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Future phones will have security measures built into the glass
The glass on your smartphone screen doesn't do a lot right now: it lets pictures and touch input get through, and that's about it. It may pick up a few extra talents in the future, though. Researchers at Polytechnique Montreal have developed sensors that can sit under the surface of the scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass used in many mobile devices. Their approach etches optical waveguides into the display, letting it track changes in light. As a result, the screen can do things that would normally require either wiring or dedicated sensors. Your phone could check its temperature using light, and the manufacturer could even embed a unique optical pattern into the glass that lets the phone identify itself; it might get much harder to clone a device (and, presumably, its information).
Video: Robohopper gets wings, Icarus complex
Remember the tiny 5cm robot grasshopper that could leap like a superhero but had trouble landing its, um, landings? Well, it still hasn't figured out those basics, but its Swiss developers are already marching ahead with plans to endow it with a pair of wings and light awareness. Now described as a self-deploying microglider, the wannabe locust will be able to identify light sources and fly toward them, an act known as phototaxis, which will make it about as intelligent as your garden variety moth. All the same, you can't stick a camera on a moth and use it to search disaster areas for survivors ... or can you? Videos of the underlying tech can be found after the break. [Via Bot Junkie]
