High-tech science

Looks at the history of voice recognition technology and how it works.

Investigates the technology that makes touch screens possible on computers and electronic devices.

Tap the screen of your smartphone to open an app, or swipe your finger across the screen to make the smartphone do something else. However, that touch screen has been years in the making and is a complex piece of what is now essential technology. Readers will find out how layers of glass, metal, and LEDs work together to make a touch screen work.

Readers will appreciate the history behind communications networking while learning how today's networks connect people. Colorful photographs accompany accessible information about LANs, WiFi, and more, and interesting sidebars further explain the networks we rely on every day.

Social networks are part of daily life, but there seems to be no end to the number of comments and pictures one can post. Internet e-mail providers, such as Gmail and Hotmail, are similarly common and seem to have infinite storage space. Cloud computing is part of the reason.

When taking a road trip today, some sort of GPS device is essential. It may be built into the car's dashboard, or perhaps it's just an app on a smartphone. But GPS is used for more than just finding your way! Readers will be fascinated by its beginnings as a military system and its many modern uses.

The main content will introduce readers to this fascinating software that allows jet pilots to speak to their planes, smartphone users to make a hands-free call, and automated phone systems to give bank account information.

Even though computer wireless networks havent been around for very long, the basic technology used to create them is more than 100 years old. WiFi uses radio waves to send and receive data and connect smartphones, tablets, and computers to the Internet. Today, almost everywhere you go has WiFi, including schools, coffee shops, and the library. The inner workings of this ubiquitous technology will fascinate readers, who probably use it every day. Accompanied by full-color photos, the main content will introduce innovators like Nikola Tesla and other electronics history, as well as the future possibilities of wireless connection..

Discusses the history and evolution of touch screens and describes how they work, where they are used today, and possible future developments in the field.