Techwatch

By Daniel Eisenberg, Anita Hamilton, Michael Krantz, Jodie Morse, Michele Orecklin, Alain L. Sanders, Hiroko Tashiro and Susan Veitch

NEW HEARING AID COULD BE MUSIC TO YOUR EARS

Nearly 30 million Americans suffer from hearing loss, yet only a quarter of them bother to wear hearing aids. Last week Starkey Labs introduced a new device that could encourage more people to seek help. Unlike typical aids that simply magnify all sounds, the tiny Cetera model uses new digital technology to mimic our natural ability to block out background noise and zero in on specific sounds, like a whisper or a voice across the room. If it wins FDA approval, the Cetera could be available for about $3,000 by summer's end.

WILL HDTV BE MUST-SEE?

If a new signal is broadcast and there's no one there to watch it, will it still display a crystalline digital picture? Hollywood must wonder after last week's word from ABC and CBS. Both networks will launch high-definition television programming in November, but despite the clear need for standards, they've settled on competing ones: CBS's 1080i, "the highest-quality HDTV digital format," vs. ABC's 720P, "the right solution for a converged future." With high-end sets that get both signals priced at $7,000, early HDTV could be playing to a paltry house.

IN JAPAN, A BRIDGE TO SUSPEND DISBELIEF

Asia may be mired in an economic slump, but it's still soaring technologically. Just look at Japan's Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, above, which opens this week and will enter the record books as the world's longest suspension bridge, connecting Awaji island to the city of Kobe. In the works for a decade, the $7.7 billion project boasts a 6,532-ft. (1.2-mile) center span--measured as the distance between the two towers--dwarfing the 1,595-ft. Brooklyn Bridge. Each of the towers, taller than a 90-story building, is equipped with 20 vibration-control devices; if winds make the structure sway, pendulums tug the towers back. The bridge is designed to withstand earthquakes as powerful as 8.0 on the Richter scale and is strung with enough steel cable to circle the globe seven times.