You know how, when KGB agents are tailing you and all you want to do is roll out of the car while your driver keeps going? Only those agents aren't dumb: If they suddenly see one fewer head inside the car, they're gonna know something's up. Spytechs at the CIA figured that if you brought along something compact yet inflatable, you could quickly blow it up as you exited the vehicle, and nobody would see any difference. It was the early '80s so, naturally, the researchers thought of sex dolls.

Two noob CIA engineers were sent to a shady shop in DC's red-light district to pick up some anatomically correct sexy-time dolls. The dolls were attached to a system of rapid inflation, essentially a tank of compressed air that could pump the dolls up in less than a second. Only problem was, the dolls split at the seams when the inflation happened too quickly. (Ooh la la!)

This being the pre-internet era, and a time when mail-order took 6-8 weeks for delivery, those two poor bastards had to keep going back again and again to the sex shops to buy new dolls. The description in Spycraft is priceless:

When the young techs returned to a store for more dolls, the proprietor's quizzical stare seemed to raise uncomfortable questions about their private lives. After all, they could not explain, "You see, we work for the CIA..."

Try as they might, the techs couldn't get the sexy plastic ladies (or men?) to blow up appropriately, and even with added valves for air control, they tended to sag inhumanly.

Added to that was the problem of rapid deflation—agents who jumped out of cars tended to jump back into them after the mission or drop was carried out. Probably the most embarrassing scenario would be that the KGB caught up with the agent after he had jumped back in the car, and got a closeup of him wrestling with a sex doll in the back seat.

The "elegant solution" was, sadly, far less risque. The "Jack-in-the-Box" (or JIB) that went into operation tucked inside a briefcase, and emerged as a simple, two-dimensional cutout of a man's head and shoulders. Apparently KGB tails didn't get too close—merely the suggestion of a body was enough.

As if to drive this point home, CIA agent and US traitor Edward Lee Howard—on the run from a suspicious FBI in Santa Fe in 1985—built his own JIB out of a toiled plunger, a coat hanger and a Calvin Klein jacket, with a Styrofoam dummy head wearing a fashionable Jerome Alexander wig to complete the illusion. He jumped out of the moving car as his wife drove, propping up the dummy in her hubby's place. (Who was the bigger dummy: the dummy, the lady propping up the dummy or the guy selling state secrets to the Soviet Union?) Sadly, American agents were as easily duped as their Eastern Block counterparts. According to Spycraft, "The FBI did not discover his escape until some 25 hours after he jumped from the car."

All of this CIA tech and much more like it is covered with great depth and hair-raising anecdotes in Spycraft, a new book by Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton, reviewed by us, and available for pre-order at Amazon.

[Peter Nyboer] has written an extensive post about his experience with AudioCubes from Percussa. Aside from their unique glowing exterior, these cubes are an innovative way to control and even produce audio tracks. Four faces of each cube are equipped with IR sensors to detect distance and communicate with other cubes. The cubes also have USB, a rechargeable battery, and audio in/out. Moving your hands around the sensors changes the MIDI output of the cube. Changing the cubes' orientation and distance from each other also changes the signal. Max/MSP and Live are both supported out of the box, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy to get started. [Peter] makes an important point: unlike traditional instruments, there's no obvious way to get started. At 400euro for 2 cubes and 650euro for 4 cubes, these devices aren't exactly being given away, but it's great to see new interfaces being imagined. A video of [Peter]'s first experiments with the cubes is embedded below; read his full post to see more footage of the cubes in action... and naturally we'd love to see any DIY versions of this you can come up with.

Windows and now Mac OS X only: The beta NY Times reader application which Adam gave the full screenshot walkthrough treatment is now available for your Mac. The application definitely provides a better reading experience than the web site only; there are fewer ads, more ways to customize the page's layout (headlines only, headlines with excerpts, different photo sizes), and it helpfully grays out articles you've already read. (Click the image to see a full-size screenshot, where the American Idol article I read is grayed out.) The NY Times beta reader is a free download, and it requires (ugh) Silverlight to run on your Mac, as well as login details to NYTimes.com (free registration).

Terminator: Salvation has started production in the New Mexico deserts, with Christian Bale and Sam Worthington on board to star in the film as John Connor and Marcus Wright, respectively. The website is currently a blank teaser, but there's a strong possibility it will launch some time tomorrow (keep refreshing, fanboys!) Directed by McG, the man responsible for the cultural institution known as The O.C., Terminator: Salvation will be set in 2018 where John Connor is fighting Skynet to ensure the future he's destined for.

However, a mysterious man by the name of Marcus Wright appears, and was not part of the prophecy known to Connor. As Connor figures out whether the amnesiac man came from the past or future, the two begin a quest to exterminate Skynet once and for all.

The film also features Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett), singer/songwriter/actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (Science of Sleep), Top 10 MC/actor Common (Smoking Aces), Moon Bloodgood and Jadagrace (whoever the hell they are). [Terminator]

TERMINATOR SALVATION: THE FUTURE BEGINS directed by McG begins production in New Mexico. Film to star Sam Worthington and Christian Bale. Burbank, CA May 22, 2008 - "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins," starring Sam Worthington and Christian Bale, began principal photography on May 5, 2008, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Halcyon Company Presentation of a Moritz Borman Production of a McG Film, "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins" is directed by McG from a script by Michael Ferris and John Brancato. The film is being produced by Moritz Borman, Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek and Jeffrey Silver and executive produced by Peter D. Graves, Bahman Naraghi, Mario F. Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna, Joel B. Michaels, Dan Lin and Jeanne Allgood. Warner Bros. Pictures is handling all U.S. and Canadian distribution rights for the film, with Sony Pictures Entertainment handling distribution rights in most international territories (excluding Korea and select Mideast territories). In the highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind. The film also stars Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, Charlotte Gainsbourg as Kate Connor, Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams, Common as Barnes, and Jadagrace as Star. "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins" marks the latest installment of the multi-billion dollar Terminator franchise and will be the first film in a new Terminator trilogy. The film is scheduled for a North American theatrical release May 22, 2009. The Halcyon Company acquired all Terminator franchise rights in May 2007. Principal photography is taking place at the Albuquerque Studios and on location throughout New Mexico. Further information is available at HYPERLINK "http://www.terminatorsalvation.com" www.terminatorsalvation.com.