Future tech

The incredible shrinking SVGA screen

Sure, Panasonic may have made a splash in Vegas with its 150-inch plasma, but size isn't everything (or so we like to believe). Display maker Kopin, for example, is perfectly secure in its diminutive stature--so much so, in fact, that it claims to have invented "the world's smallest SVGA display."

But Engadget points out that the company's "CyberDisplay" SVGA (Supervideo Graphics Array ) stretches the tape measure diagonally at 0.44 inches, which happens to be the same size as its VGA (Video Graphics Array ) version, so the claim is really more about resolution … Read more

Will robots drill for oil, dust pianos, gun down enemies?

LAS VEGAS--Back in the '90s, iRobot worked on a robot that could help drill for oil.

Then oil dropped from $30 to $20 a barrel, and interest among potential customers dropped too, said iRobot CEO Colin Angle during a meeting at this week's Consumer Electronics Show here. With oil bouncing around $100 a barrel now, that chucked idea may make a comeback, he said.

Drilling for oil is sort of misnomer, Angle noted. The ground doesn't consist of hidden lakes of liquid petrochemicals. Instead, oil is encased in porous rock, Angle said. To get at it, oil drillers … Read more

Day one at CES 2008

The 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show hasn't officially started, but CNET editors are already gathering the latest. Hot topics so far have been Warner Bros. dropping HD DVD; the new all-in-one budget home theater systems from Panasonic; a waterproof, dustproof, and shockproof camcorder; and Samsung's Touch of Color LCDs that depart from the typical glossy-black finish.

Also new for this year, the CNET Car Tech Testing Lab lets manufacturers stop by our lab and show off their goods by installing the latest systems in our test car, a 2008 Scion xD.

Of course, there are loads of other … Read more

All CES, all the time

The 2008 Consumer Electronics Show doesn't start until tomorrow, but Crave and our sister site CNET.com have a gigantic team of editors on the ground, already scouring the still-being-assembled show floor for the newest, most exciting, and weirdest tech of the new year.

Can't make it to Vegas yourself? Enter the magical world of our CES special package, either by clicking here or on the banner at the top of this page. We've already stuffed it with blog posts and videos about shiny new TVs and amazing speaker sets. Keep coming back for the latest in … Read more

Radar for your car?

Greater availability of silicon germanium chips and better reliability in bad weather will make radar technology favored over other automotive obstacle detection technologies, according to an ABI Research report released Wednesday.

There are four major types of obstacle detection technologies currently used in vehicles for applications like blind spot detection and parking assistance. Radar will probably win out over sonar, lidar, and cameras, said David Alexander, principle analyst at ABI Research, who specializes in telematics and automotive research .

"Lidar and radar were a couple years ago on a few cars and they were the competing systems...There are lidar … Read more

'Story of Stuff' a must-see for material Scrooges

Do the halls of malls give you a case of the jingle hells? You could kick back for a 20-minute break from rampant consumerism to learn more about the toxic mess it makes of the planet.

Fun, right? Actually, it is with The Story of Stuff. It's a short, friendly movie covering the ABCs of consumer culture. The sky may be falling, but we can prop it up, the film suggests.

The Story of Stuff was produced by Free Range Studios, makers of the Meatrix. That entertaining, animated diatribe against factory farming has attracted more than 15 million viewers. … Read more

Hands-on with Tenori-On

All my ranting and whining must have finally paid off because this week I finally got some time with Yamaha's mystery-enshrouded Tenori-On music sequencer.

Prototypes of the Tenori-On have traveled the globe, popping up in the U.K. and Germany, but rarely in the United States. I couldn't believe my luck when San Francisco electronic musician retailer Robotspeak (my former employer) gave me the heads-up that Yamaha would be dropping by the shop for a rare demonstration.… Read more

Scientists create glow-in-the-dark cats

This may be the fluffiest, freakiest thing since Alba, the green fluorescent bunny from artist Eduardo Kac.

South Korean scientists tinkering with fluorescence protein genes say they have bred white Turkish Angora cats to glow red under ultraviolet light.

The pair of cats cloned from a mother's altered skin cell are nearly a year old. The researchers told the AFP that their work could help unravel mysteries of some 250 genetic diseases suffered by both humans and cats. The findings also could be used to clone endangered tigers, leopards, and other animals, the report said.

However, it's unlikely … Read more

BetaBlue: It's one small step for in-flight Wi-Fi

The biggest problem with JetBlue's inaugural "BetaBlue" flight, equipped with Yahoo and BlackBerry e-mail and instant messaging, was the fact that there aren't power outlets on board the aircraft.

Sure, there are those little 110-volt things in each bathroom. But if you hog the airplane toilet so that you can give your laptop some juice, you're going to be the second most unpopular person on that flight. (The screaming kid in seat 15D still beats you.)

All joking aside, if in-flight Wi-Fi is going to take off, airplanes are going to need power outlets. Virgin … Read more

NASA delaying space shuttle launch until at least Saturday

For those of you who made plans to visit NASA's Kennedy Space Center today to see the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis, you'd better hope you can keep your hotel room another day.

That's because the space agency announced this morning that it has decided to delay Atlantis' launch until at least Saturday because "of a problem with a fuel cutoff sensor system inside the shuttle's external fuel tank," according to a NASA press release.

The shuttle program managers expect to have a meeting Friday afternoon at Kennedy Space Center to decide what … Read more