UPDATE: Autoplaying video tossed after the jump. Sorry about that.

[cracked]

The beauty of Flickr is its serendipity. I found Mr Perverso's oh-so-perverse materials by innocently typing "I love Jesus" into the search box. Usually I'm on the hunt for stuff at work such as "Treo unboxing," "broken iPhone" or "computer dungeon," which gets you some guy's basement server farm, screenshots of PC-based RPGs, and, for some reason, a shot of a dude's first computer, an Atari 800. But "dungeon", all by itself, gets you into much more trouble: French châteaux, a shackles-and-rubber-gasmask outfit attached to a cross, a girl in stripy socks and a picture that is so NSFW I will only tell you that the person whose stream it is has a blog devoted to the art of the blow-job.

The crazy thing is that, unlike some photo sites, Flickr uploads are public and searchable. Why are people so interested in sharing their most tender or outrageous or embarrassing moments with the world? My theory is that beyond friends-n-family photo sharing, many people on Flickr are amateur photographers and artists who want to show off what they can do, but beyond that there are the crazy cakes just dying to have themselves a bunch of virtual friends who will write a testimony like "April-May's deep-throat technique just has to be seen to be believed." And what keeps me coming back is that it's always changing. A search from one day to the next can yield totally different results.

Here are some quick fun tag safaris to illustrate the point:
• Taxidermist
• Foshizzle
• Space Pants or, better still, Spacepants
• Repossession - Note the Jude Law cameo
• Disco Biscuit
• Junk In the Trunk

I get a tingly sensation looking into the private lives of random people. Sure it's mostly mundane stuff—weddings, parties, vacations—but on occasions you can get a sudden rush of tenderness mixed with guilt, like when stumbling on these secret stolen moments of a couple of strangers at Glasto.

There's a knack to celebrity stalking on Flickr. Direct searches turn up eclectic results. Bill Gates brings up pictures of bananas, a subway escalator—even windows as opposed to Windows—before fielding a couple of shots of the actual software baron with Michael Arrington, with Steve and Walt, and, heh, with an iPhone. There was nothing at all interesting for either Clooney or Madonna. Hayden Panettiere turned up a few shots of the saved cheerleader licking things, if you're into that sort of stuff. Looking for particular celebs, it seems, is a waste of time; you've got to cast a wider net (like using the actual word "celebrity" in a search") and just see which A-Listers (or B-Listers or C-Listers) get caught.

All of sleb life is here, from A(niston) to (Jay-)Z. Look! It's Tara Reid and Tommy Lee hanging out in a bar. What they might lack in make-up they sure make up for in drunkenness. Here's a giant, beige John Goodman queuing up for some bar-b-que. It's Twisted Sister's Dee Snyder actually looking cool, and Keanu Reeves actually looking irritated. Kirk Hammet from Metallica seems to have taken the time and effort to have his shirt match the shopfront he was photographed outside of. Here's a great back-of-the-head shot of Paris Hilton and a wax model of Lady Di that I thought was a tranny lookalike.

You can actually play games with Flickr as well. Rather than going on individual tag safaris like the ones above, you can embark on a sort of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: How far can you get from one subject in six moves? I started off with Porkins, going via POTUS, Pewkus, Poker and Bummer before ending up back in Star Wars country (sort of), at Clones.

I've made some peculiar discoveries. For one, Konaboy, whose Spring Clean picture cropped up in about 60% of my searches, seems to be Flickr's Kevin Bacon. Another, Pisces Romance, showed me how to say "I wuv woo" with roses and sunsets. Best of all (especially Jesus), I found a recently-uploaded pic of—I'm guessing here—the upcoming series of Flight of the Conchords. It's Brett and Jermaine in roller-disco mood. Because, my little friends, on Flickr, it's always Business Time.

First, there's a 90-second time limit on all uploads. Needless to say, that's extremely low. Flickr acknowledges that it "might seem arbitrary." And it is. Whether or not it supports tighter editing or cleaner presentation, why 90? Why not 89? 60? The time limit might not be a bad thing, but it's certainly arbitrary.

And also to note: not everyone can upload videos. Pro users have the option, but standard users will need to spend some dough for the privilege.

A quick test finds that the service is no more difficult than uploading photos, and it's pretty quick to boot. Also, advanced embedding functions allow for users to choose their preferred width or height for the video and the service will calculate the dimensions and update the code accordingly. That sounds like a small touch. It is, but it's also a pretty good one lacking in just about all video on the web. [flickr video]

The Mac in question is a 2.2GHz MBP with an undisclosed amount of RAM installed. The user, Flickr member burnflare92, stated no slowdown was detected at all. I find that a little hard to believe, as mine lags a bit with a mere 20-plus apps running, even if it is a 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM MBP. What do you guys reckon: is zero lag with 150 apps running total BS? [Flickr]

Although the system will play all sorts of games, Eric only plays Ms. Pacman. "It hasn't yet translated into a better score," he says plaintively. [Flickr via MAKE]

There is also an S51 version, identical except for the lack of Wi-Fi. Both cameras feature 8.1 megapixel resolution, face priority, and vibration reduction. They will be priced at $329.95 and $279.95, respectively, when they launch in September.

