Going Digital

By Maryanne Murray Buechner, Lev Grossman and Anita Hamilton

PIXEL PERFECT

Why is it that snaps taken with a $500 digital camera often aren't as sharp as those from a $20 disposable? Because unlike the light-sensitive chemicals in ordinary analog film, each sensor on a digital chip saves only one-third of the color data it receives--either red, green or blue, but not all three at once. With the new Foveon X3 technology, however, three sensors are stacked on top of one another, so that each pixel absorbs the full color spectrum. Result: a 3.5-megapixel camera using Foveon technology will produce images as clear as today's 7 MP models. INVENTOR Richard Merrill, Foveon AVAILABILITY December 2002 TO LEARN MORE www.foveon.com

MAGIC FINGERS

If computer monitors can shrink to almost nothing, why not keyboards? They soon may. Two companies have developed prototype "virtual" keyboards designed to accompany portable devices like PDAs, tablet PCs and cell phones. Here's how they work: a laser beam projects a glowing red outline of a keyboard on a desk or other flat surface. A sensor like those used in digital cameras monitors the reflection of an infrared light projected on the same spot. It can tell which "keys" you are trying to strike by the way that reflection changes. Someday, similar keyboards may be built into the gadgets they work with, so that they disappear when not in use. INVENTORS Canesta and VKB AVAILABILITY 2003 TO LEARN MORE vkb.co.il and www.canesta.com

WIRED KINGDOM

Ever want to build a cathedral? Underwater? Change your clothes, your face, your whole body? Fly? You can't do any of that stuff in real life, but you can do it all and more in Second Life, a startlingly lifelike 3-D virtual world now evolving on the Internet. Unlike other shared online adventures, Second Life isn't about slaying monsters or zapping aliens. It's about building things, meeting people and expressing yourself. Even if you already have a life, you may want to get a second one. INVENTOR Linden Lab AVAILABILITY Summer 2003, for a monthly fee TO LEARN MORE www.lindenlab.com