Technology's Just Getting Started
From: USA Today - 12/16/2005 - P. 4B
By: Kevin Maney

Researchers across the country are developing technologies that will
translate into new devices with human-like capabilities, such as Stanford's
Morning After Bot that cleans up after a party by taking a picture of what a
room looked like before, and working to restore it to that condition by
picking up bottles and glasses. Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft are both
developing a coffee table with touch-screen capabilities, so people could use
it to play video games or share photos. In Microsoft's version, the table
could detect the presence of an object such as a coffee cup, and reformat a
Web site so that the words would scroll around it. Stanford researchers have
created a smart walker with GPS sensors embedded inside that link to external
sensors to ensure that the elderly do not get lost. GPS sensors will appear
in a host of new products by 2010. Just as users can download music from the
Internet, 3D fabrication machines will enable users to create objects at home
simply by downloading the design and plugging it in to the device. Microsoft
is also developing a camera that is loaded with miniature sensors that users
could customize to take a picture under certain conditions, such as when
another person comes into sight. Researchers are now exploring intelligent
eyewear that could map the flight path of a golf ball and report its distance
to the hole, or project sheet music so musicians would not have to turn pages. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2005-12-15-future-tech-gifts_x.htm