Mac history, Windows 7 and a high-tech KFC

Photos of the month - January 2009

Apple unveiled its first Macintosh 25 years ago and the Mac has been a mainstay of the company's product line-up since then.

Shown here is the £9,000 Mac built for Apple's 20th birthday in 1997 - just before Steve Jobs returned to turn the struggling company around.

See more highlights in the Macs through the ages photo story.

Photo credit: Computer History Museum

This month, Barclays opened a new branch in London's Piccadilly Circus to showcase the latest in high-tech banking.

The bank features Microsoft's Surface touchscreen technology as well as specialised ATMs and wall screens used as marketing tools.

See what else is on offer at the bank of the future here.

Photo credit: Julian Goldsmith/silicon.com

This is the log-in screen for Microsoft's next desktop operating system, Windows 7.

Take a look at the other features the new OS will boast here.

Image credit: Renai LeMay/ZDNet.com.au

Mobile handset maker Palm revealed its new touchscreen smartphone, the Pre, at this month's Consumer Electronics Show. The Pre is the first device to run Palm's new mobile operating system, WebOS.

Here you can see the Pre's slide-out keyboard. For more on the phone, check out the pictures here.

Photo credit: Palm

Meanwhile, Dundee City Council showed off the wave and pay technology in use in the city, which was launched in October 2008.

The scheme's technology is supplied by payments company sQuid and is used to make purchases of £10 and under. See how the idea is catching on in the full photo story.

Photo credit: Dundee City Council

Defence and technology company EADS lifted the lid on some of the technology it's developing.

This is an image processing technology currently being developed at the EADS Innovation Works at Suresnes in France, which uses CCTV camera networks to monitor the movement of objects in urban areas.

See what else the company is working on here.

Photo credit: Tim Ferguson/silicon.com

A KFC franchise in Llandudno is trialling self-service kiosks to help people who want to avoid a queue.

See how the system works in this picture story.

Photo credit: Gastronomy Foods

This is ED-E, a humanoid robot and learning tool that featured at the annual Bett educational technology show.

ED-E was one of a number of technologies on show at London's Olympia that could be making their way into more classrooms in the next few years.

Photo credit: Tim Ferguson/silicon.com

Indian technology giant HCL recently revealed its suite of visual processing tech which could be used to help the military pinpoint potential targets, aid pilots flying in bad weather and improve the accuracy of aircraft inspections.

Shown above is the Embedded Vision Engine, which processes optical, radar and infrared footage taken during a plane's flight and brings it all together along with flight information.

Check out some more images showing what else HCL is developing.

Photo credit: HCL

Here, policing minister Vernon Coaker examines a radio that uses the Airwave emergency communication system.

With Airwave now working throughout the London Underground for the first time, no part of the transport system's 250 miles of tunnels will be outside police communications coverage.

silicon.com went along to Westminster tube station to see the system in action.

Photo credit: Nick Heath/silicon.com

Microsoft took the wraps off a new retail showroom at its Redmond headquarters which features RFID, electronic point of sale (Epos) systems and digital signage.

By partnering with MediaCart, Microsoft has developed a shopping trolley system that can help plan a shopper's most efficient route through the store.

Check out what else Redmond is working on.

Photo credit: Microsoft

Using data from the Communications Consumer Panel, silicon.com created a number of maps to illustrate the deployments of next-generation broadband networks underway in the UK. Here you can see the rollouts in Scotland, including the UK's second Fibrecity, Dundee.

Find out how the rest of the UK fares by checking out more of the maps.

Image credit: CBS Interactive

Mobile broadband growth is showing no signs of slowing, silicon.com named its pick of mobile browsers. This is Skyfire, developed by start-up of the same name based in Silicon Valley.

The beta release supports Flash and Java and, like Opera, uses proxy servers to offload the loading of web pages for faster surfing.

See what else made the list.

Picture credit: Skyfire

And finally, at Macworld, Apple unveiled updates to iWork, its productivity suite, including added features in Keynote, the presentation utility.

See what other tweaks made the grade at Cupertino.

Photo credit: James Martin/CBS Interactive