Stories by: Robert S. Anthony

Meet the next generation of robots that shape-shift, are squish-able, and can troll the world's oceans for months on a single battery charge. iRobot, best known for its Roomba disc-shaped robotic floor sweeper, is going way beyond scooping potato chips from under couches with its latest robot offspring.

Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer officially launched the Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system Monday and announced nine new phones and partnerships with wireless carriers. It's a landmark moment for Microsoft that needs to prove its Windows-centric phones, with links to Microsoft Office, Xbox Live, and a nascent library of apps, can woo the masses away from Apple, Android, and BlackBerry-based phones. The first handsets with the new OS will be available November 8, said Ballmer.

Panasonic used the broiling, hectic setting of the U.S. Open tennis tourney in New York Wednesday to showcase the capabilities of its first handheld consumer-grade 3D camcorder. On a day so hot and humid that one athlete, Victoria Azarenka, collapsed and had to withdraw from competition, Panasonic showed how the US$1,400 Panasonic HDC-SDT750 handheld unit could record clear 3D video without the large and heavy hardware usually connected with 3D videography.

Samsung Semiconductor Monday introduced a handful of new hard disks and optical drives, including a 3.5-inch desktop PC drive which it bills as the world's fastest Blu-ray drive on the market.

At a splashy event in New York's Time Warner Center, Samsung dove headlong into the electronic book market with the Samsung eReader, a US$299 device which allows you to take notes in the margins and share content with other Samsung eReaders.

In a press conference almost as packed with product announcements as it was filled with weary members of the press, Samsung took the cover off of dozens products, including super-slim LED TVs, new e-book readers and capped it with content partnerships with DreamWorks, Technicolor and Google.

The HTC Droid Eris marks the second in Verizon Wireless's parade of the Droids. Also due this week from Verizon, the Droid Eris shares the Droid moniker and many features of competing Android phones, but it also adds some touches that improve the experience for business users.

An impressive feature of Google's new Android 2.0 mobile device operating system is Google Maps Navigation, a that's not only free to use, but is fairly easy to learn as well.

After weeks of ads teasing us with glimpses of a handset that could do what iPhones don't Verizon Wireless finally unveiled the Droid by Motorola. This is an impressive phone that flexes its raw data and graphics processing muscle as much as its does its smart features such as Google's new turn-by-turn 3D Maps Navigation service. The Droid is the first mobile phone to sport the Android 2.0 (previously code-named Éclair). The Droid will cost $300 (with a two-year contract), but a $100 mail-in rebate drops the price to $200. Monthly voice plans start at $39.99 and the monthly charge for e-mail and data services such as Web browsing start at $29.99.

On Wednesday Volkswagen launched its new 2010 GTI hatchback not via a television or radio commercial or an auto show floor presentation, but in Apple's App Store, thus becoming the first car company to announce a new car exclusively through a mobile device, according to the company.