Gearfuse Technology, Science, Culture & More

E Ink, the company whose displays power the Kindle and the Nook, is bringing the first low-power, ambient-light color display to market. Like its black-and-white reflective-displays forerunners, Triton promises weeks, not hours, of battery power. But the resolution of the new technology, at least for now, lacks the richness and resolution of its backlit LED competitors.

In 'What Technology Wants', author and Wired founder Kevin Kelly elaborates a theory of technology that emancipates tools from the bondage of human hands. In the weeks to come, I'll be blogging my reading of Kelly's challenging and provocative work.

An explanation for the spectacular missile contrail that appeared in the Los Angeles sky last night continues to prove elusive. Amidst the speculation, a benign possibility suggests itself: could it be that someone got carried away while trying to earn Scouting's space exploration merit badge?

An ancient precursor to the Swiss Army Knife, this Roman folding implement dates from the third century of the common era. Victorinox should rush a model into production today.

images have been important in the story of science and technology for a very long time�especially since the advent of movable type and the printing press in the West. I�m asking for help in compiling the Wonderful Gallery of Scientific Imagery. What images have had the greatest impact on the course of scientific knowledge and technological innovation?

You think your mornings are hard? Try waking up after be trapped under a glacier for five thousand years.

Isabella Products, a maker of wireless digital picture frames, has teamed up with publishing giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to bring a children's e-reader to market next summer. Called the Fable, the device will be marketed as a networked color tablet for kids, and will feature a 7-inch color touchscreen and a wireless networking over a secure, managed connection.

It's a lunar crater�in this case, a rather striking one found in the Bay of Rainbow's in the moon's northern hemisphere. But as the blazon of Chinese characters indicates, there's something different about this image. The probe Chang'e 2�named for the Chinese goddess who lives on the moon with her companion, the herbalist Jade Rabbit�is scouting sites for a planned Chinese robotic moon landing in 2013. The budget for Chang'e 2 is reportedly a mere $134 million.

We're fascinated by all kinds of technology. Apple's remix of letterpress and desktop publishing may be more mainstream than steampunk, but it reminds us what a tremendous technology the press in all its manifestations can be. Follow the jump for a short film profiling Manhattan printer Robert Warner, master of printing technology from the turn of the last century.

In the excitement around the new MacBook Airs, another Apple product rollout has received less attention: the addition of a letterpress-printing option in iPhoto. But Apple's foray into craft printing should come as no surprise; Steve Jobs has always been an aficionado of classic typography.