Robot Crab: Crustacean Clockwork Automata
This robot crab is more clockwork than automata, but be sure to see the cool and menacing video. (re: William Gibson)

Mattress Alarm Perfect For Sleepy Students
Who needs jarring alarms? Try rising (literally) each morning with the mattress alarm. (re: Larry Niven)

Cockroach-Controlled Mobile Robot
Garnet Hertz has created a cockroach-controlled mobile robot. A hybrid biorobotic system, the robot consists of a mechanical system that amplifies and translates the bodily movements of a live giant hissing Madagascar cockroach. (re: Vernor Vinge)

Computer Key Rings
Marché Noir's Computer Key Rings are spring mounted to accurately reproduce the action on your favorite key - so you can hit it whenever you need to reboot your cool. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Secom Robot X Security Guard Works For Less
The Secom Robot X security guard, which can be controlled remotely or pre-programmed, will not be sold to customers; it will replace human security guards for half the cost. (re: Philip K. Dick)

SpaceHouse: Jetson's Skypad Apartment
SpaceHouse, an ESA-designed structure designed for space is being examined for use here on earth. The German Antarctic station Neumayer-III must meet stringent laws intended to protect the Antarctic environment. (re: Hanna-Barbera)

CirculaFloor - Smart Tile Holodeck?
The CirculaFloor is a computer interface; it consists of a set of movable floor tiles. As the user walks in a chosen direction, the floor tile maintains the position. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

Aluminate Glass: Did Scientists Create Transparent Aluminum?
Scientists at 3M in Minnesota have alloyed aluminum oxide with rare-earth metal oxides to create a strong glass with good optical qualities - it really is transparent alumninum. (re: N. Meyer/H. Bennett)

Solar Sails Unfurled Over Japan
Two different solar sail designes were unfurled from a small rocket launched from Kagoshima, Japan on August 9th. (re: Jack Vance)

uFR-II Micro Flying Robot - (Lighter) Son of Micro Flying Robot
Micro flying robot enthusiasts rejoice! Now you can revel in the (lighter) son of the uFR Micro Flying Robot - uFR-II. (re: Neal Stephenson)

VeriChip RFID Tag Patient Implant Badges Now FDA Approved
The Federal Drug Administration has approved a final review process to determine whether hospitals can use VeriChip RFID tags to identify patients. The estimated life of the tags is twenty years. (re: Alfred Bester)

Fatal Vision Goggles - Simulate Impaired Driving
Fatal Vision Simulator Goggles are designed to help you see poorly. They simulate the experience of driving while under the influence. (re: Rudy Rucker)

RFID-Maki: Easy Payment Sushi
In Japan, eating and automation go together like, well, like raw fish and rice. (re: Harry Harrison)

Polymeric Nitrogen: Science Fiction Explosive
Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry have synthesised a polymeric cubic form of nitrogen where all atoms are connected with single covalent bonds, similar to carbon atoms in diamond, creating what may be the most powerful explosive e (re: E.E. )

Electronic Number Plate RFID Keeps Tabs On Vehicles
A South African company now offers Electronic Number Plate RFID technology to keep track of your comings and goings in your car. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Sky Ear Works!
Sky Ear, a thousand sensitive helium balloons, finally took flight last month after a slight delay due to bad weather and other problems. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Kaori Web: Odorophonics Comes To A PC Near You
Kaori web creates odorophonics - a science fiction idea of the fifties. (re: Ray Bradbury)

Can Computer Tapeworms And Viruses Be Your Friends
Computer tapeworms and viruses are feared by computer users today. But the creator of the term "computer virus" conceived of them as being helpful (as well as potentially harmful). (re: John Brunner)

PC Case Mod Contest: Sandbenda Contenda
The ExtemeTech extreme case mod contest heats up - see the dragon. (re: William Gibson)

Adaptive Cruise Control
Adaptive cruise control implemented in just one out of five cars could significantly improve highway safety and reduce traffic jams, according to a recent study by a University of Michigan physicist. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Invisible Animals (If Not Men)
The New York Times ran an interesting article this past week on how animals achieve invisibility in the ocean. Transparency can be achieved in different ways. (re: H.G. Wells)

