General Electric says it has achieved a breakthrough in digital storage technology that will allow standard-size discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs. I had to read that twice myself. It’s just a laboratory success for now, until it can be made to work in products that can be mass-produced and affordable.

“This could be the next generation of low-cost storage,” said Richard Doherty, an analyst at Envisioneering, a technology research firm.

See that picture above? That’s Cady. She died at age 10 in a car accident. A mad scientist by the name of Dr. Panayiotis Zavos infused her DNA into a cow’s egg to study human cloning.

Dr Zavos (Isn’t that a creepy mad scientist name?) assures the public that the human/cow hybrid model is for study only, not for world domination or anything. He says that he would never implant anything but human to human tissue, even though Cady’s mother would allow it. But a documentary filmmaker who witnessed his work says that Zavos has implanted 11 other cloned 100% human embryos into four women who are prepared to give birth to the first human clone. The procedure is a criminal offense in Britain and illegal in many other countries.

An acoustics engineer named John Stuart Reid from the UK, is creating a machine that does the unthinkable. He claims it will enable people to “read” the “dolphin language.” The device is called the Cymascope, and it converts the sounds dolphins make when communicating into images, which can then be mapped into a sort of dictionary, then later “read” by people trying to understand what that dolphin is going on about.

I’m guessing half of the chatter is LOL and OMG or how they totally owned that human. The Cymascope uses a pool of water monitored by a video camera, along with some sand, brass plates and a violin bow. It sounds pretty wacky.

They are always coming up with more ways to sell us things. Now a new type of billboard is on the way, displaying ads suited to your individual tastes as you by. The odds are pretty good that a fair amount of these ads will be for fast food and gadgets.

You can thank Yahoo Japan, who plans to install billboards with not only cameras, but also facial analysis tech to identify your age and sex. They will also display content like news and weather. I wonder if that facial analysis will tell teens they need Clearasil.

Typically a battery functions with lithium ions flowing between a negatively charged anode, usually graphite, and the positively charged cathode, usually cobalt oxide or lithium iron phosphate. But three years ago, an MIT team reported that it had engineered viruses that could build an anode by coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold and self-assembling to form a nanowire. The “virus batteries” have the energy capacity and power performance similar to rechargeable batteries.

The prototype battery is a coin battery, but the idea is that cell and larger batteries could be made from this process and that one day it will power cars, boats and everything else. As it stands right now, it can go at least 100 charges before performance goes down. That will change of course.

In previous reports from Greenpeace, HP, Lenovo, and Dell haven’t done very badly, but the trio has failed to meet Greenpeaces expectations this time. They made promises they could not keep. All three had promised to eliminate PVC and brominated flame retardants in their products by the end of this year, but now they will apparently not be able to meet that deadline.

The only one to offer up a new deadline is Lenovo, who says they will now do it by the end of 2010. On the other end of the spectrum, Philips has jumped from 15th place to 4th, largely due to new recycling initiatives.

A world where gadgets are powered by blood? It could happen sooner then you think. It won’t be long until our gadgets are full fledged living entities soon after that. Maybe. In a not too distant future Piezoelectric nanowires may reside in our blood vessels. They would use the energy created by blood flow to power gadgets. Stuff like pacemakers, iPods, anything designers can dream up really.

It sounds pretty amazing, but the reality is that it may cause some sort of new diseases in our bodies or make us more susceptible to them. These things never work out the way you think. If it happens at all, it won’t be for a long long time hopefully.

The idea of hackers bringing down the entire US power grid is scary. Most people think that this scenario strictly belongs in sci-fi movies and that it couldn’t happen, but according to security analysts, the threat is real. The threat is a real possibility due to the use of smart grids involving two million devices, which are largely wireless, sending data back and forth between power stations and homes.

Researchers at Seattle based IOActive claim that they have proven that the devices are vulnerable to virus attack by hacking. Equipment worth just $500 was enough to create a worm virus which spread rapidly across the network. Had that been a real hacker, there would have been some serious damage.

