I have to say the Japanese are a little behind the times with this device. A new MP3 player is being developed with removable storage devices so you put your music on the storage cards, and stick them in when you want to play your tunes.

So there is no hard drive. It is just a machine that plays the storage units you put into it. The advantage is supposed to be that your MP3 player is cheaper overall. But does this remind anyone of anything? First the Walkman and then the DiskMan, right? Thanks guys, I already have one of those.

This development is definitely a breakthrough. As if it isn't bad enough that those with cancer are dealing with well, cancer, but they also have to suffer from hair loss and nausea amongst a host of other horrific side effects from chemotherapy.

Now scientists in Australia are working on nanotechnology that will use inert bacteria instead of live bacteria to deliver the cancer fighting chemicals to the body. Thus healthy cells like hair cells will not be affected, and nausea will be at a minimum. Even better, the nano-tech is being designed to specifically target the tumors, and not all cells in the body as is the case with current chemotherapy.

Even if it's not a cure, if we can make the lives of cancer patients easier, let's do it. Expect to see this starting by the end of next year.

This almost doesn't make sense, but don't lose faith in the justice system yet. The San Francisco Chronicle has reported in this article that digital technology is being created to transform humans into virtual beings that are placed in virtual settings for police lineups.

The victim comes in and looks at virtual people on a computer screen instead of at the alleged assailants. I see a lot of benefits here. For starters and probably most importantly, victims will not have to confront their assailant in person soon after a crime is committed thus reducing incidence of post-traumatic stress. Secondly, if the virtual criminals are being placed in settings that actually resemble crime scenes, perhaps even victims' testimonies might be more accurate than if they took place in a police station.

Well, more studies are on the way, but this definitely looks interesting.

The New Scientist has been discussing some patents on the way for both Nokia and Motorola in the way of solar powered cell phones.

I'm not sure about this one. Other companies have tried and failed here. But Motorola intends to use the solar cell as both the LCD display and the energy source for the cell phone.

Well, if this is a hit, it will certainly take the aggravation out of losing battery power just when you need to make that critical phone call. And you can also eliminate all of the other hardware that comes with your phone's battery. I see some potential cost savings here, but it sounds like this one needs some tweaking.

Yikes! Did you know that your printer is spying on you? According to this article, when your printer spews out a page, there is a series of very cleverly hidden are dots that are invisible to the naked eye. Essentially, this means that any printed page can be tracked down to the person that owns the printer.

Mental note to self: Do all of my illegal stuff on someone else's printer. Again I have to wonder why people would go and publish this information. If we are using it to track down criminals, why feed them with more information that will prevent them from getting caught. Now every time I print something I will just feel peculiar.

Remember The Clapper? That device you installed so that you just had to clap to turn the lights on or off? I don't know what was more annoying, the device or the commercial. At any rate, engineers in Australia have developed a box that will eventually replace your television's remote control.

Wave on, wave off. We will soon be controlling our Electronic Gadgets literally just by waving your hands. Can I get a wand with that?

However, I do see some potential issues lying ahead. Anything with motion sensor detection always raises some concern. Anyone with kids is going to have to be careful with this one, and those that use gestures to speak will consider overlooking this device.

Research at University of Central Florida is in the process of developing zoom lenses for the digital camera that most closely resembles the workings of the human eye.The difference between these and traditional zooms today is that they will be smaller but will offer more clarity.

I love this notion, and love seeing science and technology merging to create useful gadgets. As with any technology, this will probably soon be seen in other gadgets (such as cell phones) as well. And hey, if they can get the zoom eye to work better than my own, the pictures will definitely be worth a thousand words.