Word: zap
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Here in the U.S., we've got software gods, Web commerce wizards and computer-chip kings. But when it comes to wireless technology, the Finns rule. Just look at what they can do with a cellular phone: buy a Coke from a vending machine. Run a car wash. Zap a digital picture to a friend. On this side of the Atlantic, we're just glad when our calls aren't cut off midsentence...
...offspring may grow up to be butlers and bartenders, today's robot is best used as an educational toy. You control it via your 133-MHz-or-faster PC. A small radio antenna plugs into the PC's communications port and, with the help of Cye's Map-N-Zap software, beams instructions to the robot. Before heading out on an excursion, Cye must be placed on a "home base," an electric pad that doubles as a recharger and orientation point. By dragging your mouse across an onscreen grid--and creating a series of checkpoints at which Cye stops...
...ZAP, CRACKLE, YUCK! Here's something to chew on this summer: every time your bug zapper vaporizes a fly, it sends off a cone of bacteria-and-virus-laden mist that can be up to 6 ft. wide. Most of the microbes are probably harmless--unless the insect has been feeding on manure. Best advice: mount your zapper far from your food...
...also test-rode two models from ZAP Power Systems, a Sebastopol, Calif., company that has led the e-scooter and bike industry for years. Its popular Zappy (also $649) is lots of fun to drive, but pound for pound offers less value than the Buzz. The Zappy looks like the skateboard scooters we made as kids. You stand on it (no seat) and start by kicking off. The electric motor cuts in at that point, and you can cruise at 13 m.p.h. for about eight miles. Its throttle, unlike the Buzz's, is not variable, only on/off, which makes...
...military, however, hasn't given up trying to make the laser into a weapon. Ronald Reagan's ill-fated Star Wars program called for orbiting X-ray lasers to zap enemy missiles, and the Army is still experimenting with battlefield lasers. While they won't slice enemy soldiers in half, they can temporarily blind troops...