This week's Question: Last year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said users are moving toward a "post-PC world," and computer sales have indeed slowed. Perhaps demonstrating Jobs' "post-PC" concept, the information technology giant HP recently announced that it would stop producing tablet computers...

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has begun a “Reinvent the Toilet” competition and awarded $3 million to researchers at eight universities, challenging them to use recent technology to create models that do not need to be connected to sewers, water, and electricity, and that cost less...

This week's Question: Countries like the Netherlands have recently undergone trials of an automobile GPS system that uses a mileage-based formula to  calculate charges based on individual car trips. In particular tests, a  tabulation takes into account a car's fuel efficiency, the time of...

Last month, in an effort to learn more about the everyday challenges of design engineers, we began a series of Q&As with TechBriefs.com readers. Our most recent interviews showcase a wide range of careers, including furniture makers, filtration system engineers, aircraft navigation specialists, and medical device designers. Despite...

This week's Question: A growing number of airlines, including Alaska Airlines, are giving pilots the option of using iPads in the cockpit. In a flight scenario, the iPad would take the place of the hefty manuals and training documents that the Federation Aviation Administration requires pilots to have on hand. Some pilots...

Lisa Collins, an environmental studies lecturer at the University of Southern California, spent four years collecting samples from floating sediment traps in the San Pedro Basin off the Los Angeles coast, giving scientists a peek at how much carbon is locked up in the ocean and where it comes from.