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Three Things the Palm Pre Does Better Than the iPhone 3GS

Can you believe that only two or three years ago, the trope of cellphones used in America being so far inferior to what was available in Korea or even Europe was pounded to the point of cliché? Now, it’s on its head: the complete opposite is true. And for that, a lot of thanks goes to Apple. No doubt about that. But the Pre and especially its webOS software is so interesting because it’s the first phone to actually build on the trail blazed by the iPhone in some truly key areas of functionality. And what’s more American than some good ol’ fashioned competition begetting forward-looking innovation that elevates the playing field for all?

How Your Laptop Will Just Keep Getting Faster

Since the invention of the transistor, silicon semiconductors have been king. But now silicon-based transistors are nearing the limit of their potential. Excess heat and manufacturing hurdles are impeding the development of ever-faster and -smaller processors. Advances in materials and chip design to resist extreme heat and move huge amounts of data, quickly, will be crucial. Experts are exploring three technologies to overcome these challenges: spintronics, graphene and memristors.

Fire Without Flame

To a chemist, burning means the rapid combination of a fuel with oxygen, called oxidation. You might say, for instance, Oh, no, we didnt have a fire at the nuclear power plant, we just had a ‘rapid oxidation event, a phrase that won officials at Three Mile Island the Doublespeak Award in 1979.

Your Very Own Meditator

November 1970: "Enter the Meditator and surround yourself with the graphics which cover its walls . . . you may find the sensation akin to that mystical communion with nature that you experience when alone in a forest — or the sense of peace you feel in an empty cathedral." Browse the archives at popsci.com/archives.

Going Nowhere Fast

This isn't a road in the sense that it has a name or can be found on a map. It's just a trail covered with boulders and potholes superimposed on an inhospitable stretch of the Mojave Desert 25 miles south of Las Vegas. You wouldn't dream of driving over it in a car. Even in a Jeep or a kick-ass 4x4, you'd crawl along in low gear, wincing at the toll it was taking on your tires, suspension and kidneys.

Alan Pflueger flies along it at 98 miles an hour. And that's not "flying" used figuratively. He's getting air under the tires of his two-and-a-half-ton truck as he vaults over crests and crashes into gullies with a giant plume of dust streaming in his wake. Pflueger's flying machine is a purpose-built racing leviathan known as a Trophy-Truck. Created to conquer the Baja 1000, the world's toughest off-road race, Trophy-Trucks cross the gnarliest terrain on the continent at speeds that can exceed 140 mph. Almost anything goes in this unlimited class, from 800-horsepower V8 engines to state-of-the-art electronics to titanium springs the size of laser-guided missiles. "Trophy-Trucks are the most complicated and sophisticated race vehicles in existence," says former Nissan Motorsports chief Frank Honsowetz, who should know; his experience encompasses Baja, the Indy 500 and Le Mans.