According to a UK press release, the S51c will be available in silver and black, while the S51 will be available in silver, black, blue, brown, red and the vivid magenta shown here. However, the same document warns that not all colors will be available in all regions.

NIKON ANNOUNCES NEW WIRELESS COOLPIX S51C DIGITAL CAMERA AND MY PICTURETOWN, AN INNOVATIVE PHOTO SHARING AND STORAGE INTERNET SERVICE

New Wi-Fi Camera and Photo Sharing Service Will Allow Consumers to Access and Share Their Photos Anytime, Anywhere

MELVILLE, NY (August 30, 2007) - Furthering the development of wireless sharing technology in digital cameras, Nikon today introduced the new COOLPIX S51c digital camera. This camera not only sends images via email through Wi-Fi, but it also supports my Picturetown, Nikon's new photo sharing and storage service. In addition to an innovative Wi-Fi feature, the S51c boasts 8.1 megapixel resolution for generating high quality prints, a 3x Zoom-Nikkor glass lens ensuring great pictures with true-to-life color, and a huge, bright 3.0-inch LCD screen for users to easily compose and share images. The S51c is also the first in Nikon's Style line of COOLPIX cameras to utilize the new EXPEED™ image-processing system. To help ensure the consumer will be able to capture stunningly sharp images, the S51c features an Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) image stabilization system and ISO up to 1600, enhancing the camera's low-light performance.

"Not only does the S51c boast superior imaging abilities, but it also enhances the photo sharing experience for the consumer," said Bill Giordano, General Manager Marketing, COOLPIX for Nikon, Inc. "With the S51c and my Picturetown, consumers will be able to easily share and securely store their images, faster and more efficiently than ever before."

Across town or across the ocean, by using the S51c's One Touch Email with the Picture Mail button and Nikon's new photo sharing and storage service, my Picturetown, consumers can take advantage of several avenues for sharing their images and videos. Through my Picturetown, users can email pictures directly to friends and family, publish pictures to the photo community sharing website Flickr, and link their photos to blogs and social networking sites. Pictures can also be sent to the email addresses of a Blackberry® device for viewing. Each S51c ships with a six-month complimentary T-Mobile™ HotSpot™ Wi-Fi service for digital cameras, allowing the user to send images and videos to my Picturetown from over 8,200 T-Mobile™ HotSpots™ nationwide.

In addition, S51c owners can utilize my Picturetown to store up to 2 gigabytes of images and movies, providing a valuable back up to memory card storage. S51c users are also able to access my Picturetown from their computers and Blackberry® devices, providing instant access to their images anytime, anywhere.

Adding to the advanced sharing capabilities of these cameras, the S51c features a huge, bright, high resolution 3.0-inch LCD monitor with a 160-degree viewing angle and an anti-reflection coating facilitating easier composition and high-quality playback anywhere, even in direct sunlight.

Furthermore, the LCD monitor serves as an excellent platform for Pictmotion™, which allows users to select up to 200 images along with music that's pre-loaded, or from the user's library. The music and photos are then automatically compiled in-camera to produce audiovisual shows in VGA quality for a truly personalized photo-sharing experience.

For capturing great portraits with ease, Nikon has enhanced their hallmark Face-Priority AF feature. When using the camera's convenient One-Touch Portrait button, the S51c will be able to detect up to five faces in a frame, ensuring in- focus smiles and properly exposed faces. In addition to face detection, S51c users will be able to take advantage of In-Camera Red Eye Fix™, for fixing most instances of red eye, D-lighting, a feature that automatically lightens dark images as well as Optical Vibration Reduction, ensuring sharp pictures. This camera will also utilize EXPEED™, Nikon's new imaging processing system for enhanced speed and brilliant color reproduction.

In addition to the COOLPIX S51c, Nikon has also today introduced the COOLPIX S51. Similar in features and form, the S51 offers the same stylish body and advanced yet easy to use imaging technologies as the S51c without the wireless transfer capabilities.

Both the COOLPIX S51 and the COOLPIX S51c come bundled with Nikon's COOLPIX software suite for transferring, organizing, editing, and sharing images. The cameras utilize a rechargeable EN-El8 Li-ion battery and are compatible with a wide array of SD and SDHC memory cards.

The COOLPIX S51 and the COOLPIX S51c digital cameras will be available nationwide beginning September 2007. The S51c has an MSRP of $329.95, and the S51 has an MSRP of $279.95. For more information about these and other COOLPIX cameras, please visit www.nikonusa.com.

