potential applications

There's another mobile operating system to add to the mix that includes Windows Mobile, Research in Motion's BlackBerry, Palm's webOS, Apple's iPhone, Symbian and Google's Android. On Tuesday, Samsung Electronics announced the launch of its own open mobile platform, called bada.

The Korean company said the new OS "enables developers to create applications for millions" of Samsung phones, providing a "rich smartphone experience to a wider range of consumers across the world."

Limitless Variety

Researchers at the University of South Florida have developed solar cells that are one-fourth the size of a grain of rice. When 20 of them are grouped together in an array, they can generate about 7.8 volts of electricity.

At this week's Intel Developer Forum in Taiwan, Intel conducted its first public demonstration of Moorestown -- a new Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform that company executives say will "increase battery life an order of magnitude" in a variety of portable devices.

With the launch of Moorestown, Intel is on track to reduce "idle power by more than 10 times compared to the first-generation MIDs based on the Intel Atom processor," said Intel Senior Vice President Anand Chandrasekher, who is also general manager of the company's ultra mobility group.

Mobile Internet

Imagine a six-inch spy plane that sends back visual and chemical data in real time, runs on vibrations as well as sun and wind power - and looks like a bat!