The up-and-down motion caused by walking powers a small generator, producing electricity that can be used directly or stored in a capacitor or battery.

The device is called SCRAM, which stands for secure, continuous, remote alcohol-monitoring device. It includes two plastic boxes strapped to an offender's ankle. One box sniffs out any alcohol by sucking up sweat. The other has a computer that sends the information to a modem linked to the offender's phone, which sends a message to probation officials by the Internet

The KidsOK system, backed by a leading children’s charity, tracks the whereabouts of youngsters’ handsets to within 500 metres.

Parents who register for the scheme simply text a five-digit number to receive a full description and map of the location on their phone.

The company behind Timecard, New Zealand-based ECONZ Wireless, says its target market is small companies whose repairmen, consultants, sales staff or other in-the-field employees would like to track their billable hours without resorting to excessive paperwork.

Some notebooks already have built-in fingerprint readers, so only the authorised user can access the data. Other computer users can take advantage of relatively inexpensive fingerprint readers which can be plugged into a USB port.

Security vendors are scrambling to create biometric pads for mobile phones, which can be packed with sensitive data.

A direct energy conversion (DEC) cell—also called a betavoltaics-based “nuclear” battery—is not only microscopic in size, but also could run for more than a decade on the electrons generated by the natural decay of the radioactive isotope tritium. Such devices convert low levels of radiation into electricity and can have useful lives spanning several decades.

report status, send logged data, and be configured remotely via SMS messages, data connection (the GSM can be used in modem mode), or GPRS. It features caller-ID for voice calls and can respond to requests sent within SMS messages....

Additionally, the device's built-in software includes support for analog and digital I/O interfaces, threshold settings, timers, and functional operators (IF, THEN, ELSE, and WHILE). The analog and digital ports can be used for security, environmental, lighting, moisture, and other sensor and control interfacing purposes.

[Wavecom] plans to further restructure the organization as it focuses on accelerating growth in its vertical markets business, which includes automotive, machine-to-machine (M2M), and consumer products such as wireless local loop phones, mobile computers and wireless PDAs. This restructuring will include the exit from the handset market, as well as the termination of semiconductor development.