iCat, is a new invention of Philips Research of Eindhoven. The notion of robot as home companion is nothing new, but iCat adds a human dimension to the job: an expressive face.

Follow the Leader
Inventor: Toshiba Corp
Availability: Prototype only
To Learn More: www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/ 2005_05/pr2001.htm
Robots may not invade anytime soon, but there’s no denying that they’re getting smarter. The ball-shaped ApriAlpha uses advanced voice-recognition technology to distinguish between voices coming from different locations. When Alpha hears a voice, it…

In the NL., home to 1 million Muslims, a spokesman for the Dutch intelligence service says it believes as many as 20 different hard-line Islamic groups may be operating in the country.

The last time Myriam Cherif saw her son Peter, 23, was in May 2004, when the two of them stood at the elevator on the fifth floor of the gritty public-housing project where they lived, just north of Paris. Myriam, 48, was born in Tunisia, moved to France when she…

Authorities in Europe have ramped up counterterrorism efforts, making hundreds of arrests. Dutch police in November arrested members of the Hofstad Islamist group.

A sliver of good news from across the Atlantic: things could be much worse. Since the 2004 bombings in Madrid, authorities across the Continent have ramped up counterterrorism efforts, making hundreds of arrests and foiling several large-scale plots. Here’s a rundown of some notable successes.

1) BRITAIN

British authorities charged…

34 years ago in TIME: Announcing its first foreign head last week was a big step for Sony. If the Dutch can produce goods of excellent quality, said Akio Morita, the Japanese could do it too.

Announcing its first foreign head last week was a big step for Sony, the Japanese electronics giant that was founded and run for years by AKIO MORITA.

A young businessman named Akio Morita made his first trip outside Japan in 1953 to investigate export prospects for his struggling little electronics…

Khan stole centrifuge designs from his employer in the 1970s and used them to develop Pakistan’s nuclear program. He later passed them on to other countries.

Not long ago, Abdul Qadeer Khan used to walk into a wooded park across the street from his mansion in Pakistan’s capital city and feed the monkeys who lived there. That was when he was a national hero and a multimillionaire, owner of a fleet of vintage cars and properties…