Then it was my turn... I walked to the front, where she had me raise my right hand to swear that I would tell the truth, whole truth & nothing but the truth. She asked if my name change was to defraud creditors, I said no. She asked if it would be detrimental to anyone else, I said no. She Then asked if I was indeed changing my middle name to that of my childhood hero, I smiled & said "Yes Ma'am." She said, "Then I do order & decree that your name be changed from Jason Michael Burrows to Jason Megatron Burrows" with a HUGE grin. There were quite a few chuckles from the courtroom... I was handed the paperwork & I split. =)

Not much other information is known, but could the Danger Zante actually be the Sidekick ID or perhaps the Sidekick X or is it a complete new phone from the Danger hounds? Who knows, but we'll let you know when we find out. –Travis Hudson

Danger Zante [Hiptop3]

Let's demonstrate to Richard (and one another) the vast creativity and diversity of the Gizmodo readership, posting hilarious, poignant, provocative or just plain dumb pictures for his (and our) amusement. You can download Slickr, the excellent open-source screensaver with effects and smooth zooms that he'll use to view the pictures, and get in on the voyeuristic pleasure.

It'll be a community Gizmodo experience. Make them good shots, because we'll post the best pictures in a gallery here in the next few days. C'mon, Gizmodians, show us what you got! – Charlie White

SlickerFrame [Fresh Arrival]

Yeah, the government wants access to sites such as YouTube and Flickr, pushing for sites such as these to retain user data for government access. They claim it's for terrorism and child pornography, which both seem like pretty blatant ploys to get the public to let this happen without questioning it. After all, who wants to protect child pornographers?

The problem is, I'm pretty sure YouTube isn't a hotbed of illegal porn. And there's no guarantee that the Justice Department will use this info just for smokin' terrorists out of their caves. This looks like yet another step across the line into privacy invasion by this administration to us. –Adam Frucci

Justice Department takes aim at image-sharing sites [News.com]

Flickr Camera Finder [Flickr via Consumerist]

Barack Obama looks to be diving into this whole "Web 2.0" thing head first, what with his own Facebook profile, Flickr account, and YouTube account. In addition to all this stuff, he also has my.barackobama.com, a social networking type site for his supporters to create profiles, network, and make blogs all about how great Barack Obama is.

It's clear that the internet is going to play an even larger role in the election this year, for better or worse. Do you think all this buzzword bandwagon hopping is going to help, or is this still politics as usual? –Adam Frucci

Barack Obama [via NotCot.org]

Its claim to fame is its ability to subscribe to an RSS feed on the Flickr photo site, letting anyone with that account's password insert photos into the frame via the Interwebs. Could be ripe for pranksters. Plus, it can accept photos via email without needing to be hooked up to a computer.

Anyway, even though we've heard rumblings about it not working too well in its first iteration, we're hoping those difficulties have been ironed out. It's selling now for $250, and one is on the way here so we'll let you know how it works. – Charlie White

Product Page [PF Digital Inc.]

An important caveat to recognize, however, is that the data is only representative of cameras that Flickr can automatically detect, which leaves out many camera phones. Otherwise, Flickr gets it right about two-thirds of the time.

Anyone else feel a little creep'd out by this? Where's the hack to disable all this data mining?

Flickr: Camera Finder [Flickr via Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed]

Cemetery 2.0 works by keeping an active satellite Internet connection that keeps ol' bag of bones in constant communication with the Web services. Couldn't make it for Agnes' birthday? Just post a message on her Facebook wall, she'll understand.

The current prototype uses this guy here, who is the great-grandfather of Cemetery 2.0's inventor, Elliott Malkin.

What kind of Web sites would you like to be perpetually linked to? I hope one of them starts with a "Giz" and ends with a "modo." – Nicholas Deleon

Cemetery 2.0 [Dziga.com via we make money not art]

Nokia claims that the N73 will provide sufficient battery life for up to four hours of talk time and up to 14.5 days while on standby. While now available in Europe, it's unclear when it'll reach these shores. – Nicholas Deleon

3 Megapixel Nokia N73 camera phone arrives in stores [infoSync World]

The software requires you to have Microsoft.NET v3 (WinFX Runtine Components), which is currently still in beta. If you're uncomfortable with installing beta software like .NET and this program you may want to skip it. However, Big Screen Photos is going to no longer be free when the beta's over, so you may want to get in now and save a copy just in case. – Jason Chen

Big Screen Photos [Mobilewares via eHomeUpgrade]

This week at Lifehacker: We kicked off our Coolest Workspace Contest with a DIY door-turned-tabletop, an adjustable sit or stand desk and more. Submit pictures of your tricked-out rig for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to Amazon!

Also: automatically add an image of the camera model used to shoot photos on Flickr. Blog while gaming on the Xbox 360. Finally, find out how to use metadata and dynamic search-based folders as your digital filing system.

Kodak's line of EasyShare cameras also allow you to transfer photos without the aid of a computer. Looks like making it easy for non-technical people to show off their shots to their friends is the way to go. Watch for more companies to hop on this idea.

Nokia supports Flickr directly [Phoneyworld]

Here's an exquisite example of data mining, where recent uploads are sampled using some pretty tricky technology. Taking a look at the list right now, it looks like Canon dominates, with seven out of the top 10 cameras used, with the top three manufacturers lining up as Canon, Sony and then Nikon. Take a look at the list here.