James Cameron created a Titanic-sized stir when he invested in Planetary Resources Inc., an asteroid mining operation co-chaired by personal spaceflight pioneers Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson. While Planetary Resources might …
Innovation
MIT Scientists Figure Out How to Get Ketchup Out of the Bottle
According to Heinz, ketchup exits the company’s iconic glass bottles at an excruciatingly slow .028 miles per hour. In case you were wondering, that’s slower than a Galápagos tortoise, which, according the San Diego Zoo, creeps …
‘Hologram-like’ Helpers Materializing at New York-Area Airports Soon
It’s been done in France and elsewhere, but this will apparently be a first for those of us in North America: Starting in early July, LaGuardia, Newark and JFK airports will put “computerized, hologram-like avatars” to work in an …
Kinect This: Leap Motion’s $70 Sensor Is Cheaper, More Accurate
Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor has revolutionary potential, but it’s pricey at $250 for the Windows version. Enter Leap, which plans to sell a more accurate motion-sensing device called the Leap Motion for just …
Photos: 14 Masterpieces of Gadget Design
From the View-Master to the iPhone, 14 memorable gizmos that exude a style all their own.
Remembering Andrew Fluegelman, a Quiet Giant of the PC Revolution
I’m Andrew Fluegelman. I have made some money giving away some software for free, and I’m also connected with a couple of big magazines who are supported by advertisers who don’t give their software away for free.
Those are the …
Who Needs Walking When Honda’s ‘Personal Mobility Device’ Exists?
Walking! It takes so much effort, lifting one foot after the other. That’s why the good people of Honda have developed the Uni-Cub.
Think of it as a Segway but smaller, perfect for navigating the halls of your office or moving …
WATCH: Paralyzed Woman Controls Robot with Her Brain
Cathy Hutchinson hasn’t been able to drink anything without the help of her caregiver in the 15 years since she had a stroke. Now, thanks to new technology detailed today in Nature, she can take a sip of coffee simply by thinking …
The Knowledge Graph: Google’s Next Frontier for Search
In recent months, Google has been following a strategy it calls putting more wood behind fewer arrows. It involves prioritizing the company’s projects, and you don’t have to be paying very close attention to know that its Google+ …
Virgin Atlantic to Allow In-Flight Cellphone Calls
Talk about long distance. Virgin Atlantic has announced that it’s letting customers make calls with their own cellphones — provided they’re on the airline’s new Airbus A330 flying between London and New York.
Yes, you’ll …
Scientists Finally Create Robotic Buttocks That React to Human Touch
Technology has enriched our lives in so many ways. The world’s best and brightest created the Internet, cracked the human genome and landed machines on Mars. Also, someone created a robotic butt.
Nobuhiro Takahashi of the …
Passpoint Aims to Take the Hassle Out of Hotspots
“Excuse me, can you tell me how to get on the wi-fi?”
Several fellow journalists asked me that as I used my iPad in the press room here at the CTIA Wireless conference in New Orleans. Actually, it’s a question I get a lot when …