dracodraconis | Jan. 27th, 2007

Source: C|Net

The i-Sobot is, at 6 inches tall, the world's smallest functional humanoid robot. And it apparently plays the drums, too.

Source: USA Today
ShootSpotter is a rooftop listening system that is capable of triangulating the source of a gun shot. Police are now using this system to zero in on the potential location of a crime either in progress or recently committed. Although the system is not completely accurate, it is good enough to get the police into the right area where more mundane crime-solving skills can be employed.

Source: New York Times

I have said in the past that a technology has arrived when it is used for sex. In fact, the sex industry has driven some technical development, such as push to store digital images in high resolution. Those selling smut have discovered a down side to making their images sharper and clearer... humans have flaws, and HD video does nothing to hide them. These problems are expected to crop up in more mainstream releases, so other filmmakers are paying close attention to a genre they tend to publicly shun.

Source: Technology Review

Scientists have once again pushed the boundary of technology by packing far more bits into silicon real-estate than previously thought possible. Caltech researchers have used nanowire switches to create a device capable of storing data with a density 50 times greater than possible using today's technology, an unprecedented 100-Gb per square centimetre. Don't expect this on store shelves any time soon; much work still remains to iron out some issues (like 75% of the switches failing) and determining how to scale up production.

Source: PR Newswire
According to an independent survey conducted by Kelton Research (never heard of them...), 65% of PC users with broadband access spend more time with their computer than they do with their significant other. Take from this what you will.