TECHNO LA LA

It's true that lasers are often used as heating implements, but a less common use is the cooling of gases and crystals . Now for the first time, a team of researchers has now used an infrared laser to cool liquid by about 20 degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit).

Last week's deadly and coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris have prompted some law enforcement officials to renew their calls for back doors to encrypted communications. But privacy and civil rights advocates say those arguments ignore technological realities and place blame where it doesn't belong.

If you've got some spare time, search for the words "Android dongle" on eBay -- your screen will be filled with little, Android-powered HDMI doodads that purport to make your dumb TV smart. But what about Chrome OS, Google's other operating system? For years, it lived most prominently on notebooks, but the new $85 Chromebit from ASUS is Google's attempt to give Chrome OS even more of a life beyond the laptop. Got a spare monitor with an HDMI-in port? Or an HDTV that could

Sony's one-of-a-kind FES Watch is about to become more than a clever crowdfunded idea. The mostly e-paper timepiece is going on sale in Tokyo at Omotesando's MoMA Design Store on November 21st, when it will cost you a not-completely-unreasonable ¥29,700 ($241). It'll reach the city's Isetan boutique more than a week later, on December 1st. There's no mention of retail launches elsewhere in the world, but something tells us that you'll have to order it online (either through Sony's First Flight or the MoMA store) if you want any hope of strapping on this customizable wristwear outside of Japan.

A volunteer firefighter badly burned in a 2001 blaze has received the most extensive face transplant ever, covering his skull and much of his neck, a New York hospital announced Monday. The surgery took place in August at the NYU Langone Medical Center. The patient, 41-year-old Patrick Hardison, is still undergoing physical therapy at the hospital but plans to return home to Senatobia, Mississippi, in time for Thanksgiving. The surgery has paved the way for him to regain normal vision, and in an interview last week he said that will let him accomplish a major goal: "I'll start driving again."