Steven Spielberg directed "Minority Report" a half-dozen years ago and already the movie has seemed to get a half-dozen gadgets right, Brian X. Chen points out. These include gesture-based computer interfaces, flexible displays, 3-D holograms (OK, those probably will need some more work), identity-detecting advertisement cameras, robot scouts and mistake prediction. Of course, Philip K. Dick gave everyone a head start when he wrote the original short story in 1956. [Gadget Lab]

Slingbox, the technology that lets you watch and control your TV from any computer, unveiled a lot of new features at the WebbyConnect conference, which runs today through Friday in Dana Point, Calif. Among the features of Sling.com, a video hub now in private beta, is a huge network of content (the result of Hollywood negotiations that Sling Media Entertainment Group president Jason Hirschorn called "ego destroying"); the ability to watch your TV through any web browser with no additional software; a social networking feature with a news feed of what you watch that allows you to "become a channel;" and a feature called "clip and sling" that lets you can send clips to anyone on any device. And while the Slingbox devices still cost, Sling.com is meant to be free because, as Hirschorn put it, "Free gets scale." That said, "I can't tell you it's going to work. In the internet ,no one knows anything and if they say they do... I'm jealous." [HAL]

European online marketing firm Fullsix has launched the plaintively named website pleasefixtheiphone, which lets anyone list and vote on iPhone features that need repair most. At the time of his post, Erick Schonfeld reported that the top five features were copy and paste; landscape view for emails; ability to hide unwanted icons; using the iPhone as a 3G modem for the MacBook and making Flash work. However, as of Tuesday noon the beta site was down, with a note saying that it was "fixing ourselves to help fix the iPhone." A nation of frustrated iPhone users anxiously await your return. [TechCrunch]

If you pre-ordered a Google Phone, today's the day they start to ship. And if you're still making up your mind, the reviewers say... eh, not a bad start but there's room for improvement. Om Malik says the G1 "isn’t an iPhone competitor," calling it "aesthetically lacking" and "a Honda to iPhone’s BMW." However, it's easy to use and "is going to become a thorn in Windows Mobile’s side." Rachel Metz likes the QWERTY keyboard, but hates that the battery runs down so quickly -- especially if you're using the phone for things beside talking, which is sort of the point of the G1. And the built-in support for YouTube videos was "underwhelming." But for all of its shortfalls, "I'm optimistic the G1 will improve soon... Google's search engine was not the first of its kind, either. And we all know how that worked out." The G1's official release date is Oct. 22. [New York Times/GigaOm, AP]

It's $6,999, powered by lasers and has a screen large enough to block out the sun. It's the Mitsubishi LaserVue, a 65-inch HDTV that uses two-thirds less power than LCDs or plasmas. Writes TV tester Josh Quittner, "Since the TV blocked the shelves that held my cable box, I had to wedge my arm between the LaserVue and the entertainment center to get the remote to work. But once we had the game on, it was worth the slight bruising: the colors were sensational and bright; the players, larger than life." Mitsubishi, which has claim on the technology, is working on a 73-inch version. [Time]