It's About Time

Even the most attentive driver can become distracted, especially in city traffic. Now Volvo has your back with City Safety, a feature on the XC60 crossover SUV that can prevent or mitigate accidents and injuries at around-town speeds. We tested the technology in a dare-you-to-crash demo, steering the XC60 toward a bright-colored inflatable car at 10 mph and resisting the powerful urge to hit the brakes. The system worked like a charm, quickly stopping the 4,200-pound Volvo and avoiding a crunch with a few feet to spare.

From Second Life to The Sims to Spore, games have long encouraged users to develop content, such as fashions or creatures, and share it online. But Microsoft has taken creativity to the next stage with Kodu, a program that allows players on an Xbox 360 or a PC to craft entire games using just the controller to select icons.

Aggressive driving -- lead-footed acceleration, speeding, excessive braking -- can slash highway mileage by 33 percent, according to government estimates. Honda's Insight hybrid, arriving in April, softens the effects of wasteful driving and tells you when you're indulging in bad habits.

Create a business card that automatically places a Skype call when waved near a computer, or a photo that opens an online video of your vacation. A new kit makes it easy to devise your own uses for radio-frequency ID tags, something that previously only programmers could do.