MP3 Player Jacket Has Control Sleeves
A jacket with a built-in MP3 player is available from Rosner GmbH & Co., a German clothing firm. The 128 Mbyte player (developed by Infineon) is controlled by manipulating cloth buttons on the left sleeve. Headphones? They're in the collar. (re: Larry Niven and Steve Barnes)

GRACE Robot Specializes In Etiquette And Protocol
GRACE is a robot created by researchers from Carnegie Mellon, the Naval Research Lab, Swarthmore College and others to enter the AAAI Robot Challenge. (re: George Lucas)

Interactive Billboards Use SMS
Interactive billboards designed by Ogilvy use SMS to give passers-by a chance to win a Ford Fiesta in Belgium. SF writers have long predicted the use of intrusive advertisements in our everyday environment. (re: Frederik Pohl)

Thump Eyewear: What About Video?
Thump, the first performance eyewear with internally integrated MP3 storage and playback capabilities will be available this fall. (re: Bruce Sterling)

Metronap Sleep Pod
The MetroNap Pod inclines forward to allow for easy entry, and then reclines to allow for optimal positioning. The slight elevation of the feet promotes blood circulation, while the elevation of the knees takes pressure off your lower back. (re: Larry Niven)

Combat Feeding: Just Add Water - Any Water
Soldiers in the field carry their own food; one day's supply weighs about 3.5 kilograms. However, remove the water, and it only weighs 0.4 kg. But where can you find potable water in the field? (re: Neal Stephenson)

Data Mining In Three Dimensions
Graphical representation of information is not new; the first graphs appeared in the late eighteenth century. More recently, Sandia National Laboratories has created a data mining and visualization software suite that is able to accept information fr (re: William Gibson)

Calendar Ring
I always liked the finger watch; now you can get a calendar ring. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Automatic Blood Donation Machine
A recent advance to help reduce the cost of transfusions in Japan is the automatic blood donation machine. (re: John Varley)

Processing Three-Dimensional Video In Real Time
You may have seen the Matrix-like replays during the last Super Bowl, in which the sportscasters could freeze the image, rotate it to another viewpoint, and then continue with the action. Wouldn't it be great if we, the viewers, could use this featur (re: Robert Heinlein)

Printing RFID Tags With Magic Ink
Security technology like RFID devices, barcodes and smart cards are going to be smaller, more flexible and easier to manufacture responsibly thanks to a metal printing technology developed by QinetiQ Metal Printing. (re: Larry Niven/Steven Barnes)

AgBots: Agricultural Robots Take The Field
In one memorable scene from the original Star Wars movie, Luke Skywalker's Uncle Owen is bargaining for agricultural robots with Jawas. Agriculture has been slow to adopt to robotic technology; however, some new developments are on the horizon. (re: William Gibson)

Soft Robot Powered By Shape Memory Alloy Spokes
A remarkable new kind of robotic locomotion has emerged in the form of small "robots" that are constructed in the shape of a wheel. The spokes are made of a shape memory alloy; the rim of the wheel is made of an elastic polymer. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Robots Get Pressure-Sensitive Skin
Organic field-effect transistors have been used to fabricate pressure-sensitive skin for robots, according to an abstract published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Calling All Sandbenders - PC Case Mod Contest!
Liked the idea of sandbenders from William Gibson novels? Check out the extreme case modification contest. (re: William Gibson)

DNA Authenticators: Anti-Counterfeiting Proposed by Philip K. Dick
A security measure proposed by Philip K. Dick in 1964 is now being used to use DNA technology to authenticate consumer products. (re: Philip K. Dick)

StreetNet: Brussels Provides Free WiFi At Internet Kiosks
The Brussels city government established five open-air Internet kiosks that provide wifi-enabled web surfing for all citizens and visitors. The weatherproof kiosks have a touchscreen for those without a laptop or PDA. (re: John Brunner)

