Just Click on Decaf
YOU'VE GOT LARA CROFT ON LINE 2
NOKIA N-GAGE GAME DECK If you're hooked on video games but don't ever want to be out of reach, this is your phone. The N-Gage ($299) combines crisp color graphics with a GSM mobile phone for worldwide reception. Game titles are stored on MMC flash-memory cards, which can also be used to load MP3 tracks into the onboard RealOne player. The first games to hit the market will include Tony Hawk (Activision), Lara Croft (Eidos) and lots of furry critters from Sega.
THINNER AND BRIGHTER
ORGANIC LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES LCD screens are ubiquitous. They're in phones, PDAs, televisions and computers. Trouble is, they depend on flat, heavy, breakable glass and require a separate light source. OLEDs provide the benefits of LCD but, like a firefly, generate light on their own, so they are thinner and more energy efficient. Kodak, below, and DuPont's Olight group are each developing OLED displays. They use differing technologies but share the goal of the OLED revolution: displays made of pliable plastic.
TALKING TO THE POT
SALTON BEYOND COFFEEMAKER Instead of fumbling with confusing buttons to schedule the coffeemaker, you "surf" to this $99 device via your Web browser and program it in plain English. Salton's breadmaker and microwave will even scan food bar codes to pull up recipes. And no more blinking 12:00. These appliances set their own clocks.
THE EYES HAVE I.T.
PLAYMATES BABY BRIGHT EYES At first blush, she seems rather ordinary. But look again. This doll ($50; due this fall) has azure blue oversize eyes that blink, sweep the room and interact with your child. NanoMuscle technology silently powers the robotic eyes to eerie effect. The spinoff possibilities are tantalizing: Chucky lives?
COOK AS FAST AS YOU EAT
GE PROFILE TRIVECTION OVEN Sure, the microwave is a technological miracle, but it's still used mostly just to defrost meat or reheat leftovers. GE's new flagship oven ($2,349 to $3,899; due this fall) combines thermal, convection and microwave cooking. A Thanksgiving turkey gets done in half the time but stays moist and crisp. And don't toss out your beloved cookbooks. The Auto-recipe tool converts conventional oven temperatures and cooking times.
SHOPPING CARTOGRAPHY
IBM CONCEPT CART Tomorrow's supermarket may look a lot like today's, but the humble cart is fast evolving. By next fall, using radio-frequency sensors to navigate, your cart will display a map to guide you through the aisles, pointing out sales and specials. Instead of taking a number, you'll use the touch screen to request shrimp from the seafood section or cold cuts from the deli to be picked up on your way to the checkout.
TAKE YOUR TV ANYWHERE
SHARP AQUOS WIRELESS LCD TV Your phone is cordless. Your computer jumps on a wireless network. So why not ditch the cords around your TV? The $1,800 set, due next spring, leaves peripheral devices, such as a DVD player, cable box or satellite hookup, connected to the SmartLink transmitter, far left, keeping the 15-in. television free of unsightly wires and letting you carry it around the house on a whim. The remote can command all your devices, so there's no need to race between rooms--or bribe a loved one--to go pause a movie.
SEX IN THE CITY, TO GO
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