[H]ardNews - Blair's Tech Ed.

Top 10 Nanoproducts:

For the spillers, spotters and stainers among us (you know who you are). Featured in our June 2002 "Nano Product Guide," Nano-Care fabric, made by Emeryville, Calif.-based Nano-Tex, is too exciting not to mention again. Nano-Tex researchers attached molecular structures to cotton fibers, forming a barrier that causes liquids and stains to bead up on the surface and prevent absorption. Treated fabrics are not only wrinkle-proof but repel stains from perennial offenders like soda, coffee, wine, mayonnaise and syrup.

Smart Car Materials:

The Marine Corps' M1A1 Abrams tanks and light armored vehicles that pulled heavy duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom are expected to serve us well until 2015 and 2020. That may sound like a long way off, but it's already time to plan for their replacements. Actually, the ideal time was about two years ago, when the Office of Naval Research initiated the Expeditionary Systems Material program to develop new materials to increase the survivability of fighting vehicles.

Dual-Layer DVD Duel:

One side of the ongoing recordable DVD format battle is expected to be first with products that nearly double the amount of data held on one disc. But that victory may not put an end to the feud. The DVD+RW camp, which includes Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Philips, plans to put so-called "double-layer" DVD recording devices on the market by next spring. Discs on these systems are expected to hold 8.5GB, or four hours of DVD-quality video (16 hours of VHS-quality video). That's about the same amount as the DVDs studios use to issue movies.

Learning New Tricks:

Yves Guillemot is boss of French game studio Ubisoft and has been involved in the games industry since its earliest days. Here he gives his views on the way that the industry has to change to keep players interested. Computer gaming has come a long way in the 17 years since Ubisoft was established. In 1986 gaming was a largely solitary experience carried out on machines such as the Atari and Commodore 64.