IBM researchers have created a storage device that holds data equal to about 25 million textbook pages, compressed into a postage stamp-sized area. The experimental prototype contains more than 1,000 heated spikes that can make or read, tiny indentations in a polymer film. The pattern of the indentations is the digitized version of the data meant to be stored. With this device, cellphones could hold up to 10 gigabytes of data – much as some PC hard drives.

   Stick a couple of beers in the stove for me. The Polara Refrigerated Range from Whirlpool can do it all. You’ll pay $1,899 for this wonder appliance. It includes a compressor, like those found in refrigerators, in the base. A fan circulates the air and can hold a temperature of 39 degrees. That lets you set the oven to cook your meal when you leave home in the morning and then refrigerate it until you return. Check it out at www.whirlpool.com.

   Slip on a pair of goggles invented at Columbia University in New York and you’ll get all sorts of help navigating the world. A global positioning satellite receiver, paired with circuitry that tracks head movements, will help you find your way when walking city streets. Need directions to the nearest sushi bar? A neon arrow will show you the way. The goggles could save lives, too. For instance, firefighters could get help finding stored chemicals and sprinkler connections.

   It looks like an ordinary sheet of paper, but it can make a cellular call. The PS Call Me invention is a folded piece of paper with an electrical circuit woven right into the paper. It was the winning entry by Stephen Forshaw of the United Kingdom in a contest held by Sony for innovative cellular telephone designs. There are no immediate plans to manufacture the device. But it could herald the beginning of cellphones that are as disposable as a piece of tissue paper.