SPECIAL REPORT

ROBOT SUIT For several years, a Japanese company has been working on a robotic suit that could help the old and the disabled move like an able-bodied person. With their latest version, the HAL-5, they seem to have finally done it. Comprised of robotic limbs and a backpack containing a battery and computer system, the HAL is strapped on to the body, and entirely controlled by thought. When the wearer tries to move, tiny nerve signals in the skin are detected by HAL and converdted into movements. So advanced is the technology that the company is already renting the robot suits (2.300$ a month for just the legs). We assume that it is Japanese humour that made the company chosse Cyberdyne Corporation as its name, a reference to the company responsible for the end of the world in the Terminator movies. At the same time, a rival design, the SOX Exoskeleton, is being developed by the US military that will "increase the speed, strength and endurance of soldiers in combat". Can anyone hear a deep Austrian voice saying "I'll be back."?

PHONE APPLICATIONS Apple did not invent phone applications, nor is their phone the only one that can operate them, but the IPhone has popularized the culture of apps in a way that nobody could have predicted. More than two billion applications have been downloaded from Apple's online store in just over a year. The biggest seller is the childish iFart, which allows user to imitate the sound of farts in a variety of hilarious styles, an idea that earns the company that created it 10.000 $ a day. Others have been more useful and their numbers are growing every day. We have many favourites, including Shazam ( which can listen to a song you like on the radio and tell you who it is sung by) and WC Finder (for when you need to know where the nearest public toilet is).



CINEMA To say that 3-D movies have taken a long time to become accepted is an understatement: the first one (now lost) was produced in 1922, and for gereation they have been considered as little more than a gimmick. All that changed in 2009, however, with a series of films including Up and Avatar. Whereas previous 3-D technology made objects leap forward from the screen, the new technology creates a depth-of-field similar to the way we see the real world. And as James Cameron proved with the 3-D realitzation of his alien planet in Avatar, the technology can now make action scenes more visceral and the visual experience more beautiful. For the film industry, which has lost billions because of internet downloading, 3-D offers the public a good reason to see films in the cinema. One day, no doubt, this advantage will disappear as home screens become 3-D, too. But for the nex few years the magic will be back where it is supposed to be in the cinema.