K e n n e t h T u c k e r . C O M

IBM announced a new line of mainframes it calls the zEnterprise. Unlike past models, the new system functions as a hybrid, with a mainframe housed on one side of a cabinet that is twice the size of a refrigerator and space for server blades on the other. Between those two halves sits software that manages virtualized machines on both platforms and allows them to work together.

Slender as a stick insect, a solar-powered experimental airplane with a huge wing span completed its first test flight of more than 24 hours on Thursday, powered overnight by energy collected from the sun during a day aloft over Switzerland.

One of the main advantages of OLED is that it can be flexible—so flexible, in fact, that it can be wrapped around a pencil. Taking 2007's .3mm prototype Sony's made a new one just 80μm-thick.

iOS 4 is the newest version of Apple's iOS mobile operating system, the platform used by all models of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

It's the one major part of the PC that's still reminiscent of the PC's primordial, text-based beginnings, but the familiarly-clunky BIOS could soon be on its deathbed, according to MSI. The motherboard maker says it's now making a big shift towards point and click UEFI systems, and it's all going to kick off at the end of this year.

According to the patent, Apple would completely cover a device in a thin layer of solar cells—including the display to maximize the amount of power that the device could harness from the sun.

Seagate announced what it's calling the "world's fastest 2.5-inch laptop PC hard drive," combining 7200rpm rotating platters with 4GB of solid-state memory. The OS-independent Momentus XT boots up to 100 percent faster than traditional laptop drives, but costs much less than SSDs (solid state disks), the company claims.