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Every geek occasionally suffers from gadget envy. Even if you’re such an early adopter that you’re already waiting in line to get an iPad, your personal collection of gadgetry is limited by that pesky thing we call “reality.” Go ahead, tell me you haven’t, while watching Star Trek, thought about how handy it would be to have a transporter. And who hasn’t — usually right after saying or doing something stupid, or upon seeing a long shot win a race — wished he had a time machine? So here, then, is a list of the top ten most useful gadgets from science fiction and comic books. I’ve restricted myself to one gizmo per source, because I could write a whole list based only on Star Trek or Star Wars, for examples. And I’ve also tried to focus on devices that would be useful without being incredibly dangerous — hence, no lightsaber (because you know you’d slice off an important body part thirty seconds after turning it on), no time machine (because paradoxes have that whole destroying-the space...

Google is trying to one-up Apple, showing off designs for a new tablet computer based on its Chrome operating system that would be a direct rival to the iPad. Just weeks after launching its own iPhone competitor in the US, the Nexus One, Google might soon extend its competition with Apple further as it seeks to push its search and other products on to as many devices as possible. Google's user interface designer, Glen Murphy, published mock-ups of a Google tablet on the search giant's Chromium.org website, along with a video of how users would interact with the device. Late last year Google announced Chrome OS, an operating system predominantly for small netbooks that would be based around the web browser, providing quick boot times and easy access to Google's array of online services. The first Chrome OS netbooks are due to arrive this year, but Google is now considering extending the platform to other devices including tablets, desktops and even big screen TVs. Chrome OS ...

REDMOND, Wash.--Remember the CueCat--the quirky bar code reader that was going to connect magazine readers with digital material? Well, apparently Microsoft does too. And while the CueCat meowed into obscurity, the software maker thinks that the idea made sense--that is, using a digital scanner to link printed materials with online content. You can think of Microsoft Tag as CueCat 2.0, though this time, it doesn't require a special device. Instead, Microsoft tags use a cell phone camera for scanning the bar code, and the digital content can pop up right there on the phone. Over the past year, Microsoft tags have started showing up in magazines and newspapers. Tags can also be placed on business cards, products, and even large outdoor signs. "It's the hyperlink in the physical world," said Marja Koopmans, marketing leader for Microsoft's start-up accelerator unit. Tags can link to anything from a Web page to an online brochure or electronic business card (see video...

As data visualization has become more popular, bad infographics have started to crop up more and more frequently. Thankfully, we can always rely on Michael Paukner to make very, very good ones. Here he shows the satellites orbiting our planet. Russia, as you might expect, has a whole lot of satellites that are no longer functioning. China is responsible for a surprisingly large amount of tiny space trash, though I'm not exactly clear on what that is. America, of course, is responsible for the largest amount of space trash. Seeing how many broken satellites remain in orbit instantly reminded me of the scene in Wall-E in which the Earth of the future is seen enveloped in a layer of orbiting techno-trash. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

I thank god for being so safe..(Did i have a choice of being born in a safe society!) My eyes have not seen what many face across the world.. Is it just enough to donate !, if you really think it helps please do so! For music loves please download the sound track and help in the donation. We all are children of god, so why should we forget and think only about our own self's! Religion, Cast, Colour, etc.. is no barrier to an open mind. Do to others as you would do for your self. May god bless all its children, give us the wisdom and strength to be one.. Official Video - We Are The World 25 For Haiti type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> Very beautiful cause, all English speaking singer(Pop, Hip hop, Rock, RnB, etc...) have combined together to generate money for this cause. Please click to view the above video in youtube Do watch this amazing video, highly recommended.(Lyrics are awesome) Where is Haiti:

Boeing has dominated aviation headlines lately, but for those of us who dream of flying our own jet, help is on the way. While the 787 flew for the first time, a much smaller company was busy testing a much smaller jet of its own. The SubSonex is a small, single-seat jet designed to provide high performance in an airplane that fits in your garage. Of course, there is some assembly required. But that, and the $60,000 price tag, is a small price to pay for the thrill of a lifetime. “Every pilot wants to fly a jet someday,” says Mark Schaible. Schaible works for Sonex Aircraft, which has been making airplanes since 1998. Actually, it’s been making kits for the home-built aircraft community, those rabid pilots and tinkerers who take do-it-yourself a step beyond an Altoid USB charger. So far the company’s only performed ground testing, so it doesn’t have any official performance figures yet. But Schaible expects the SubSonex to cruise at more than 240 mph and climb at well over 2,000 feet p...

With the increasing computing power available to even casual users, the security-conscious have had to move on to increasingly robust encryption, lest they find their information vulnerable to brute-force attacks. The latest milestone to fall is 768-bit RSA; in a paper posted on a cryptography preprint server, academic researchers have now announced that they factored one of these keys in early December. Most modern cryptography relies on single large numbers that are the product of two primes. If you know the numbers, it's relatively easy to encrypt and decrypt data; if you don't, finding the numbers by brute force is a big computational challenge. But this challenge gets easier every year as processor speed and efficiency increase, making "secure" a bit of a moving target. The paper describes how the process was done with commodity hardware, albeit lots of it. Their first step involved sieving, or identifying appropriate integers; that took the equivalent of 1,500 y...

Understanding Windows 7's 'GodMode' Although its name suggests perhaps even grander capabilities, Windows enthusiasts are excited over the discovery of a hidden "GodMode" feature that lets users access all of the operating system's control panels from within a single folder. By creating a new folder in Windows 7 and renaming it with a certain text string at the end, users are able to have a single place to do everything from changing the look of the mouse pointer to making a new hard-drive partition. The trick is also said to work in Windows Vista, although some are warning that although it works fine in 32-bit versions of Vista, it can cause 64-bit versions of that operating system to crash. To enter "GodMode," one need only create a new folder and then rename the folder to the following: 1) GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} Once that is done, the folder's icon will change to resemble a control panel and will contain dozens of contr...

If NASA returns to the moon in 2020 as planned, astronauts will step out in a brand-new space suit. It will give them new mobility and flexibility on the lunar surface while still protecting them from its harsh environment. The suit will also be able to sustain life for up to 150 hours and will even be equipped with a computer that links directly back to Earth. To infinity and beyond: David Clark Company, in partnership with Oceaneering International, is designing a new U.S. space suit for missions to the space station, moon, and Mars. It has interchangeable parts, so the arms, legs, boots, and helmet can be switched. The first configuration, shown here, is designed for launch, descent, and emergency activities, while the second design is meant for lunar exploration. The new design will also let astronauts work outside of the International Space Station (ISS) and will be suitable for trips to Mars, as outlined in NASA's program for exploration, called Constellation. "The curre...