Future tech

If you happen to run into Jonathan Hirshon, president of Horizon Communications, ask for a business card. It's made of aluminum.

For the past two days, we've been trying to figure out all the many uses for it. It's sharp enough to cut carrots. If sharpened a bit more, it could be fashioned into a Ninja star. If this were the '80s, it would have been a status symbol for drug dealers in Miami.

The word "Horizon" isn't painted on the card either. It's a stencil, so you can also use it to … Read more

If you were waiting on the runway and were told that the wings on your plane would twist in high winds, you'd probably bolt out of your seat for the nearest exit. Then again, you wouldn't be riding in an "X-53"--a modified A-18 fighter jet with wings that are supposed to bend for improved maneuverability at transonic speeds, according to Defense Tech.

The Air Force, NASA and Boeing are joining forces to build the plane, which has wings that twist as much as 5 degrees to reduce structural weight by up to 20 percent and … Read more

Being firmly ensconced in earthquake country, Crave has always taken a keen interest in anything that claims to provide early warning--or any warning--before The Big One hits.

And just our luck, Tokyomango gives us a two-fer that addresses our twin obsessions of quakes and technology with an item titled "Super Multifunctional Earthquake Detecting Device." We're not exactly sure how it's supposed to detect earthquakes, but it apparently has plenty to help keep you occupied while you wait for one, including a radio, an LED flashlight and a charger for multiple devices.

But if you're … Read more

Do you remember the old-fashioned college days when a friend would call you by cell phone to let you know when "he" turned up at the library? Or maybe you figured out someone's class schedule, so you could just happen to be walking by when "she" got out. Technology, once again, is changing the game.

The Senseable City Lab at MIT released a free desktop application on Wednesday with real-time mapping and instant-messaging features. iFind, as it's called, works by detecting which Wi-Fi access point a person is near. Because MIT has over 2,… Read more

It could be the 21st-century version of the Sunday drive: Blow up the hot-air blimp, take it for a spin, then fold it up and put it away.

Of course, that's assuming you've got $200,000 liquefying your Tiffany money clip.

The Personal Blimp from Skyacht Aircraft made its maiden voyage in late October, and although the company calls it a blimp, it's essentially a steerable hot-air balloon. It utilizes hot air in place of helium and is propelled by electric motors.

Though the cost may seem high for a leisure activity, consider that the average helium … Read more

In a conference call this year with an exec at HDMI, we heard someone at the other end of the line describe HDMI 1.3, the new standard for the highest-quality digital A/V connection, as "the 1080p of 2007." In other words, he's hoping that HDMI 1.3 becomes the new buzzword in HDTV that everybody wants to know about, that high-end buyers will plunk down lots of cash to get, and that makes everything that came before it seem obsolete.

On Monday, I attended a 3-hour press event where HDMI Licensing LLC, the company behind … Read more

Here's something fun for you to waste time exploring.

SpaceRef.com noticed, from this photo, that European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter has an iPod and Belkin external battery pack on board with him at the International Space Station.

Upon closer look, CNET noticed a few more brands in use. (A hi-res version of the image is available on NASA's Web site.)

We've shown you a close-up of the iPod. See if you can also find the Nikon digital SLR cameras, an IBM Lenovo ThinkPad, a Bogen Superclamp holding the armature with the Fujinon camera, a … Read more

Remember Roxio? You most likely used its Easy CD Creator to burn CDs from your PC before iTunes came out. (Ah, the Napster days.) Well, Roxio makes a lot of other software, too, and now it seems to be getting into the Blu-ray/HD DVD wars.

Roxio released new software on Wednesday that will allow people to organize and burn movies to both DVD and Blu-ray recordable discs. The Roxio DVDit Pro HD is available at Roxio.com for about $500. It does DVD DLT and Blu-ray Disc CMF mastering with the ability to add CSS or AACS protection from … Read more

We fully admit to having precious little information about this item, but the photo alone is simply too good to resist. According to a blog called Big Marketing for Small Business, "A revolutionary new miniature computer is being worked on in Japan that comes in the shape of a pen that you can slip in to your pocket." It's especially interesting given that the whole concept of "pen computing" became something of a laughingstock years ago, at least until the PDA stylus came along.

This pen-sized device supposedly projects a virtual keyboard and screen, recogizing … Read more