Software firm Microsoft has developed a visual diary, which is designed to be worn around the neck, and takes up to 2,000 images a 12-hour day. These images can be downloaded onto a PC and reviewed when needed.

Dubbed SenseCam, the prototype takes a snap whenever there is a drastic change in scenery. Boffins at Redmond want it to respond to other stimuli such as heart rate or skin temperature to track medical problems.

One day it could eventually link with other technology, such as face recognition to remind wearers when they have seen someone before.

Currently those using the prototype are using it to find where they left their car keys or interesting clothes they saw in a shop.

BERKELEY – The mere thought of hauling a 70-pound pack across miles of rugged terrain or up 50 flights of stairs is enough to evoke a grimace in even the burliest individuals. But breakthrough robotics research at the University of California, Berkeley, could soon bring welcome relief — a self-powered exoskeleton to effectively take the load off people's backs.

The Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (BLEEX), as it's officially called, consists of mechanical metal leg braces that are connected rigidly to the user at the feet, and, in order to prevent abrasion, more compliantly elsewhere. The device includes a power unit and a backpack-like frame used to carry a large load.

The engineers point out that while the exoskeleton does the heavy lifting, the human contributes to the balance. "The pilot is not 'driving' the exoskeleton," said Kazerooni. "Instead, the control algorithms in the computer are constantly calculating how to move the exoskeleton so that it moves in concert with the human."

Want to share an event with you, that we experienced this evening.. Dave had over $1000 dollars in his back pocket (in his wallet). New twenties were the lion share of the bills in his wallet. We walked into a truck stop/travel plaza and they have those new electronic monitors that are supposed to say if you are stealing something. But through every monitor, Dave set it off. He did not have anything to purchase in his hands or pockets.

Believe it or not, it was his 'wallet'. That is according to the minimum wage employees working at the truck stop! We then walked across the street to a store and purchased aluminum foil. We then wrapped our cash in foil and went thru the same monitors. No monitor went off.

So we chose to 'microwave' our cash, over $1000 in twenties in a stack, not spread out on a carasoul. Do you know what exploded on American money?? The right eye of Andrew Jackson on the new twenty, every bill was uniform in it's burning... Isnt that interesting?

RSA Security has developed a countermeasure to block scanning of radio-frequency ID tags, responding to privacy concerns about the tiny devices that would allow retailers and manufacturers to track the whereabouts of their goods within a store and beyond.

The blocker tag, which can be placed over a regular RFID tag, prevents a receiver from scanning information transmitted by a tag by sending the receiver more data than it can read -- the equivalent of a denial-of-service attack. RSA doesn't have immediate plans to market the blocker and is waiting to see whether industry widely adopts RFID technology.

Albrecht was also worried that blocker tags would encourage people to become complacent about surveillance, thinking they could protect themselves from it at will. But she said the blocker tag would work only as long as it was legal.

"You could allow surveillance to be created all around you, thinking the blocker tag would protect you, and then a single stroke of the pen could render a blocker tag illegal by an executive mandate," she said.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) announced on Feb 12 that it has developed a prototype of a new high-capacity memory storage device, designed with a multi-layered waveguide structure and based on thin-film holography.

The company has produced a 100-layer postage stamp-sized media prototype with a 1GB memory capacity constructed from plastic material, and a small prototype drive for reading data.

Information is pre-recorded as follows: first, digital data is encoded into a 2D image, then the 2D image is translated into a hologram by CGH (Computer Generated Hologram) technology. Finally, the hologram is recorded as a sub-micron concave-convex pattern in each waveguide layer of the media. For data retrieval, a laser beam is focused at the end of a waveguide layer, then the light propagates in the waveguide and is scattered by the concave-convex pattern. The scattered light generates the 2D image on the plane parallel to the waveguide. This 2D image is captured by an image sensor and decoded into the original digital data.

Can inkjet printing technologies of the near future democratize manufacturing, similar to the way Gutenberg's press democratized knowledge five hundred years ago? A decade from now, will we literally print out working computers, televisions, MP3-playing t-shirts?

Creating a 3D object with computer-controlled fabricators is an extension of the same methods that enable a cathode-ray tube to paint two-dimensional displays on screens by turning on and off the right pixels at the right time – except a 3D printer will have to work in layers, turning on and off the deposition or removal of physical substances at specific 3D coordinates. Lasers that harden a semifluid polymer, or which etch hardened plastics have been used successfully on small (but not micro-scale small) objects.

Z Corporation, a startup in Burlington, Massachusetts, markets an "affordable 3D printing system" that uses a spray nozzle adapted from an HP inkjet printer to spray a liquid that binds powdered solid substances into the desired shape.

Technically, Stephen Thaler has written more music than any composer in the world. He also invented the Oral-B CrossAction toothbrush and devices that search the Internet for messages from terrorists. He has discovered substances harder than diamonds, coined 1.5 million new English words, and trained robotic cockroaches. Technically.

"His first patent was for a Device for the Autonomous Generation of Useful Information," the official name of the Creativity Machine, Miller said. "His second patent was for the Self-Training Neural Network Object. Patent Number Two was invented by Patent Number One. Think about that. Patent Number Two was invented by Patent Number One!"

On Christmas Eve 1989, Thaler typed the lyrics to some of his favorite Christmas carols into a neural network. Once he'd taught the network the songs, he unleashed the Grim Reaper. As the reaper slashed away connections, the network's digital life began to flash before its eyes. The program randomly spit out perfectly remembered carols as the killer application severed the first connections. But as its wounds grew deeper, and the network faded toward black, it began to hallucinate.

"Its last dying gasp was, 'All men go to good earth in one eternal silent night,'" Thaler said.

Homer Simpson has apparently relinquished his post at Springfield nuclear plant to take up a new position with US Energy Department's Pantex plant in Texas.

Our suspicions are aroused because the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has reported that workers at the Amarillo complex nearly totalled the Lone Star State twice while dismantling old nuclear warheads.

In the first incident, highly-skilled operatives inadvertently drilled into the warhead's core, provoking a full-scale evacuation of Pantex. They later made a second Chernobylesque blunder by bodging a highly-explosive warhead part back together with tape.

Had they subsequently dropped the component, the likely outcome would have been a "violent reaction", with "potentially unacceptable consequences", as safety board chairman John T. Conway rather conservatively put it.

It was the worst year in history for computer worms and viruses. The trouble began in January when the highly contagious Slammer worm infected a quarter of a million computers in just a single day. The following months saw further outbreaks with the viruses Fizzer spreading via both email and file-sharing networks in May and Bugbear attempting to steal passwords and other information from victims in June.

The most striking use of technology came in March when the US and allies went to war in Iraq. The conflict was characterised by unprecedented use of smart bombs, cruise missiles, satellite surveillance and hi-tech propaganda, highlighting the military's growing reliance on technology.

The year ended with a celebration of the centenary of manned flight. Researchers at Boeing Phantom Works and DARPA revealed what the next hundred years may deliver, including personal air vehicles and morphing aircraft.