One of the cornerstone elements of James Bond that has been absent in the Daniel Craig films has been the master of the gadgets, Q. Holding him back was likely to help make the films a little more serious, and in honesty it worked.

For the third new era Bond fans are expecting the franchise to start taking steps into the larger and more iconic sandbox that is James Bond. Especially considering that the film is being released in the 50th anniversary year.

The studio seems keen to deliver what the fans want as they have indeed put Q in the new film, and EW.com has just snagged the first official image of Ben Whishaw in character.

A younger, ‘nerd-chic’ version of Q might not sound like the right direction on paper, but looking at Whishaw in this image evokes all the right feelings in this Bond fan. Even if his wardrobe looks a tad like it was put together as a hipsters greatest hits outfit.

You can expect more tidbits and news on Skyfall in the coming days, as it is ‘geeks inherit the earth’ week down in San Diego. Stay tuned to The Flickcast for news from the show.

You can see the full-sized image after the jump.

Because we can’t spend all our time watching movies, TV shows, reading comics or other indoor pastimes, we occasionally have to venture outside into the world. When that happens, we often need something to entertain us. I’m talking about, of course, toys.

Of course, being the mostly adult, very geek people we are, our toys can’t just be any old run of the mill item. Enter the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Quadcopter.

The AR Drone 2.0 was announced at January’s Consumer Electronics Show and will be released in May for $299.99. It features a 720p front-facing camera that allows users to capture their flights in HD, and a 3-axis accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer.

The device also features a new “absolute flight” mode that enables users to pilot the Drone by using a smartphone or tablet. the Android and iOS apps can also be used to share flight data with friends.

Limited quantities will be available on April 9 from Brookstone and can be reserved starting today. In the meantime, click through to see the AR Drone in action.

As is the usual practice almost anywhere were column inches or post counts matter, writers such as myself take to their keyboards and make lists. I am no exception and, with a great deal of difficulty and toil, have managed to cobble together a list of what I think are some of the best things of 2011.

I don’t really want to bore you with a lot of explanations as to why I picked what I did. Suffice it to say these picks are mine and mine alone. Also, they are not in any particular order, mostly because I find it hard to rank them that closely. Or, I was just too lazy.

Either way, here you go.

Movies

Drive
The Artist
Attack the Block
X-Men: First Class
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The Descendants
Thunder Soul
13 Assassins
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Hugo

This comes directly from the “things we would love to have when we’re filthy rich” department. Yes, we have one of those here at The Flickcast. Doesn’t everyone?

To what lust-inducing thing of beauty am I referring? Well, be sure you’re sitting down because this one is pretty impressive. I’m talking, of course, about a turbine powered Keaton-era Batmobile.

Designed and built by Casey Putsch, the car is a hand-made repliaca of the famous vehicle powered by the same Boing engine used in a Navy drone helicopter. Sadly (but good for someone else) Putsch has decided it’s time for his creation to go to someone else.

So, what do you do with your turbine powered Batmobile when you want to sell it? You put it on eBay of course.

The price? Well, as they say, if you have to ask you can’t afford it. Okay, it’s $620,000. Start looking under those sofa cushions.

Also, click through for a video of the car in action.

Even with the recent outage, it’s no secret lots of people use Skype to make calls on a daily basis. It’s also no secret many of those calls are video chats. However, if you wanted to video chat using your iPhone and all you had was a 3G signal, you were out of luck — even with Apple’s Facetime. That is until today.

Today Skype announced a new version of its iOS client simply titled Skype 3.0. The new update brings several improvements and, most notably, adds the ability to make and receive video-calls from your supported iOS device over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks. And while that’s great news when you can’t find a WiFi signal, I would take anything reported to work over AT&T’s 3G network with a big grain of salt. In other words, your mileage may vary.

Check out the full press release after the jump.

I don’t know about you but I never get tired of Verizon iPhone rumors. Maybe because I wish for it to happen almost more than anything. Don’t get me wrong, I do like my Android powered HTC Incredible. I just miss the iPhone but I won’t go back to it as long as it’s only on AT&T’s network.

So, if I could have something that combines the amazingness of the iPhone with the awesomeness of the Verizon network, I would be a happy person and could then go about my life in blissful contentment . . . until then next version comes out of course.

The rumor this week is about Apple’s search for engineers to work on some new projects. The info, dug up by the gang at Fortune, is about a job for a full-time Cellular Systems Performance Engineers who will deal with protocol issues and field test hardware. They are also looking for people with experience in GSM, GPRS, EDGE, and more to the point, CDMA technologies.

