Toyota shows off a violin playing robot and a two-wheeled human transporter -- the latest products of its robots program that seeks to develop a practical human assistance robot by the early part of the 2010s.
If you've become hostage to a clutch of remote controls in your living room, never quite sure what all the buttons do and confusing different controllers for different gadgets, then Toshiba might have the answer. It's developed a prototype robot that can act as a voice gateway to just about anything in the room that has a remote control.
BrainGate is a new technology where a chip is implanted in the brain that picks up electrical impulses. A computer then interprets those impulses as actions.
Fashion and technology came together at the Boston Museum of Science, where Seamless: Computational Couture was hosted. Models and designers from around the world participated in the event showing off designs that incorporated technology.
Video streams and music downloads satisfy our senses of sight and hearing, and now our sense of smell can get in on the action. NTT Communications aims to tap into the sense of smell with a new system that allows users to send fragrances from their cell phones.
Sony has developed a working prototype hand-powered digital still camera. The camera is the first working concept in Sony's Odo design program that seeks ideas for products for use in areas where the electricity supply is weak or non-existant.
What happens when you take the powerful Cell microprocessor, the chip that sits at the heart of the PlayStation 3 games console, and put it to use inside a television? Toshiba demonstrated just such a TV at this week's International Consumer Electronics Show and the results are impressive.
Japanese display start-up Shinoda Plasma is well on the way to commercializing a 3-meter wide flexible plasma display and expects the first models to appear in 2009.
Spray them with water, subject them to extreme temperatures or drop them on the ground, NEC's rugged ShieldPro laptops are made to survive rough treatment.
Coming in March are three LCD TVs from Sharp that are substantially thinner than current sets on the market. The TVs, which were previewed at CES, are just 3.44 centimeters at thier thinnest point and come with an optional wireless high-def system.
The iPhone may still have the world's heart aflutter, despite a sharp price cut that stiffed early adopters and the recent release of a software update that turned some unlocked iPhones into electronic bricks. But there's more to the world of cell phones than Apple, and users outside Japan are missing out on some of the nicest-looking and most sophisticated phones ever made.
Software developer Reactrix Systems showed off a gaming system made for LCD TVs that mimics the Wii game console in that people punch in the air to hit a boxing opponent or swing their arms to return the ball in a game of volleyball.
The NetFront widget framework allows widgets to be added to a cell phone screen. It will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress 2008 but Japan's Access gave IDG News Service an exclusive first look at the system.
Hardware hacker Joe Grand has never really thought of himself as an artist, but he's having his first gallery opening with the show 'When Electronics Become Art' at the 20 goto 10 gallery in San Francisco. (http://www.itworld. com/Tech/2987/071030 hackerart/index.html )
![Toshiba\](http://img.youtube.com/vi/JK_ysJcA5-Y/2.jpg "Toshiba\")
![NEC\](http://img.youtube.com/vi/hVBeaFhPsE4/2.jpg "NEC\")
![KDDI\](http://img.youtube.com/vi/EFZnPmpczV4/2.jpg "KDDI\")
![Gallery shows hacker Joe Grand\](http://img.youtube.com/vi/JFcXLsLmb5g/2.jpg "Gallery shows hacker Joe Grand\")