Deterministic Quantum-State Teleportation Achieved With High Fidelity
Teleportation, the transfer of quantum states between widely separated atoms, was achieved by different research teams in Austria and the United States. (re: Clifford Simak)

Biometric HandReader - Frank Herbert's Palm Lock?
IR Recognition Systems has released a biometric hand reader that is able to simultaneously analyze more than 31,000 points. The system records 90 different measurements of your hand: length, width, thickness and surface area. (re: Frank Herbert)

Electric Sheep Distributed Screen-Saver: Collective Computer Unconsious
The Electric Sheep Distributed Screen-Saver taps into the collective unconscious of sleeping computers all over the world. When your computer sleeps, does it dream of electric sheep? (re: Philip K. Dick)

EEGLAB: Independent Component Analysis Reads Your Thoughts
EEGLAB processes continuous and event-related EEG (electroencephalogram) data, allowing researchers to closely correlate specific brain activity with specific cognitive events - reading your individual thoughts. (re: John Brunner)

Springtail EFV-4B Personal Air Vehicle From Trek Aerospace
The Springtail EFV-4B Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) is a fourth-generation vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft powered by a single engine. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Sleep Room - Better Rest From A To Zzz
Japan is the land of the rising sun - a sun that rises all too soon for weary commuters and hard-working students who burn the midnight oil. The Matsushita Electric Works Sleep Room may be the answer - sort of like Larry Niven's Napcap Rental Facilit (re: Larry Niven)

SpineAssist Robot Has Got Your Back
The SpineAssist robot attaches directly to the spine during operations. It has Food and Drug Administration approval to assist surgeons in the precise placement of tools and implants. (re: Frank Herbert)

Personal Satellite Assistant: Servant Of Astronauts And Jedi
NASA has been working on the Personal Satellite Assistant for years. With any luck, it should be ready for use soon. (re: George Lucas)

MTHEL - Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser
The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) successfully tracked and destroyed a large-caliber test rocket at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. (re: George Griffith)

Pilkington Activ Glass - The Invisible Squeegee Of Window-Willie
Pilkington Activ glass has a coating of microcrystalline titanium oxide that acts as an "invisible squeegee" to allow the surface to clean itself. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Picture This: Cell Repair By Medical Nanorobots
Svidinenko Yuriy's renderings of medical nanorobots give Fantastic Voyage an update. (re: Isaac Asimov)

Movie Moguls Put Toe In Delphi Pool
Movie studio executives have found a new way to predict how well a particular movie will fare. The method was originally proposed by John Brunner in 1976. (re: John Brunner)

IP Cameras - Larry Niven's Webeye?
IP cameras are providing a real short-cut for the surveillance-minded. Just position and click. (re: Larry Niven)

VeriTouch iVue: Fun, Fashionable Media Player With Military-Grade Encryption
Finally, someone has announced the features that all of us consumers have been looking for in a digital media player - military-grade encryption and biometric security. (re: Ray Bradbury)

Accenture Gets US VISIT Biometric Security Contract
A group led by Accenture has won the five year US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US VISIT) biometric security contract. (re: George Orwell)

Micromouse Robot Builders Seek The Brass Cheese
The UK Micromouse 2004 Championship will be held on June 19th; tiny autonomouse (sorry about that) robot mice race to solve a 16x16 maze. (re: Greg Bear)

Electrolux Trilobite: Programmable Robot Vacuum Cleaner
The Trilobyte 2.0 is the new version of their self-propelled robot vacuum cleaner. It has more going for it than it's metallic silvery-green color - you can program it. (re: William Gibson)

Crystal Palm Flower: Logan's Run Life Clock on Ebay
A palm flower from the movie Logan's Run (from the novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson) is available for purchase on Ebay. (re: William F. Nolan)

Genesis Pathfinder: Space Inflatable Module
Genesis Pathfinder is an inflatable space habitat scheduled to launch in November 2005. Genesis weighs in at 1,360 kilograms and is approximately 4.6 meters in length by 1.9 meters in diameter; this is a one-third scale model. (re: Larry Niven)

