Combing through hundreds of blog posts and news articles daily, Dirk Klingner, our technology-trend watcher, sifts through the noise to bring you the tech news most important to consumers. If you have a tip on a story you want to share, leave a comment below.

FCC Releases Apps To Independently Test The Speed Of Wireless Networks (PaidContent.org)

…Essentially, the app clocks how long it takes to download and upload data to the phone. The release of the two apps come just days before the Commission is set to release its new national broadband plan on March 16, which will heavily stress the need for mobile data networks.

Barnes & Noble Announces iPad App: Will Apple Really Let It Fly? (Fast Company)

…The result of Barnes & Noble's app (and Amazon's, for that matter) appearing in the app store would just further serve to place the iPad head and shoulders above the Nook and Kindle in capability.

26 gigapixel panorama of Paris now online (Rob Galbraith Digital Photography Insights)

A Canon EOS 5D Mark II was used to capture 2346 photos of Paris on September 8, 2009, and the resulting 26 gigapixel stitched panorama went online today.

Lighter side: Artifical Sun Lights Up the Arctic (urlesque)

…The real thing, after all, was something they hadn't seen in 31 days.

T-Mobile Tap

This eclectic new batch of phones, recently added to our cell phone Ratings, are conventional models, technically speaking, because they don't have the advanced e-mail and application capabilities of smart phones.

But each of the notable models below enhance their usefulness with at least one extra feature: a hardened case for use in rough terrain, a keyboard to facilitate text messaging, or a touch screen for simple navigation and Web browsing. And, as the headline implies, they do it with style. Prices are with a two-year contract.

Samsung Convoy ($70) Verizon
This phone is the Rocky Balboa of cell phones, combining simple communication skills with a hardened outer skin. Its case, claimed to meet military specifications, is weather- and dust-resistant. It lacks the flashlight and compass of its higher-priced competitor, the $150 Casio G'zOne Rock, but its backlit keypad is well spaced, with large buttons that are hard to miss. And also has push-to-talk capability.

T-Mobile Tap ($80)
The Tap isn't a smart phone, even though it looks like one. It has many of the features we like about them, including a large 2.8-inch touch-screen display, and an icon-driven interface that provides direct access to the dialer, contacts, Web, and menu icons, and widget bar. It even has an FM radio.

Pantech Impact

Pantech Impact ($50) AT&T
The Impact has a great design for texters: It opens up like an eyeglass case to reveal a 2.6-inch screen and a keyboard with dedicated keys for launching messaging, contacts, camera, and other applications. The Impact's interesting on the outside, as well. When activated, its shiny, dark exterior transforms into a display and a touch-sensitive keypad with vibration feedback. It's also compatible with AT&T's Video Share, which lets you stream live, one-way video of your special moments to a compatible phone.

LG Lotus Elite ($100) Sprint
Folded closed, this wide-bodied beauty looks more like a cosmetics compact than a phone, with elegant patterns etched on its tinted, brushed-metal case. The outer touch-screen display lets you conveniently access messaging, speed dial, recent history, images, and contacts by simply swiping to the left or right of the home screen. Flipping the phone open reveals a QWERTY keyboard for typing text messages and dialing phone numbers. On it you'll find dedicated buttons for launching social networking (Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter), e-mail, and texting, as well as emoticons. Moreover, this conventional phone lets you view Office documents such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

—Mike Gikas

Combing through hundreds of blog posts and news articles daily, Dirk Klingner, our technology-trend watcher, sifts through the noise to bring you the tech news most important to consumers. If you have a tip on a story you want to share, leave a comment below.

Blippy Gets A Facebook-Inspired Redesign And An Important New Privacy Feature (TechCrunch)

…Starting today, you can manually review each purchase before it’s displayed on Blippy. This is an important step in the direction of better privacy controls.

In stock nearby? Look for the blue dots. (Google Mobile Blog)

…We're happy to announce that as of today, if you're searching for a product that is sold by participating retailers, including Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, or West Elm, you can just look for the blue dots in the search results to see if it's available in a local store. If you see a blue dot, you can tap on the adjacent "In stock nearby" link, and you'll be taken to the seller's page where you'll see whether the item is "In Stock" or has "Limited Availability" near you.

Google Reader Play (Google Operating System)

Google Reader Play is a new way to read popular articles and an interesting interface for browsing web pages. "In Google Reader Play, items are presented one at a time, and each item is big and full-screen.

A guide to buying a Digital TV Set. Size, Quality, Inputs and more all here at EZDigitalTV.com

When you test as many products as we do here at Consumer Reports, it's hard to get folks excited. Well, we managed to do just that with our 3D TV tests. As you'll see in the accompanying video, the engineers, editors, and other members of our staff had pretty strong reactions to the 3D TVs we're now testing.

Our preliminary test results speak for themselves. The 3D effect is realistic, to put it mildly. Our engineers, and the rest of us who put on the wraparound specs, were bobbing and weaving when the paddle-ball from Monsters vs. Aliens seemed about to fly off the screen and hit us.

Take a look inside our labs for yourself and see what all the excitement is about. We'll be posting lots more from our 3D TV tests, so check back often.