In case you don’t know that last one, CDMA, is the kind of network Verizon uses. That bit of info is made all the more significant by the fact that no currently shipping hardware from Apple — including the iPhone 4 — uses that technology. So, just another piece of the puzzle that when finished will hopefully reveal a shiny new iPhone for Verizon users.

I’d wait in line for that if. . . and I bet some of you would too.

Another day another, Apple-related rumor with a slim thread of substantiating facts. On the plus side we do know that Apple will eventually release a new version of the iPad which will reportedly feature a thinner case, Retina Display, gyroscope and FaceTime support. It’s inevitable.

What isn’t is when said iPad 2 will actually start shipping. If you know Apple you know they are notorious for being tight-lipped about that sort of thing. However, a new report coming out from the folks at DigiTimes says Apple has let iPad manufacturer Foxconn know that initial shipments of the iPad 2 will begin in 100 days. Of course, this report is unconfirmed but it also suggests Apple’s initial order for the new device will be in the 400K to 600K range.

One of the many things that make this report seem less than reliable are those initial numbers. After all Apple sold more than 300K iPads on the first day it was available and went on to sell 1 Million of the shiny tablets in just 28 days. So, an initial order of 600K seems like not enough if they really want to sell a lot of them. Of course, that could just be for the first day with other shipments coming soon afterward.

However many Apple does end up making for the release you can probably expect lines of people waiting to get their hands on the devices. I’m not sure I’ll be one of them as the first gen iPad seems to do the job just fine for me. Still, it will be interesting, as always, to see what happens.

Now if Verizon and Apple could just get together and come out with the damn Verizon iPhone already that would be something I would wait in line for. Are you guys excited for the iPad 2 or are you going to go for a Verizon iPhone instead if it ever arrives? Sound off in the comments.

What would a week be without yet another “confirmation” of the iPhone’s long rumored appearance on Verizon? A boring week we say! So, to make sure we get one in for this week, here’s the latest from the folks at Fortune Magazine.

In a profile on Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, the magazine has to, of course, talk about the iPhone. Noting Seidenberg’s success in making Verizon the number one wireless carrier in the U.S, Fortune notes that “every tech company” — including Apple — “must find a way to partner with it [Verizon].”

However, that’s not the really juicy part. Nor is it the part that will cause even more speculation and machinations among Apple loving and AT&T hating fans. This is the part: “Fortune has confirmed that a Verizon iPhone will be released in early 2011.”

With all the other evidence mounting that we will actually see a Verizon iPhone combined with this new evidence, it must be a forgone conclusion, right? Sadly, with a company like Apple, you can’t really count on anything except absolute secrecy until they are ready to make the announcement. They love to control the message.

Of course, there’s always the possibility some hapless employee will leave one in a bar somewhere. Hey, it could happen.

Yesterday, Google announced that its Goggles image search feature is immediately available in the App Store for Apple’s iPhone smartphone. The new feature, which will be bundled into the Google Mobile App, will support iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 devices running iOS 4 or higher.

“Computer vision is a hard problem and Google Goggles is still a Labs product. It works well for things such as landmarks, logos and the covers of books, DVDs and games. However, it doesn’t yet work for some things you might want to try like animals, plants or food,” explains Google. Ok, well, we won’t blame you for that. Maybe it will come in a future update?

This is a pretty darn cool app and makes the iPhone even more useful than it already is. Plus, if you use it correctly, it kinda makes you look really smart. Like you know stuff.

Want to know more? Check out this video from Google after the jump.

After a bit of a wait it looks like the folks at Samsung have decided to officially let out details regarding their Galaxy Tab tablet. Now that they have, we’ve got the specs (and an official trailer for the device) to share with you:

• 1 GHz Cortex A8 processor
• HSUPA 5.76 Mbps / HSDPA 7.2 Mbps radio (900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• Quad-band GSM
• 7-inch WSVGA screen with multitouch
• Android 2.2
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 3.0,
• GPS
• Flash 10.1
• 4,000 mAh battery
• 3 megapixel rear-facing camera with flash
• 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera
• Full HD video playback at 1080p
• MicroSD card slot with support for up to a 32 GB card
• Weight 13.4 ounces

Not a bad set of specs, except for the pretty tame camera. Who has 1.3 megapixels these days? Oh well, better than the iPad’s 0.0 megapixel camera. The Samsung Galaxy Tab will be launched in Europe in mid September, and in other markets including Korea, the US and Asia later. No word yet on pricing.

Check out the trailer after the jump. So what do we think? Will this be a serious competitor for Apple’s iPad?