Robonaut Performs Hubble Space Telescope Repair Tasks
Robonaut is a dexterous humanoid telepresence robot developed by NASA. The intent of the project is to have an "EVA astronaut equivalent" on station in space. (re: Robert Heinlein)

NASA's New Radiation Shielding First Proposed By John W. Campbell In 1936
NASA engineers are working on a clever new idea for shielding astronauts from cosmic rays - using the fuel and water needed for the journey for shielding. Just like John W. Campbell first proposed in 1936. (re: John W. Campbell)

A Smart Home With Cyber Crumbs - Bradbury's Happylife Home?
In his 1951 short story collection The Illustrated Man, Ray Bradbury wrote about the Happylife Home, which took care of the people who lived in it. Today, researchers work to create a smart home with cyber crumbs. (re: Ray Bradbury)

Astrophysicist Estimates Diameter Of The Universe
The diameter of the universe has been estimated by researchers; we're at least 156 billion light-years wide. (re: Larry Niven)

Sprint RFID Loyalty Card Triggers Minority Report-Style Ads
Sprint has developed two RFID applications based on customer loyalty cards that can identify a customer as he or she walks through a store, triggering the appearance of a customized computer avatar on a nearby screen. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Teleo-Reactive Programs Are Reaching Their Goals
Teleo-Reactive Programs (TRPs) help robots and other machine intelligences achieve goals, not just specific behaviors. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Zombie RFID Tags Arise To Face Privacy Advocates
Zombie RFID tags may find their way into your pockets - causing some privacy advocates to breath a sigh of relief. (re: Neal Stephenson)

MADMEN Robot Swarm To Handle Incoming Asteroids?
SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. has completed a preliminary study for NASA in planetary defense against asteroid impactors - Modular Asteroid Deflection Mission Ejector Node (MADMEN) robots. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Functional Replica Captain Nemo Diving Suit
Pat Regan has created a fully functional replica of Captain Nemo's diving suit from the Disney movie version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - the Nemosuit. (re: Jules Verne)

Super-Photons Used For Good, Not Evil
Super-photons may be able to provide a way to encode yet more information on CDs; more powerful computers and higher data security may also be possible. This is not your father's Thessian super-proton technology. (re: John W. Campbell)

Sad Day For Odor Alarm Clock Enthusiasts
Stunning news reaches us today regarding a new Brown University study concluding that scents will not rouse us from sleep. (re: Frank Herbert)

Scentsory Chameleon Bodysuit: Biometric Fashion
The Scentsory Chameleon Bodysuit is a "smart second skin" with integrated printed organic opto-electronics and integrated flexible nano-genetic devices on textiles. (re: Rudy Rucker)

Talking Washing Machines Are More Accessible
New washing machines are starting to look, well, more modern, with LCD displays and smooth, easy-to-clean panels. Unfortunately, that makes appliances much more difficult to use for people with vision problems, who would prefer large knobs. (re: William Gibson)

Robbie The Robot And His Creator Robert Kinoshita
Robert Kinoshita, creator of Robby the Robot, will speak in Hollywood, California at the Hollywood Heritage Museum. (re: Isaac Asimov)

Proposal To Move An Asteroid
The B612 Foundation recently testified before a senate subcommittee regarding a "new" proposal to move an asteroid. What science fiction author proposed moving an asteroid over sixty years ago? (re: Robert Heinlein)

ConeXpress OLEV - Will A Good Tug Save Hubble?
The ConeXpress Orbital Life Extension Vehicle (CX-OLEV) may be able to serve as a "space tug" that could extend the life of the Hubble telescope. (re: William Gibson)

HetaCool - Your Personal Antifreeze?
Lowering the body temperature to near freezing would be very helpful for certain surgeries, but it's impossible to cool blood to that temperature without disrupting the cells you need to live. But what if you had antifreeze running in your veins? (re: Robert Heinlein)

The Rapture Of The Avatar
The Church of Fools, the Internet's first virtual-reality place of worship, got off to an unusual start when the avatar of Reverend Jem Clines turned to face the sanctuary wall and disappeared, leaving virtual parishioners thinking about The Rapture. (re: Neal Stephenson)

