In the Star Trek universe it was the Borg Queen who introduced Data to skin that meant he could feel touch - in reality this is now being developed right here on earth. The sci-fi dream is taking place at Stanford University, where Professor Zhenan Bao is hard at work creating something she calls "super…

There are no surprises left for Sunday's Oscars ceremony, at least if Tweetbeat is to be believed. This Twitter-scouring service has kept tabs on what everyone has been saying about the Oscars and the nominated films, and has gracefully shared with us who's set to win. The King's Speech will win the Oscar for Best…

Most of the time the effect is so subtle that we don't notice, but Google is constantly tweaking our search results. This time the effect is a little stronger than usual, with precisely 11.8% of searches being affected by the latest change: the rejection of content farms. You've probably come across these during searches: you…

With today's graphics technology, video games can look like proper works of art. But it wasn't always like that - do you remember the old, basic-looking Atari games, or even the clunkiness of the first Super Mario? Brooklyn-based artist Cory Arcangel remembers it - and he's feeling nostalgic about it too. Arcangel has placed video…

Detroit mayor Dave Bing wasn't too keen on the idea of having a statue of the super-human, crime-fighting cyborg erected, even though the 1987 film was set in the city. But the internet decided otherwise - and fans from all over the world have now raised the $50,000 needed to make cybernetic dreams come true.…

In a boon for diversity, Facebook has added two new relationship categories to its list of choices: "In a domestic partnership" and "In a civil union". The new options are already available in the US, but will be introduced to other countries soon. In countries where same-sex marriages are already legal, these options will not…

Fancy more sleek than geek when flashing your iPhone? Now you can. In a collaboration with retailer Proporta, artist Ben Allen has created two hard shell covers for the Apple iPhone 4. Choose between the Union Jack Skull or the Zebra for these minimum bulk, robust cases, both printed at high image resolution. The British…

If the latest rumours are to be believed, the overhaul of MobileMe could create an alternative to Facebook. Apple is currently revamping its online data storage service MobileMe, which at the moment lets users store data in a central location and synchronise data such as calendars and contacts between multiple devices. At $99 per year,…

While data storage has never been a problem for the computer mind, its ability to follow tricky nuances of language and reasoning has held back any plans for world dominance. This problem might be soon conquered, however, as an IBM computer demonstrated its skills by winning a top game of Jeopardy. An IBM computer called…

Google's One Pass payment system only charges a 10% commission fee, potentially putting the newcomer ahead of Apple, which charges 30%. Google boss Eric Schmidt announced the One Pass system yesterday in Berlin, just one day after Apple announced new rules for publishers selling subscriptions on its iOS platform. While vendors could previously sell directly,…