MyHeritage, an online genealogy and facial-recognition service, has an addictive little application on its site.

Find the Celebrity in You allows you to upload your own photo, which is then run through a facial-recognition scanner and "matched up" to your celebrity look-alikes.

Keep in mind that you have to enter your e-mail address to use the service. We just came across this app today, so we can't tell you whether you'll get a bunch of spam after doing so.

The results are often hilarious, and they vary wildly depending upon which picture you upload. For example, one CNET employee somehow simultaneously looks like Arnold Palmer, Carl Lewis, Ricky Martin, and Steve Buscemi...without really looking like any of them.

Still, it's a fun little online toy. To test its chops, you can also upload a photo of a celebrity and let the application identify who it is after scanning the image.

Who do you look like? Post your celebrity look-alikes in the TalkBack section below and let us know if you really look like any of them.

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One of the more fascinating parts of Digg's launch party for version 3.0 was a demo of an application they're (internally) calling Digg Spy on Crack. Slated to launch sometime in July, the new app provides a real-time, ever-changing view of which stories Digg users are reading, adding, and digging.

The current version of Digg Spy allows users to keep tabs on the most recently viewed and most recently posted stories on Digg.

Digg Spy on Crack will take that functionality one step further, using graphical interfaces to physically represent users flocking to specific stories and stories being added to the site.

If the demo holds true to the real-life app, it looks like there will be plenty of Digg Spy on Crackheads come July.

Full disclosure: I play on Digg's softball team.

Photo links courtesy of Laughing Squid.

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• Between this year's Super Bowl and last year's, any remaining Steagles fans must be in heaven. Stillers vs. 'Hawks for all the marbles this Sunday. Plus, expensive commercials. Last chance to make a vat of seven-layer dip and get your TV ready.

• It's getting harder and harder to tell the difference between rappers and computer viruses. This week's big security threat, the Kama Sutra worm--a.k.a. MyWife, Blackworm, Nyxem, CME-24, GREW, and Tearec--has more aliases than the Wu-Tang Clan, Kool Keith, and MF Doom combined. But yo, CME-24 better bring its A game to the mic next time, aiight? 'Cuz its debut joint was mad overhyped, son. For real. Ain't even on the same page as Sober, MyDoom, Netsky, or Sobig, nawmsayin'?

• Somewhere in a Motorola factory lies a dusty box filled with unused vowels. The company released its new iTunes phone this week, the semi-pronounceable Slvr, and Kent German says it's not too shabby. The Slvr joins Motorola's other vowel-challenged handsets, the Razr, the Pebl, the Rokr E1, and the upcoming Rokr E2. This disturbing naming convention suggests that Motorola execs live in a world ruled by Pat Sajak...a world in which vowels cost extra.

• The latest public beta of Internet Explorer 7 is available, and it's already catching hell from pretty much everyone in the world. Despite the fact that it looks and acts like everyone's favorite browser pal, Firefox, it seems IE 7 leaves a few security stones unturned. With the possible exception of the New York Yankees and George W. Bush, does an entity exist that gets criticized more for everything it does than Microsoft? It's almost enough to make you feel bad for them, until you learn that a special computer is needed to count Bill Gates's mad $almon$.

• Everybody loves the idea of an instant-on computer, but it's sadly not a reality yet. Still, you can minimize the time you spend staring at that blinking cylinder-shaped light* while your PC gradually boots up. We have a few tricks to cut your bootup time down significantly. And while you're at it, you might as well defrag your hard drive, bulk up your graphics card, and upgrade those tinny PC speakers to big-time 7.1 surround sound.

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• RIM's BlackBerry (a.k.a. CrackBerry) is an addictive little portable e-mail tool. Regular blackberries (a.k.a. Nature's pretzels) are addictive little portable snacks. Soon, the two of them may have more in common than just a name. Namely, it is (allegedly) impossible to send and receive e-mail via a blackberry, unless you install Linux on it. Due to legal woes, it may also soon be impossible to send and receive e-mail via a BlackBerry. But don't freak out just yet. It seems a settlement is likely, and RIM says it has other options in place to continue services for its thumb-beefening e-mail device. Still, if you insist on freaking out, do so while reading Bonnie Cha's recommendations for the best replacements for your BlackBerry. Or about the best phones for e-mail. Or about all the different flavors of Treo available. Or about delicious, delicious marionberries.

• If MyWife sends you photos over e-mail, do not open them. I am not just saying that because it's MyWife. As soon as you open that attachment, MyWife will mess up your computer somethin' fierce. Luckily, Robert Vamosi has figured out a way to interact safely with MyWife.