The Blind May See - In The Dark
A number of companies and research laboratories are working on optical prostheses; devices that are actually implanted in the eye of a person who is unable to see. Some allow a patient to see in the far-infrared. (re: Bruce Sterling)

GlowRing: Light Without Power
The GlowRing will glow for up to ten years in funky colors. GlowRings do not require any external power source (and no internal source - a battery - either!) (re: Frank Herbert)

Global Water Crisis
An excellent article from The Scientist provides excellent details about the global water crisis, and some possible solutions. (re: Frank Herbert)

Electrolux Death Ray
"The Rolls-Royce of atomic weapons?" Maybe. Take a look at sculptor Greg Brotherton's Electrolux Death Ray, and decide for yourself. (re: George Griffith)

Diamondoids From Crude Oil Aid Nanotechnology Research
Diamondoids are now being refined from crude oil in sufficient quantities to allow for formal research and development in nanotechnology. Diamondoids are not for jewelry; each one is only .000000000000000001 carat in size. (re: Neal Stephenson)

InTouch Companion: Medical Rounding Robot
InTouch Health is now leasing a remote-controlled telepresence robot called The Companion to hospitals and nursing homes nationwide. The 200 pound robots stand about five feet tall and have computer screens for "heads." (re: Peter Watts)

Biometric Identification Finally Gets Started
Problems with the fingerprint and iris-recognition hardware and software forced a three month delay in the project. (re: Frank Herbert)

Raven - VectraSense ThinkShoe With DigitalDNA
The Raven ThinkShoe, an atheletic shoe that senses activity levels and adjusts dynamically, is now available from Vectrasense. (re: Bruce Sterling)

Tooth Bud From Stem Cells Looms Large
Implanted tooth buds created from stem cells may replace false teeth. This procedure has been shown to work in mice, and may work in humans as well. (re: William Gibson)

Cloned Cats Have 9+n Lives
Genetic Savings and Clone can fix you up with a clone of your cat for just $50,000. Better hurry; work starts in May (re: Frank Herbert)

China May Issue A Billion RFID-Based ID Cards
A speaker representing China's radio frequency identification (RFID) initiative said he expected China to issue over a billion identification cards - one to every citizen. (re: John Brunner)

Biomolecular Computer: The Tiniest Doc?
The vial at shown here contains trillions of tiny doctors capable of both diagnosing a particular form of cancer as well as administering an anti-cancer agent. (re: Greg Bear)

ThereminVision Sensor: Robot Proximity Detection
ThereminVision is a robotic sensing system that uses the same basic principle as the world's first electronic musical instrument, the Theremin. (re: William Gibson)

High Speed Hand Dryer
It's fast, it's neat, it pushes water off the palms and backs of your hands in one easy motion. No, it's not from Ronco - it's a Mitsubishi Electric design, until now available only in Japan. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Escapin: Anti-Bacterial Sea Slug Protein Prevents Biofilm Build-Up
Escapin, an anti-bacterial protein found in the ink of sea slugs, could help marine equipment stay clean enough for golden age science fiction. (re: Bruce Sterling)

The Latest In Quantum-Dot Switches
Quantum dot switches made up of pairs of tiny puddles of forty to sixty paired electrons show promise as the building blocks for quantum computers. (re: Greg Bear)

Microvision Laser Monocle: Technician Retina-Vision
Microvision's Nomad Expert Technician System shines laser light right onto your retina, providing images and diagrams that seem to float in the air in front of you. (re: Frederik Pohl)

Robotic Safety Barrels: Smart Traffic Cones
Robotic Safety Barrels (RSBs) developed by Shane Farritor may be the kind of smart traffic cones that can save many lives and $100 billion per year in losses due to accidents and delays on U.S. highways. (re: Bruce Sterling)

Active Denial Technology: Directed Energy Weapons
Active Denial Technology disables enemy soldiers or crowds with a painful beam of electromagnetic energy that inflicts a disabling, burning pain over the body by triggering heat receptors in the skin. (re: William Gibson)

