Yet there was nominal interest in single-function gadgets like e-books (growth to 9% from 8%) and GPS devices (from 9% to 11%).

FORBES: CES 2013: More Gadgets?Mind-Meld With Smartphones

Researchers have been toying with ultrafast miniaturized labs for a decade, shrinking single-function gear--such as machines for sizing DNA strands--onto chips, but combining multiple functions is difficult.

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Nokia has the pieces it needs to begin integrating GPS and cellular communication into all kinds of devices that will offer better real-time traffic, weather and location Web services than a single-function GPS alone can.

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At the time scientists inside and outside the EPA unanimously agreed that the test posed negligible risk. (I wrote the analysis submitted by the Food and Drug Administration.) No new genetic material had been added--only a single gene whose function was well known had been removed--and the organism was obviously harmless.

FORBES: Commentary

However, measuring workforce experience is complicated because no single person, department or function owns the experience from end-to-end.

FORBES: Measuring Workforce Experience

CouchDB and MongoDB are essentially single-headed databases, and from that standpoint, availability is a function of how long you can keep the hardware running.

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Unlike the expansive microcosms of Linden Lab's "Second Life" or Vivendi's "World of Warcraft, " In-Q-Tel's digital environment will likely be a single room, designed to function as a virtual meeting place for U.S. intelligence agencies, according to a Forterra spokesman.

FORBES: Building The Feds' Virtual War Room

Much of the growth can be credited to Nextel's push-to-talk service, the walkie-talkie-like function that allows users to page and call friends instantly with a single button.

FORBES: Nextel Presses 'Push-To-Grow' Button