Here First - Science and Technology Blog

Wall-E's one of the cutest robots to appear in movies ever. That's why V-Tech has not missed out on this golden marketing opportunity by releasing the Wall-E Learning Laptop , retailing for $29.99 . You can choose from five modes - letters, words, math, logic, and games, and each individual mode comes with a trio of activities. These five modes are meant to teach language and cognitive development skills, basic math skills, and independent play for children. Your kids can get familiar with keyboards using the flip-down QWERTY. Wall-E Robot comes with a simple LCD display and moving arm controllers. Wall-E's eyes are also animated, blinking each time a question is answered correctly.

The Impulse NPX-9000 laptop is available for US$130 and features a 7-inch screen and Linux OS. It comes with a 400MHz processor, 128MB of RAM, 1GB of flash storage and an optional wireless networking dongle. It also includes office productivity software, a web browser and multimedia software. The Impulse NPX-9000 laptop is cheap but there's a catch - it has to be bought in bulk, in units of 100. The laptop is available on Alibaba.com through the online store of Taiwanese company Carapelli Ltd.

Asia Society's multimedia look at electronic waste shipped overseas and the toxic effect it has on places such as Guiyu, China--known as "trash town." With an interview with Michael Zhao of the Center on US-China Relations at Asia Society.

The Compenion concept notebook , designed by Felix Schmidberger, eschews the familiar clamshell design in favor of two superbright organic LED panels that slide into place next to each other, making the notebook just three-quarters of an inch thick. The Canova concept notebook from V12 Design features two touch-sensitive displays. It can be oriented as a traditional laptop for typing or writing, laid flat as a sketch pad or turned on its side as an e-reader. The Cario concept notebook from Anna Lopez can be carried around by its handle, positioned like an easel or placed on a car’s steering wheel. When the car’s not in motion, the Cario can project maps, video conferences and more onto the windshield.