When you think about the homeless, you likely think about wool blankets, shopping carts and cardboard box shelters. Add the cell phone to that list. According to advocates who work with the district’s homeless, the proportion of homeless people who own and use a cellphone is 30% to 40%.

It seems bizarre, but the gadget once considered a luxury, is now being used by the homeless to keep up with food stamp programs, housing applications and checking emails. There’s also the obvious need for the 911 feature. It makes sense, as a pay as you go phone with 200 minutes can cost about $20 or $30. It’s a lifeline.

We may never be able to swim as fast as fish, but guys like Ted Ciamillo are hard at work to make sure we can at least get second place. The Greek engineer has come up with a contraption called Lunocet, which is basically a dolphin-inspired 2.5 pound monofin.

It’s lightweight and made of carbon fiber and fiberglass, and spans almost a meter. It’s capable of propelling swimmers almost 33 miles per hour, converting nearly 80 percent of the applied energy into thrust. The appendage is efficient, lightweight and fast. And can propel swimmers almost twice the speed of Michael Phelps.

What you are looking at in the pic above is a virtual reality helmet that recreates sights, smells, sounds and even tastes from far-flung destinations. Created by British scientists, the device will allow users a life-like experience of places such as Kenya’s Masai Mara while never leaving home. You could greet friends and family on the other side of the world as though they were present in the same room. Previously, scientists have only had success with virtual reality technology recreating sound and vision. This helmet named the Virtual Cocoon could change all that.

The prototype helmet connects wirelessly to a computer which feeds information about a virtual world or another part of the real world. It features a high definition high dynamic screen that produces pictures ten times darker, or 30 times brighter than the conventional television. A tube is connected to a box of chemicals which releases smells under the wearer’s nose, while a similar device can spray flavors directly into the mouth and provide a texture of sensation.

Doktor A, the creator this and other steampunk toys must be a mad genius living in the wrong time period. You can see his work currently on display at Gallery1988.

Just arrange cards in a semi circle in front of the device, place the planchard in the center of the cards, then set dial A to the spirit you wish to contact. Set dial B to the time since death if known. After that, you fully wind the patented clockwork mechanism. Next, you sit in a circle around the device and join hands. Once the spirit is contacted start asking questions using Morse code via the tap key mounted on top of the case.

Chalk this one up as yet another thing that will be lying around your home, waiting for infants and those with Homer Simpson IQs to put in their mouths. Hershey’s is teaming up with Jazwares to develop a line of consumer electronics that will have you craving sugar and running out to get some chocolate.

Look for 1 to 4GB USB drives shaped like your favorite treats. It’s not just USB drives though. Expect some digital cameras, earphones and speakers too, whether they take the form of Hershey’s Kisses or Mr. Goodbar. Prices should be in the $15 to $30 range. No release date yet. Expect them to end up in Halloween bags in affluent neighborhoods…Or regular neighborhoods by mistake.

Something interesting is happening in Germany and for once it has nothing to do with David Hasselhoff. It has to do with the fact that municipal budgets are tight. Many towns throughout the world are turning off street lights at night to save money. Saving money and electricity is awesome. But we need light when we need light. Like when old ladies are walking home.

So some German towns seem to have found a solution. Their lighting grids have been modified with a system called Dial4Light. That means that residents can use their cellphones to turn on the lights street by street. When 15 minutes passes, a timer turns the street dark again. That means less wasted energy and residents still have light.

Sirius XM is preparing to file for bankruptcy and it could happen within days, according to the New York Times. A bankruptcy would make Sirius XM one of the largest casualties of the economy. It would be the second-largest Chapter 11 filing so far this year.

The article speculates that the move might be designed to pressure Dish Network and EchoStar owner Charles Ergen into making an offer. According to the Wall Street Journal, he offered to purchase the satellite radio group last year, but was brushed off. Anyway, he apparently wants to try again.