Like two tech superheroes up against an awesome foe, Sharp and Sony have announced a joint venture today in an effort to produce and sell very large LCD panels. Looks like when December 29th rolls around, Sony will be pumping $105 million into Sharp Display Products in an effort to create a share split of 66-percent Sharp and 34-percent Sony.

The deal should be completed by March 10th of next year. The end result of their union will primarily be 32-inch LCD screens along with shouts of “Wondertwin powers, Activate!”.

The future of beer is in a box thanks to some inside-of-the-box thinking. The $20, 1.5-gallon boxes of beer are designed for beer drinkers who prefer their beer from the tap but also don’t mind if that tap is a box. Currently they are testing boxes of Miller Lite and Coors Lite in select cities and they plan to expand it nationwide this football season.

In case you were wondering, 1.5 gallons equals 16 bottles. So you’ll be paying $1.25 per bottle, which is more expensive than buying a 12-pack of bottles. Hey, you have to pay for innovation.

KDDI’s collaboration with Japan’s National Institute of Information & Communications Technology has resulted in the most advanced fiber optic cable in the world. This new cable is able to zip data around at amazing speeds that are up to 10 times faster than existing cables.

We’re talking 30 terabits per second compared to 3 that we use now. Just to put that in perspective for you, that’s 720 DVDs(Each two hours) transmitted to the destination within a single second. Keanu Reeves says Whoa.

Most kids have a 14 to 20 something inch TV in their room. This kid has a 98-inch screen installed in his ceiling. And we, like you, are jealous. Patti Deni (Our candidate for mom of the year) had it installed for her son. At it’s heart the setup is an NEC projector along with some Draper projection mirrors, which fills that huge StarGlas60 display with full HD images than can be viewed from almost any angle.

This install couldn’t have been easy. Word is they had to reframe and reinforce the ceiling to do it. Now that’s an awesome mom.

Hate humans, but love fast food? You might want to try out the new ordering kiosk at the Jack In The Box in Bellevue, Washington. Now you can order fast food without having to talk to anyone. This one purportedly talks to you in a loud annoying voice and includes pictures with options and sides.

According to the person who snapped this pic, humans seemed afraid of the machine. He ordered sour cream but they were out of it. So they refunded 55 cents AFTER the order was done and he asked where the sour cream was.

This DIY gadget is dubbed the “smart charger” and it’s from two Kenyan students who reside in rural areas without electricity. They also use bikes to get around. Jeremiah Murimi and Pascal Katana use a dynamo attached to the bicycle in order to charge cellphone batteries. The whole process costs practically nothing.

They used parts from old discarded radio and television sets to assemble the small charger. The user is able to plug the dynamo lead right into the device. An hour of pedaling can fully recharge the battery in about the same time it would take if it was plugged into an electrical outlet. The idea is that the user would avoid paying $2 each time for battery recharges by making a one-time smart charger purchase worth about $4.50.

Jem Stansfield climbed to the top of the BBC White City building in west London. But here’s the thing: He wasn’t bit by a radioactive spider and his girlfriend isn’t named MJ. No, he managed the climb using some DIY vacuum gloves that were made out of a regular household vacuum cleaner.

Unlike Spidey, he was secured with a safety harness tied to his back, just in case. He built the gloves himself, in a stunt for a new BBC One science show called Bang Goes The Theory.

Forget DVDs, forget Blu-Ray. Disney and Panasonic see the future and that future is movies on flash cards. That’s right, those same tiny memory cards that you buy for your digital camera/MP3 player will soon be available with films pre-loaded on.

Disney and Panasonic are starting things off by packaging pre-recorded microSD cards together with DVDs holding the same movie content. That way users can easily watch their favorite DVDs on portable players.

When it comes to soda, we need choices, not just regular and diet. We need mega-choice. It’s 2009, not the stoneage. That’s why Coke is showing off its new “Freestyle” soda fountain. This baby uses a touchscreen to allow you to choose one of over 100 flavors.

That’s right, over 100 flavor options. Not a one of them any healthier than what we have today. But the future is all about choice not health. Check out the video above to see how it all works. Turns out the future is just full of soda flavors. And that’s the way we like it.

It’s good to know what’s going on in your credit card account. It’s even better to know what’s happening in real-time. That’s why Visa is testing a real-time notification system for mobile phones. Users are able to choose the alert level (whether for all or only the expensive items) and even choose if they prefer SMS or Email alerts.

Currently VISA employees are testing the system to work out all the kinks. things out. Since we are dealing with VISA, we are guessing that the service won’t be free once it goes public, but that remains to be seen.

Some people like touchscreens, some not so much. Well, very soon we may just be able to please everybody thanks to this CMU touch screen technology. It sports temporary buttons that pop out(up?) and inflate when you need them. When you don’t they deflate and you once again have a flat surface.

So, very soon everyone can be happy using the same device. For instance, how about a switch that will help users toggle between a button mode and a full touch mode? This may be in your future phone.

We’ve all heard the tales of potential danger regarding iPods and fire. It’s often hard to sort the truth from rumor. Well here’s another cautionary tale. This one comes out of Sweden where a Saab 9-3 recently met a fiery end.

The official cause of the blaze hasn’t been figured out, but investigators strongly suspect that an iPod left in the car is the culprit. The car itself showed no signs of technical faults and there’s no evidence that the fire was intentionally set. Also, the fire started on the seats, where the iPod was apparently sitting.

Some people have strange hobbies. Like this guy who forces innocent flies to carry paper airplanes made out of rolling papers. First he caches the fly and puts it in a plastic bag for safekeeping. Next he makes he plane. Once the plane is done, he “huffs” on the fly several times.(Seemed excessive to us, but to each his own) This is to get the hairs on the flie’s belly to stick to the superglue. Now is it?

After that, creepy dude goes outside with his new airplane toting slave and watches it fly. Other creepiness includes this dude waxing philosophic about that fateful day at Kittyhawk so many years ago. He says he sets them free when he’s done playing with them, but that’s not the same thing as leaving them the hell alone in the first place.

A federal judge in Los Angeles overturned a guilty verdict on Thursday against Lori Drew, a participant in a cyberbullying hoax against a 13-year-old girl who later committed suicide.

According to U.S. District Judge George Wu, the federal case against Drew revolved around the idea that violating the terms of service for MySpace was the equivalent of computer hacking, which “…leaves it up to a website owner to determine what is a crime”. Wu threw out the case against Drew of three misdemeanor accounts of accessing computers without authorization, despite a conviction by the jury. A guilty ruling in the case could have potentially made a criminal of anyone that enters false information when registering on any website.

Lori Drew, 50, was accused of participating in a MySpace …

Amidst rumors of overheating iPhones since shortly after the iPhone 3GS was launched, Apple has finally released the first acknowledgment that there might really be an issue with the iPhone regarding excessive temperatures. Various sites on the internet have posted reports of problems with the iPhone due to excessive heat such as shortened battery life, shut downs and even discoloration of the device itself. Now Apple has officially issued a warning about operating and storing the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in places with too much heat.

Apple suggests to only operate the iPhone 3G and 3GS in temperatures between 32º to 95º F (0º and 35º C) and to only store the device between temps of -4º to 113º F (-20º and 45º C). Using or storing the iPhone in temperatures beyond this range can cause the device to stop charging (which could explain a shortened battery life), a dimmer display or a weak signal.