Emerging Technologies - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Seabird concept phone designer talks about need for better interfaces

  Designer Billy May's concept smartphone, the Seabird, might never be produced. But the underlying concepts in the phone -- and inside May's head-- are a wonder, nonetheless.

• Intel: Future smartphones will be assistants, companions

  The future of computing is all about devices that are not just smarter than today's, but are also more aware of the habits and day-to-day lives of their users, says Justin Rattner, Intel's Chief Technology Officer.

• Intel pushes itself beyond the chip

  Intel CEO Paul Otellini kicked off the company's annual IDF conference today by announcing that Intel is on track to ship a 22-nanometer processor in 2011.

• Google ponders Android vs. Chrome for future tablets

  Google is being somewhat circumspect about whether Android or Chrome will run on future tablet computers, with two top executives hinting recently at different possible directions. Analysts also disagree in their predictions.

• The eLocity A7 tablet is set to go up against the iPad

  Starting Wednesday, September 1, if all goes according to plan, you will be able to order one of the first in what will surely be an avalanche of Android -based tablet computers. That's the day the eLocity A7 , running Android 2.2 and based on the Nvidia Tegra 2 chip, will be available for pre-orders at Amazon.com.

• New Bluetooth spec could mean a comeback for wristwatches

  Remember wristwatches? With the surge in smartphones and their instant access to time and other information, fewer people seem to wear a watch these days.

• MIT builds swimming, oil-eating robots

  MIT researchers have used nanotechnology to develop a robot that can autonomously navigate across the surface of the ocean to clean up an oil spill.

• NASA: Astronaut will ride robot arm in emergency spacewalk

  Astronauts will use robotics in at least one of two emergency spacewalks that have been set up to make critical repairs to the International Space Station after part of its cooling system stopped working over the weekend.

• Intel to focus on how computers will be used in the future

  Intel Corp. is creating a new research lab dedicated to helping scientists figure out how people will use computers in the future.