Scientific American

Look, Computer, No Hands!

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:56:08 EST

It's common for us to address our computers using hand gestures, although many convey frustration and may involve a single finger. In the future, however, sign language could become an effective way of surfing the Web, managing files or manipulating virtual objects on screen.

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Microsoft Bets Big on B&N's Nook

Thu, 03 May 2012 22:17:08 EST

Amazon and Apple dominate the e-reader market. But Microsoft and Barnes & Noble are teaming up to make a serious run at the leaders. Microsoft is investing more than $600 million in Barnes & Noble's efforts to launch a digital book and textbook subsidiary called Newco , and to help the bookseller to expand its online business globally.

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Apple Has Liquid Metal in Hand

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:12:08 EST

The words "liquid metal" might conjure up images of the T-1000 from Terminator 2 . We're not aware of any shape-shifting robots in the works. But the rumor mill is buzzing with the possibility that Apple will include a special alloy made by the company Liquidmetal Technologies in the next-generation iPhone.

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Computer Effects Virtually Resurrect Tupac

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 21:15:08 EST

[Sound of Tupac Shakur: "Yeah! Yeah!"]

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Microsoft Reaches into Purse for Apps

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:21:08 EST

Smart phone and tablet users will download nearly 36 billion mobile apps this year, according to Allied Business Intelligence. The lion's share will be for Apple and Google Android gadgets. Only about 2 percent will be apps for the Microsoft Windows Phone.

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Flying Car Debuts at New York City Auto Show

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:29:08 EST

It’s the symbol of a future that never happened: a practical flying car has been on inventors’ drawing boards since the 1930s . A few flying cars were produced, but were really glorified small airplanes.

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Compressed-Air Car Winds Way to Market

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:07:08 EST

Air-powered cars have been on the cusp of reality for more than a century. Sure, compressed air is a clean fuel, but it's not efficient enough to power a car engine that will take you very far or very fast.

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Use of Portable Electronics in Flight Still up in the Air

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:31:08 EST

"Would you really get on an airplane…if you thought one Kindle switch could take it down? Come on, it's just a cruel joke perpetrated by the airline industry." Alec Baldwin jokingly posed this question on Saturday Night Live after he'd been kicked off a flight last year. Surprisingly, given the number of gadgets we take on airplanes, there's no definitive answer to his question.

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Embedded Mini Projectors Coming to Smart Phones

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:06:08 EST

As much as mobile-phone technology improves over time, there's one aspect guaranteed to remain the same--screen size. Any bigger and you start creeping into tablet territory. That's why laser-based mini projectors have become popular. Connect one to your phone, and you can display a much larger version of your screen onto most surfaces.

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Apple Plans a Cleaner Cloud

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:00:08 EST

Cloud computing has been hailed as the best way to provide any data to any gadget at any time. Unfortunately, all this ubiquity comes at a cost--the data centers that store, send and receive all of that data consume a lot of energy, most of it from fossil fuels.

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Skype Video Chat Arrives for Windows Smart Phones

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:33:08 EST

Nine months ago, Microsoft announced an $8.5-billion bid to buy Skype , the provider of voice-over-Internet Protocol software and services. The move promised to add an important video chat feature to help handsets running the Windows Phone operating system better compete with FaceTime on the iPhone and Android's Google Talk feature.

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Heads Up for Smart Phone Glasses

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:06:08 EST

Could the ultimate smart gadget for accessing the Web, messaging and making phone calls be...a pair of eyeglasses? We may know by the end of the year. That's when Google is expected to debut a heads-up display worn over the ears like a pair of specs.

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Mimicking Ear Makes Mobile Calls Clear

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:29:08 EST

If you've ever been on the phone in a crowded room…hold on…

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Facebook Users Gird for Mobile Ads

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:19:08 EST

Facebook's pages are packed with information--your news feed, info about who's online and advertisements that use personal information to deliver highly targeted sales pitches. Members accept these ads on a PC screen, but what about on smaller mobile devices?

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Quantum Cryptography Comes to Smart Phones

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:01:08 EST

A smart phone can do pretty much anything a PC can. But, aside from password protection, phones have very little security--a real problem with more and more people using phones for online banking and shopping.

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Hydrogen and Kinetic Energy Will Keep Phones Ringing

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:53:08 EST

Carmakers learned years ago it's not easy to make a practical hydrogen fuel cell. Yet hydrogen fuel cells do work, and they're greener than batteries. So how about using a mini hydrogen fuel cell to recharge something small--like your mobile phone battery?

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Digital Health Care Puts Control in Consumer Hands

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:51:08 EST

For years, do-it-yourself health care meant looking up your symptoms on WebMD. But smart phones are extending our control, with apps that let people plan and track workouts, monitor important health indicators, and even locate nearby clinical trials. Apple's App Store alone offers thousands of mobile health apps.

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Service Teaches Computer Code Online Free

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:34:08 EST

If you were going to move to a foreign country, you’d probably make an effort to learn the language. And yet so many of us live our lives in front of computer screens limiting ourselves to the technological equivalent of pointing and gesturing.

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PC-Makers Bet On Ultrabooks

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:08:08 EST

You're not likely to hear much about laptops at the International Consumer Electronics Show next week in Las Vegas. Or even netbooks. It's all about ultrabooks now. "Ultrabook" is technically an Intel trademark, but it's being used to describe a class of thin, lightweight portable computers that have evolved to save PCs from extinction.

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Passwords Go Bye-Bye by 2017?

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:12:08 EST

At the dawn of 2012, computer security looks a lot like it did five years ago--everything protected by a user ID and password. But that’s all set to change in the next five years. Instead of trying to remember passwords for dozens of online accounts--or worse, using the same password for all of them--more of us will rely on biometrics for protection.

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