Cool Stuff That's Coming

The short answer is a shift from mass markets to niche markets, as electronic commerce aggregates and makes profitable what were previously unprofitable transactions.

"The problems where we know all the details are fewer in number than those we encounter on a daily basis. But we don’t know how to write a program to do that. … Any technology that requires you to specify everything you know up front is going to be doomed."

Within six to eight years, you’ll probably be getting news from hand-held computer instead of a paper or a magazine, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said yesterday at a conference of business journalists in Seattle.

"That sold for $5 million," Norris laughed. "That really made me want to be an inventor."

Cell phone fanatics take note: New, non-acoustic sensor technology means that one day, you won’t have to shout into your phone to be heard over nearby noise.

If plastics was once the future, corn is now the future of plastics.

The idea is simple: Shine a light on object A, it turns into predetermined shape B. Shine a different light on shape B, it molds back into its original form.

Why the future doesn’t need us.

“It’s a huge step forward.”

Contact lenses that change their appearance according to the wearer’s blood-sugar level could one day help people with diabetes keep track of their levels non-invasively, new research suggests.