Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

While you were busy catapulting Angry Birds on your iPhone, scientists at Vanderbilt university were using the components inside your smartphone to create bionic limbs. The Vanderbilt leg , seven years in the making, anticipates the movements of the person wearing it, resulting in a more natural gait instead of the slight dragging experienced by most wearers.

Every northern country is making territorial claims to land being exposed under melting ice, creating a truly cold new Cold War near the North Pole. If you don't believe that the Arctic ice cap is melting, ask the Russians about it.

Everyone needs the Internet, and as our data requirements explode, it's putting a strain on broadband networks. Luckily, scientists can make wireless signals come from your TV and your lightbulb

LifeNet lets computers and phones talk to each other without an Internet connection, which could come in handy after disasters that knock out communication networks. One of the first things to disappear in the wake of a major disaster is reliable communication. Without access to cell phone service or the Internet, it's difficult for first responders--or anyone who wants to help out--to speak with each other.

Last week, BART blocked mobile phone services for several hours to disperse a demonstration they claimed was going to turn violent. Was it legal? The FCC is now asking

Using strangers for rides has yet to catch on in most places, but a bad economy and high gas prices can make almost anything palatable.

I am writing this from vacation on the North Fork of Long Island, the sound of waves crashing to my front, wineries spread out to my back, my BlackBerry in "off" position at my side. Connectedness and technology are some of the last things on my mind.

Your GPS could soon know how high you are. Rice University scientists have written some smart software that better interprets the signals coming from space that tell a GPS device its altitude, with an accuracy of around a centimer. You may never have noticed it, but even when your car's unit is reporting your position to within a few meters, its guess as to your altitude is very poor--much worse than one centimeter.

We put cars under rigorous tests to determine if and how they will break.

This has been an explosive summer--markets in turmoil, cities in flames, politics in meltdown. So it's a relief to enjoy and learn from an explosion of a different sort--the explosion of creativity taking place this August in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival .

In addition to knowing your exact route and even how many calories you've burned, you can now find out the environmental impact of every public transit trip you take--and how much better it is than if you had taken a car. City living just got a little more smug

Airlines are rushing to adapt to rising fuel costs, but most efficiency gains have already been made. If gas prices continue to rise, it may require a full rethinking of how we fly

Early in August, Seattle’s Space Needle and Space Adventures launched a scheme that promised to let one lucky earthling cozy up with the stars, offering a trip to space as the prize in a contest open to the public.

GOOD, publishers of the magazine by the same name and the social action platform is acquiring Jumo, the cause-oriented social network created by Facebook and team Barack Obama veteran Chris Hughes. Jumo , the social network created by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes , and designed to help people find good causes and take meaningful action, has been acquired by GOOD , the media platform for "people who want to live well and do good." The amount or terms were not disclosed.

The Lone Star State may win the honor simply because it controls the ocean farther from the coast than most states, and the state has virtually no regulations when it comes to building. Cape Wind--the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. to receive the go-ahead for construction--has been mired in Kennedy-centered political problems for a decade