plastic sheet, we're not sure) packed with five LEDs for the camera to see the image being reflected off of the mirror inside. To kickstart the scanning process on a Widows or Mac machine, you simply press the scan button and huzzah -- the software will activate and display the area the scanner is hovering over. Hit read more for details and a video.

Nokia X7 press shot emerges with AT&T branding

According toPocketnow's sources, the first press images of the Nokia X7 are legitimate, and the AT&T branding isn't by accident. Purportedly, the Symbian^3-based phone will be hitting shops as early as this month, bringing along an eight megapixel camera (with dual-flash), four speaker grilles (two of which have drivers underneath) and a ClearBlack display.

Update: Our dreams have been dashed by Pocketnow, who says its original source was out of date -- AT&T had apparently planned to stock the X7 under the name "Nokia Journey" in time for a Mobile World Congress launch, but those plans have reportedly been canceled by AT&T itself.

BlackBerry Storm 3 shows up again, tracking for September launch?

RIM's mythical BlackBerry Storm 3 is one of those products that shows up every few months with just enough new information to have you believing that it's real and it's eventually coming before slithering back into the night, going totally radio-silent for another month or two. We've no doubt that the phone is real at this point, but considering the lukewarm reception the Storm 2 got, we're surprised RIM hasn't pushed harder to get the updated device to market -- only thing we can figure is that the carrier partners keep sending it back for tweaks. Speaking of tweaks, BGR says that we can expect a phone with a 1.2GHz processor (same as the alleged Torch 2) along with a 3.7-inch WVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, dual-band WiFi with UMA support, mobile hotspot capability, and BlackBerry OS 6.1. Word has it there will be at least two versions released around the globe -- codenamed Monaca and Monza -- and it's on track for a September release. That's all well and good, though these specs aren't going to blow anyone away as we approach Q4 '11.