From the outset the most intriguing thing about the Apple iPhone hasn't been the phone so much as the interface: a high-resolution touchscreen on which your fingers do the talking: Tap an icon to select an application, spread them to enlarge the picture, slide your finger to move the cropped image into view, swipe the screen to reveal the next slide. It all feels so natural.
TV addicts have been time-shifting since the analog days of the VCR, but ask them if they know how to place-shift, and you're likely to get blank stares.
You might suppose Minerva & the Bell Ringers was a 1960s girl group, but it's actually a mechanical clock located outdoors in New York City's Herald Square. On the hour, pivoting statues strike a bell up to 12 times, temporarily dislodging a pigeon or two. A still camera is inadequate for capturing the sound and motion. If I were a tourist, I might reach for a camcorder.
(Photo Illustration on home page by Dan Vasconcellos. Photos in story by Terry Schmitt.) SANTA CLARA, CA-As the Invertigo roller coaster at Paramount's Great America pulls you 138 feet above the flat Silicon Valley floor, the brown Diablo Mountain Range looms to the east and the green Santa Cruz Mountains to the west.
The transition to high-definition television really picked up steam this fall as ABC, CBS, NBC, and the WB filled their 2003-04 prime-time schedules with more hours of HDTV programming than ever before. During an entire week, these networks are offering some 70 hours of HDTV.