• The worst problem with the iPod is that you can't throw it around without the music skipping. Sure, those hard drive MP3 players hold a lot of songs, but what's the point if you can't put on some wireless headphones and play catch with your player while you're listening to it? James Kim and I talk about this mission-critical problem all the time, which is why he's put together a list of high-capacity flash MP3 players. You can live the dream of listening to thousands of songs, skip-free, while simultaneously using your player as a shuffleboard puck. Amen.

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For one week each year, the stars align and there is harmony between Microsofties, Mac heads, Mandrake users, motorists, mall rats, men of the cloth, monorail drivers, mimes, Max Headroom impersonators, and even some items that do not begin with the letter M.

It is a week of peace, enchantment, magic, and credit-card usage. That is because for one week each year, all interested parties are too busy keeping track of product announcements from CES, Macworld, and the Detroit Auto Show to argue about why their operating system and automobile manufacturer of choice is the awesomest.

Said week was this past week, a week dubbed (if only by me) Ye Olde Fantastick Weeke of Electronicks Showes. So many items are announced, demoed, and hyped during this stretch that it is enough to make a gadget aficionado's head a'splode.

For example:

• The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) wrapped up this past weekend in Las Vegas, and there was plenty to be excited about. Cell phones are becoming more like portable media centers. There are some mighty contenders to iPod's MP3 throne, including our Best in Show pick, Creative's amazing Zen Vision:M. HDTVs continue to get bigger and cheaper. The difference between HD-DVD and Blu-ray was adequately showcased. Nifty emerging tech ideas abounded, including a top-shelf robotic chimp head. But there were also things to not get excited about, such as the fact that the PlayStation 3 will probably cost 8 bajillion dollars and a bag of chips.

• Ever the thunder stealer, Steve Jobs saw all tech bids from Las Vegas and raised them with Apple's new offerings at Macworld 2006. Apple unveiled the Intel-based, dual-core MacBook Pro and iMac Core Duo, signaling the end of the PowerBook laptop line and the molasses-filled G4 processor. Apple's iLife and iWork suites also got key upgrades for 2006. Perhaps the most surprising announcement from Macworld was the lack of an announcement: no new iPods just yet. Instead, the $50 iPod Radio Remote add-on lets you listen to FM stations on your iPod. Speaking of iPods, James Kim has discovered a really easy way to put DVD video on them.

• Meanwhile, in Detroit, some downright fancy automobiles revved their engines at the Detroit Auto Show. Retro-futuristic was the style of choice this year, with Lamborghini, Dodge, and Chevy all showing off concept cars that hearkened back to classic designs from the 1960s and 1970s. But it was the Nissan Urge that took the checkered flag in terms of innovation, thanks to a dashboard and steering wheel that turn into controls for an Xbox racing game when the vehicle is parked. Alas, none of these dreamy rides are on the market yet, but you can always run out and buy our Tech Car of the Year, the 2005 Acura RL.

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That je-ne-sais-quoi expression on the Mona Lisa? Emotion-recognition software at the University of Amsterdam has determined that it's probably disgust. According to a BBC News report, the subject of Leonardo da Vinci's famous portrait is only about 83 percent happy. The remaining emotional breakdown goes like this: 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful, and 2 percent angry. A great next project would be to determine what the person in Edvard Munch's The Scream is hollerin' at.

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Another year, another set of hardships for poor li'l Microsoft to overcome. Directions on Microsoft, an analyst firm focused on (curiously enough) Microsoft, released its to-do list of challenges the software giant must face in 2006. Top of the list? Explain why the heck companies need Windows Vista. Also on the radar: explain why the heck the Xbox 360 costs so much, fix its bugs, and make better games for it. The rest of the goals consisted of random combinations of the words leverage, solutions, position, and synergize.

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• "Top products of the year" lists are probably the leading cause of gadget bloat. Sorry, but we have a dandy top 100 products of 2005 list right here. Get out your billfold and get bloated, yo.

• Gadget bloat is probably the biggest cause of oversize-pants sales, due to the amount of pocket space one needs to carry around an MP3 player, a phone, a thumbdrive, a camera, and a portable fax machine. Time to consolidate at least two of those doodads. Kent German's determined to help knock down your pantaloons size a couple of notches, as he's been busy picking out the best MP3-playing cell phones. There are also plenty of great camera phones on the market. All this gadget consolidation will shrink your pants down so fast that you'll be wearing a Speedo in no time.

• Seeing a family member wearing a Speedo is probably the leading cause of buying an HDTV. That way, one can look at pretty moving images instead of the offending Speedo-sporter. The good thing about HDTVs is that they're getting cheaper. They're also getting bigger. And we'll even help reduce the confusion in setting the thing up. Whichever option you choose, here is the key: place the set in front of the Speedo-wearing family member for best results.

• Buying a whopping HDTV is probably the leading cause of blooming energy bills. But have no fear: we'll help you pick the most energy-efficient HDTV. That way, you won't have to resort to watching stuff on a 3G cell phone with streaming video or buying a cheap laptop and a Slingbox and exiling yourself to the nearest Wi-Fi hot spot to save money while watching TV.

