Feeling lonely? Got some Swedish kronor to burn? Now you can kill two birds with one stone thanks to Three's Scandinavian arm. Hold up, we're not talking about online dating here; but you could certainly start by buying a phone from 3LiveShop, which lets you interact virtually face to face with a human sales rep. Better yet, these folks are equipped with eccentric multitouch workstations (pictured after the break) to let them drag phones and spec sheets around your screen. We had a go on this service just now and apart from a couple of hiccups later on, our Hong Kong-to-Sweden call was surprisingly fluid and fun. Sadly, we didn't get around to filming our intimate conversation with Adam here, but you can watch a promotion video by B-Reel -- the folks behind the touchscreen's Flash interface -- after the break to see how it works.
As you may know, crafting a katana is a delicate process that involves carefully constructing a razor-sharp high-carbon edge around a soft shock-absorbent core. One day though, smiths and forging fires could be replaced by electrode-wielding mad-scientists, with the technology to selectively harden and soften metal at will. At least that's what we envisioned when we read about Jörg Weißmüller's breakthrough research in the field of nanomaterials. The German scientist discovered that by placing precious metals in acid he could create tiny ducts through corrosion. Once those channels are flooded with a conductive liquid, electrical currents can be used to harden the material and, if you change your mind about the brittle results, the effect can easily be reversed to make it soft again. The tech could eventually lead to self-healing vehicle armor or scratch-resistant cellphones -- but, really, we just want to zap our way to a high-quality samurai sword. Physorg
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