Arachnid Adhesion: The Sticky Feet Of Spiders
We've all seen spiders crawl up a glass window, then hang upside down from the ceiling. This study used a scanning electron microscope to find out how they do it - and how humans might make sticky things stickier. (re: William Gibson)

Nanowire Memory Cells: Compact Data Storage
Is it possible to achieve data storage rates of 40 Gigabits per square centimeter? Scientists at USC and the NASA Ames Research Center think so - with nanowire. (re: Frank Herbert)

Phraselator P2: Speech Recognition And Translation
VoxTec is now taking orders for the Phraselator P2, an improved version of its original product. The new device is a complete redesign, with longer battery life, higher-fidelity audio, better speech recognition and improved ergonomics. (re: William Gibson)

Liquid Armor In Two Flavors: Shear Thickening and Magnetorheological
Liquid armor using shear thickening fluid and magnetorheological fluid is being developed to protect soldiers and law enforcement personnel. (re: Greg Bear)

Phone Dial Web Browser
David Lu's Phone Dial Web Browser is a web browser that uses a rotary phone dial as an interface. (Just dial 64.78.51.83 for Technovelgy.com.) (re: William Gibson)

Road Stud Traffic Camera Reads License Plates
A traffic surveillance camera concealed in a road stud can read your license plate as you drive by; it can even see if your tires are bald at 150 miles per hour. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Koolio: Autonomous Refrigerator Robot
Professors work hard - and they deserve refreshment. At the Machine Intelligence Lab at Benton Hall at the University of Florida, they are served by Koolio, the autonomous refrigerator Robot. (re: Harry Harrison)

Baja Beach Club Implants VeriChip In Customers
The Baja Beach Club in Barcelona, Spain is the first business to use the VeriChip System to grant customers access to VIP areas and provide an easy payment option. (re: Neal Stephenson)

EyeBall: Omni-Directional Smart Eye Sensor Update
O.D.F. Optronics has created a small spherical sensor called the EyeBall that can transmit a 360 degree "omni-directional" image and can hear everything within a twenty-five meter area. (re: Robert Silverberg)

RAFFE Helps Remote Mobile Investigator Gather Fingerprints
The Pedsco RMI robot, used for remote handling of explosive devices and other hazardous materials, now has the ability to gather fingerprints. Good news for the humans who might otherwise perform this task. (re: Isaac Asimov)

MusicPad Pro: Digital Sheet Music File Player
You can store your entire music library on this device, using digital sheet music brought in from music composition programs and even scanned sheet music files. (re: Isaac Asimov)

Church of Fools: The Coming Of The Avatar?
The Church of Fools, an experiment in online, interactive worship, will open its virtual doors this coming May 11th. The service will be lead by real priests or pastors who appear as "avatars." (re: Neal Stephenson)

Lexar 8Gb Compact Flash Memory Doubles The Record
Lexar's new 8Gb Professional Series CompactFlash card doubles the old record of 4Gb (gigabytes) for the largest compact flash memory size. (re: Dan Simmons)

Bradbury: Missions To Moon And Mars Will Inspire Humanity
Science Fiction Grandmaster Ray Bradbury spoke before a presidential commission reviewing American space policy - specifically, missions to Mars. (re: Ray Bradbury)

Pentagon Asks For Digital Dog Tags
RFID-based "dog tags" may help troops identify each other in the field. The unit is intended to allow a shooter to query his target - "friend or foe?" (re: Alexander Besher)

A First: Planet Found With Gravitational Microlensing
The first discovery of a planet around another star using gravitational microlensing was announced yesterday by two research teams - OGLE and MOA. (re: Larry Niven)

SPHERES - Mini Satellites Fly In Formation
Rather than bet all the marbles on one large satellite, MIT undergraduates are trying a different strategy. The SPHERES project imagines lots of small volleyball-sized satellites flying together in formation, working in concert. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Sapphire (Novec 1230): Liquid That's Not Wet
Sapphire, a revolutionary liquid fire retardant chemical, has one big advantage over water for putting out fires - nothing gets wet! (re: Kurt Vonnegut)