• Public Wi-Fi hot spots are probably the biggest cause of unnecessary coffee purchases, and unnecessary coffee leads to gratuitous biscotti, and before you know it, you're buying some weird, overpriced compilation CD they're selling at the register. If you're sick of this trickle-down effect when you're using Wi-Fi at the local coffee shop, pick up a cellular modem card for your laptop. Better yet, you can buy a laptop with built-in cellular connectivity. That means you'll get wireless Web access anywhere you can use a cell phone. Michelle Thatcher rounds up the best cellular connectivity gear right here.

• Meandering blog entries such as this one are probably the leading cause of well-organized "Top products of the year" lists. And that brings us back to the first bullet point.

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• The Xbox 360 is so hot(t) that it's bringing out the worst in people. Lying. Stealing. Scheming. Mediocrity. BSODing. I have none of these problems with my Ms. Pac-Man TV Games unit, and if someone jacked me at gunpoint for it, I'd only be out $20, not $400. I like Ms. Pac-Man, because it is a fun game. But I hear there are also some fun games for Xbox 360, even if Super Xtreme High-Def Ms. Pac-Man 3000 isn't one of 'em.

• Firefox 1.5 is out. And it's still better than IE, even the less-is-more actin' Internet Explorer 7 that hasn't been released yet. The end.

• If you're looking for the ultimate HDTV experience, hook yourself up with a 1080p set. As luck would have it, senior editor David Katzmaier presided over a 1080p HDTV steel-cage match this week, and he also has answers regarding which HDTV reigns supreme in each category. Be forewarned: Buying one of these high-end HDTVs means you'll see Donald Trump in much higher detail than you could possibly want (and Jessica Alba in much higher detail than you can probably handle).

• Do you really want Intel inside? If you're buying a dual-core desktop, then probably not. Senior Associate Editor Rich Brown on our Systems team pitted AMD's dual-core Athlon 64 X2 CPUs against Intel's dual-core Pentium CPUs in a grueling head-to-head comparison, and Intel came out on the short end of the stick. So far on the short end, that Intel was barely on the same stick. Adding insult to injury, the beatdown occurred after AMD went all Ali-Frazier and called Intel out. That also means Apple's probably feeling pretty bummed right now.

• Don't worry, iPod Nation. We feel your pain. In fact, we feel it so much that we want to provide you with soothing ointment to quell your iPod's most annoying rashes. Want to replace your ever-weakening battery? Follow these directions. Want to snap your iPod out of frozen mode? We've got a blowtorch. Can't get it to play nice with Windows? Read this. On the other hand, you may just want to get a different MP3 player. Or you could be the talk o' the town and carry around a record player.

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• You may want to pay someone to wait in line for you, but the long-awaited Microsoft Xbox 360 hits stores on Tuesday. By this time next week, your pal Steve is going to be talking trash like "Bring it! I will smash you at video games!" And Steve will brag forever if he beats you once out of every 50 games, even if he did pull a cheap un-pause while you went to answer the door for pizza. And then he didn't even pay for his half of the pizza. So get an early jump on Steve by reading our brand-new Xbox 360 Central section and watch our video tour of the Xbox 360. We won't tell Steve about those pages.

• Just like TiVo and Google, Adobe's Photoshop image-editing tool is so successful that the product name has become a verb. As in, "I can Photoshop a handlebar moustache onto your face if you like." The only problem with Photoshop is that it's pretty expensive; it costs about $500 for the latest full version. With that in mind, Senior Editor Lori Grunin has rounded up some inexpensive Photoshop alternatives that'll come in handy if you're retouching on a budget. If you'd rather not pay anything for your image-editing needs, be sure to check out the Gimp.

• Speaking of so-popular-they've-become-verbs products, you no longer need to pay for a TiVo box. But as David Katzmaier explains, it's not as good a deal as it sounds on paper. The cost of the unit was never the big issue anyway; it's the subscription charges that really thump your wallet. TiVo's still the best DVR we've seen, but building a PC-based DVR with a TV tuner card offers even more flexibility. Here are the best TV tuner cards, and here's how to do it.

• Apple's iPod is the Honda Civic of MP3 players. Well, it's more like a Honda Civic designed by Bang & Olufsen. Nevertheless, the point is that the iPod is everywhere, and some would even say annoyingly so. To help everyone look past the iPod--and don't get us wrong, because we love the iPod, but we also love diversity--James Kim has rounded up some sweet Archos MP3 and video players, as well as some players that could be considered iPod killers. You can even check to see which music services and online stores the players are compatible with by using our Music Compatibility Wizard. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that nothing's ever gonna kill the iPod.

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