Flat out futuristic

Village predicts that all technology in the future will be flat. Except movies, which will be in 3D, naturally

If you think you are ahead of the game with your flatscreen TV, well you're not. Sony has already moved on. The Japanese corporation will soon start to sell its ultra-thin OLED TVs (right). Organic Light Emitting Diode technology is favoured for the next generation of television, as it can produce bright, colourful images and does not require a backlight, as do liquid-crystal displays. The thinner screens are also energy-efficient and good at producing fast-moving images. At a recent show in Toyko, the giant flatscreen TVs of Sony's rivals were ignored while everyone crowded around the new 11-inch OLED screen. Later, Sony showed a 2.5-inch wide, 0.3-inch thick flexible screen made of glass substrate (inset) that could possibly be integrated into the pages of magazines, pasted onto products on shelves or stuck to any surface advertisers choose. It's a flat brave new world.
www.sony.net

Also in search of all things flat, Intel challenged its designers to come up with a laptop thinner than any seen before. They outdid themselves with the Intel Mobile Metro Notebook (above). Currently only a prototype, the laptop is 0.7 inches thick and 2.25lbs in weight, yet features Intel's fastest components and computing power. It will have a full range of wireless internet capability functions, a flash memory drive and a battery life of 14 hours. The screen on the outside of the cover can display a picture, and a strap can be magnetically attached to enable the  laptop to be swung from the shoulder, like a handbag. Clearly designed with ladies on mind, the team behind this elegant machine was told that cost was not a concern. This will no doubt result in a scary price tag when it hits the shelves later this year, but as with many high fashion items, this may only increase the attraction.

Once again leading the flat brigade, Sony has a solution if your space is limited but you still want to have proper surround sound. The Sony Flat Panel Speaker System (below) has 5.1-channel surround and a 150-watt sub-woofer so it should be pretty powerful. Yet the speakers are only 1.3 inches deep, so you should be able to fit them in the smallest of home cinemas, or even hang them on a wall. The speakers and subwoofer are reinforced with mica, a mineral that delivers better sound than conventional paper cones, and allows the speakers to handle high-power.
www.amazon.com