ULTra - driverless automatic taxi
The ULTra, an automated, driverless taxi system, offers a small private car (up to four passengers) that goes straight to the destination set by the user. (re: Larry Niven)

Roomba's Brother PackBot
iRobot's Roomba cleans up around the house - their PackBot helps soldiers clean up on the battlefield, doing duty as HAZMAT assistant, targeting aid, and bomb discovery droid. (re: Karel Capek)

Yoda - The World's Oldest Mouse Update
Yoda, the world's oldest mouse, lives at the UM Medical School. Not the best place for a mouse to attain longevity - but Yoda was born into a geriatrics lab. (re: Larry Niven)

COTS Scout: Team Building Robot
The COTS Scout robot is learning to play well with others - and to work as part of a search and rescue team. (re: Neal Stephenson)

VolksVegan - Biodiesel Powered Vehicles
The VolksVegan biodiesel is a great little car; any diesel vehicle can be converted to run on vegetable oil. Rudolph Diesel would have approved! (re: William Gibson)

Obtaining Unobtainium at DARPAtech 2004
DARPA searches for impossible materials - unobtainium - and is succeeding. (re: William Gibson)

Sky Ear: Mobile Phones and Helium Balloons
Sky Ear on May 4th - a glowing "cloud" of mobile phones and gauss meters attached to helium balloons with lights is released into the air so that people can dial into the cloud and listen to the sounds of the electromagnetic sky. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Russian Flying Saucers Coming to USA
Flying Saucers from Russia are coming to our skies - and the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command invited them. (re: Robert Heinlein)

AirScooter II Ultralight: Heinlein's Copter Harness?
In 1954, Robert Heinlein described a "copter harness" - you will soon be able to buy the AirScooter II, an easy-to-fly ultralight aircraft that comes pretty close. (re: Robert Heinlein)

JewelEye - Innovative Body Piercing Update
You've seen it everywhere (and lots of places you haven't seen it) - piercings and tatooing. But you'd need to go to the Netherlands to see eyeball jewelry. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Tunnel Boring Machine B6 For Sale
580 tonne boring machine used to dig the Eurotunnel on sale now - perfect ornament for the garden. (re: Jerry Pournelle)

Parasitic Power Harvesting - Dada Sprees Supreme Shoes
The Dada Sprees Supreme atheletic shoes have an unusual feature - a "spinnah" built into the outside wall of the show just above the ankle actuated by heel power. (re: Frank Herbert)

Digital Squab Line (DSL) Has High Bandwidth
Which is faster - ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) or DSL (Digital Squab Line)? If you're thinking pigeons are faster - you're right. (re: Frank Herbert)

Bradbury's Green Bullet Made Possible With Bluetooth
The new Nextlink Bluespoon 5g cell phone headset is so small, Captain Beatty may not notice it if you wear it while driving the salamander back to the firehouse. (re: Ray Bradbury)

Transparent Aluminum Used To Make Tinfoil Hats
The tinfoil hat, once the protective device of choice, has become little more than a crude joke in recent years. Improved headgear is now available. (re: Harlan Ellison)

Google AdCense Improves Olfactory Relevancy
Google AdCense computers look at the ad content on your site, and deliver a relevant and vaguely agreeable odor. (re: Frank Herbert)

FlashMob I Supercomputer Takes On Linpack Update
University of San Francisco students attemtp to create an "instant supercomputer" with their FlashMob I Supercomputer software. (re: Larry Niven)

Gear For The Timelady: Phone Watch
The pleasures of the rotary phone dial can be yours again in this way retro phone-shaped watch. Not a watchphone - that's Bruce Sterling you're thinking of. (re: Bruce Sterling)

VLe Provides Non-Lethal Response
The VLe handgun provides variable-lethality in the same weapon, giving law enforcement and homeowners a non-violent alternative; like Stephenson's Loogie Gun, only less icky. (re: Neal Stephenson)

NASA Debates Terraforming Mars
NASA will hold a formal debate on terraforming Mars tomorrow night at its third Astrobiology Science Conference. (re: Larry Niven)

