Topping the list for bizarre data loss stories have to be number six, two and one, which respectively recount a brawl between two colleagues in a server room which caused one of the racks to tip over, a drive that went overboard - spending six months 200ft below the waves before being recovered - and a hapless criminal who thought that ditching his laptop out a 12-story window during a police raid would mean that the incriminating evidence would surely be destroyed.

The chipmaker will offer its design specification to the Server System Infrastructure Forum by the end of the year, said Jason Waxman, general manager of Intel's high-density computing group.

The present microserver uses a 1.86GHz quad-core processor, the "Lynnfield" model of Intel's new "Nehalem" generation. Its top power consumption is 45 watts, but early in 2010, Intel will release a dual-core "Clarkdale" model that consumes only 30 watts when running flat-out.

That's at the top end, though. Intel's goal is for the entire microserver--which also includes memory and supporting chips--to idle at just 25 watts of power.

Engineers have created a new fingernail-size chip that can hold 1 trillion bytes (a terabyte) of data -- 50 times the capacity of today's best silicon-based chip technologies.

"Instead of making a chip that stores 20 gigabytes, you have one that can handle one terabyte, or 50 times more data," Narayan said in a press release.

When Jules Verne wrote about a gigantic gun that could be used to launch people into space in the 19th century, no one expected it to become a reality.

At the Space Investment Summit in Boston last week, Hunter described a design for a 1.1-kilometre-long gun that he says could launch 450-kilogram payloads at 6 kilometres per second.

While humans would clearly be killed and conventional satellites crushed by the gun's huge g-forces, it could lift robust payloads such as rocket fuel.

Holographic technology has been developed that can pack 1TB onto a DVD-sized disk that can be read by a slightly modified Blu-ray drive and is expected to last 100 years.

The first products using the technology will be 1TB or multi-terabyte drives for archival storage and will hit the market in two to three years, said Peter Lorraine.

"We think there is consumer fatigue over changing formats. Blu-ray has two to four years of life to go. After that, consumers will be clamouring for terabytes of storage."

The latest-generation Kindle DX, with a 9.7-inch screen, sells for $489 from Amazon.com, while the original Kindle sells for $299. On Aug. 5, Sony announced that it would release two e-readers within a month with $299 and $199 price points, in a bid to counter Amazon.com.

Like digital cameras, e-readers could effect a change in consumer behavior, specifically by making broad swaths of the population embrace reading from digital screens in lieu of paper.

This car - actually, it's two cars, the BMW 760Li High Security and the BMW 750Li High Security - features a the kind of stuff normally found in military vehicles and Jerry Bruckheimer movies.

Tick the "high security" option and you'll ride around in a bank vault with a suspension tough enough to carry a car weighed down by armor plating and bullet resistant glass.

And BMW offers options such as flag holders (we love those) and, our favorite, a gun case with compartments for two, count 'em two machine guns in the center console.

The ongoing Meltdown has required many unemployed workers to take jobs below their station, but perhaps none have fallen further than two industrial robots who are now employed as noodle chefs in Nagoya, Japan.

The shop's owner, Kenji Nagoya - who just coincidentally is a robot manufacturer - told Reuters that "The benefits of using robots as ramen chefs include the accuracy of timing in boiling noodles, precise movements in adding toppings, and consistency in the taste."

The device is an extension of its controversial Active Denial System, which uses microwaves to heat the surface of the skin, creating a painful sensation without burning that strongly motivates the target to flee.

"Independent of the mode of production, with this size of antenna the beam will show variations of intensity with distance - not just a simple decrease - up to about 500 metres," says Altmann. Shooting it on the move with any accuracy will be difficult, he adds.

Gadget makers, also known as hackers and tinkerers, have created an underground network that stretches from Argentina to New Zealand.

"By design, today's gadgets are not supposed to be fixed. They are meant to only work for two years, and then you throw them away," says Mr Rodgers, who would like to see more technology companies build products that are easier to fix and customise.

There is also a special kind of satisfaction in making or repairing a gadget, one that I can personally vouch for.