Lawmakers on Capitol Hill will soon be permitted to use iPads, iPhones and Blackberry devices on the House floor according to a recent report. Current rules ban the use of these devices, though incoming House speaker John A. Boehmer, the Republican Member for Ohio, is working on plans to relax these measures.

Members would still be banned from using the devices for matters that are unrelated to House matters, so they won’t be allowed to shop on Ebay or play games, but permitting the use of technology should help them be greener and help members quickly refer to legislation and receive important communiqués. So it could make things more efficient.

We don’t have much in the way of details at the moment, but Disney wants to have some order in the web-connected toys market. Whether that means a goofy doll that surfs the web or a Mickey Mouse ebook that updates with bedtime stories, we have no idea. The company’s consumer products division is all set to detail a proposal to establish a set of technology standards at the Engage Conference and Expo this month.

Armen Mkrtchyan, the head of Disney’s “Toymorrow” team will be laying out the plan. He will talk about what kinds of standards Disney is looking at, and how those standards could lead to cost-savings and “increased playability.”

Microsoft’s new InstaLoad technology sounds amazing. It promises to redefine the way you insert batteries into your devices, letting you forget about positive or negative polarity. That’s possible thanks to a patented battery contact design, which Microsoft says “simply works,” and is compatible with a whole range of battery sizes, both standard and rechargeable.

Microsoft is already licensing the technology to third party device suppliers, and is even offering a royalty-free license for suppliers and manufacturers of accessibility products. This could change the entire battery game.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have created what they are calling a “magic mirror”. It shows you your muscular activity in real time so you can visually see how hard your muscles are working while you exercise. The system can currently monitor the activity of 30% of the body’s 300-some skeletal muscles.

Sadly the user has to wear all of those little balls etc, to get the readings. At the moment it’s a medical device, so it won’t be showing up at the gym anytime soon or on Wii-Fit. But one day soon you’ll be using your mirror as an actual health device. Not just a surface for your popped zit juice.

Self-parking automobiles aren’t new, but Ford’s system, which is part of the company’s new power steering technology, will work on hills and uses sensors to monitor blind spots and notify the driver of approaching traffic. This new auto-parking technology debut on the 2010 Lincoln MKS sedan and Lincoln MKT luxury crossover vehicle.

The fancy new power steering uses the vehicle’s battery instead of it’s hydraulic system, which improves fuel economy and reduces carbon emissions. It should be showing up in almost ninety percent of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles by 2012.

Like many Sci-Fi novels shows and movies, Star Trek showed us futuristic gadgets that at the time were complete Science fiction, but soon came to be a reality. Here’s a list of such technology, in no particular order.

These might be new to you if you have always been far to enamored with the women of Star Trek to notice the tech and gadgets. I don’t blame you, from Yeoman Rand to Tasha Yar, to Beverly Crusher and beyond, there’s some hot babes gallivanting around in the final frontier. Before we get so easily sidetracked, back to the theme. Star Trek gadgets and tech. Some you can own, some are in the works and some are just strange.