StrikeAlert Personal Lightning Detector Gives Warning
There are 8,600,000 lightning strikes per day on Earth - better get your StrikeAlert detector before the Mother of Storms comes to an open field near you! (re: John Barnes)

Tmsuk T52 Enryu Support Dragon Hyper Rescue Robot
Enryu, a telefactoring rescue robot capable of lifting steel girders and tearing the doors off cars, was demonstrated to the press yesterday. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Futureme.org: Contact Your Future Self
Have you got something to say to yourself - next year? Futureme.org lets [the present day] you give [the future] you a piece of your mind. (re: John Varley)

Sony LIBRIe E-Ink Electronic Book Update
The Sony LIBRie electronic book solves the most serious problems of past e-book hardware. And, in the near future, it may be able to replace parchment copies of The Daily Prophet, the wizard newspaper from Harry Potter. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Frank Herbert's Odalarm - Scent-Based Alarm Clock Update
In his 1977 novel The Dosadi Experiment, Frank Herbert wrote about an "odalarm" - an alarm clock that worked by scent. You can buy one now from Hakugen Online. (re: Frank Herbert)

Quik House: Neal Stephenson's U-Stor-It?
Meet the quik house - a prefabricated kit house made from recycled shipping containers. Sounds like what Hiro Protagonist from Snow Crash lived in. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Cypak Disposable Paper Computer With RFID Antenna
The company uses conductive ink and adhesives to print electronic circuits and antennas on paper and plastic. The RFID antenna allows for transmission over short distances. (re: Frank Herbert)

Projection Commercials: Extreme Plasma Television
X3D Technologies has created a projection system for three-dimensional product advertisements. Author Alfred Bester has seen this future, and walked right through it. (re: Alfred Bester)

Water Taxi Himiko and the Nautilus: Separated at Birth?
Anime artist Leiji Matsumoto designed a 114-ton Japanese water taxi to "appeal to the younger generation." (re: Jules Verne)

Toshiba SD-Book: An E-Book With Two Pages
This unique electronic book has two LCD displays in a very familiar configuration. You have your favorite book open before you, and read it without ever turning a page. (re: Neal Stephenson)

9X Media Video Wall: Bradbury's Parlour Walls Come To Life
The 9X Media Video Wall, a massive flat panel video display, is probably too expensive to buy on a fireman's salary, but they come very close to the parlour walls from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. (re: Ray Bradbury)

Diebold ATM Crashes, Dispenses Tunes - Not Money
A Diebold ATM crashed on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, and then rebooted without bringing up the ATM software, alarming financial institutions and Americans concerned about e-voting alike. (re: William Gibson)

Nokia Lifeblog Multimedia Diary
It's all important - it's your life, isn't it? Why not keep a permanent record of every last detail. Nokia knows you want to do it.
Just watch out for overuse of that annotation feature. (re: William Gibson)

E. Coli Forced To Evolve: Old Bacterium Learns New Trick
The general method was remarkably similar to a technique used by award-winning sf author Theodore Sturgeon in his classic 1941 story Microcosmic God. (re: Theodore Sturgeon)

Nanotechnology Grand Challenge Events Called For
We've all had fun watching the recent Grand Challenge race run by DARPA. Let's help DARPA set up the nanotechnology Grand Challenge for very small vehicles. (re: Technovelgy.com)

da Vinci Surgical Robot: Dr.'s Helper
A 2004 University of Michigan study noted that patients who were operated on with robotic surgeon assistance recovered more quickly with fewer or less obtrusive scars using a surgical robot. Similar devices are used in telemedicine; read a wry encoun (re: Peter Watts)

Contour Crafting: 3D House Printer
Perhaps you've used those programs that let you design your dream house, creating a Computer Aided Design (CAD) file. Not quite ready to take up the hammer and start building? What if you could just "print" your house? (re: Murray Leinster)

RobotCop III - Not Quite R. Daneel Olivaw
In his classic 1953 robot story Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov teamed a human detective with a robotic one - R. Daneel Olivaw. Hong Kong has been testing robotic police officers for years, and has now introduced RobotCop III. (re: Isaac Asimov)