When all your kitchen knives are in the dishwasher and you really - just really - need to chop up some carrots, what tool do you turn to for backup?

Well, the MacBook Air, of course.

Apple's ultra-lightweight laptop computer has become the star of a few bizarre online cooking videos in recent years, with the latest showing the pointed edge of the contoured laptop being used to hack up carrots, apples, baby corn, mushrooms and even shrimp. (For some reason, the shrimp just make this seem all the weirder.)

Read the full story: MacBook Air 'doubles as a kitchen knife'

Scientists in Spain say they have developed an electronic "tongue" that can identify different types of the Spanish sparkling wine cava - a task more usually left to the skilled palate of the sommelier.

Using sensor systems and mathematical processes, the electronic tongue can currently distinguish between three types of cava - brut nature, brut and medium dry - researchers at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona say.

But they hope with proper training, it will soon be able to pick out all types of cava on the market, in the same way a human sommelier might, and quantify how much sugar each contains.

Read Brut or sweet? Spain gets electronic 'tongue' to taste cava

But can a robot tell you how to sex up your bargain bottle?

What would you do after Cisco killed your beloved product? For Jonathan Kaplan, the inventor of the Flip video camera, the answer was simple: start a venture-backed nationwide chain of grilled cheese sandwich joints.

That may sound like Kaplan has lost his marbles, but bear with us.

Kaplan's genius, as shown in the highly popular Flip, is creating super-easy, mass-produced technology. With his new business, The Melt, he's done that twice over.

Buy a grilled cheese on your smartphone, and you get a QR code to swipe in store when you arrive. The back-end software ensures that you get a piping hot grilled cheese in your hands within 60 seconds of checking in.

Read - "Flip camera inventor turns to high-tech grilled cheese"

AUSTIN (CNNMoney) - A crowded, sprawling event is the perfect place to peddle an app that lets you cut through noise and find exactly the right thing at the right time. Enter Foodspotting.

It's built around the idea of discovery. After a trip to Japan, Foodspotting founder and CEO Alexa Andrzejewski returned to San Francisco craving some of the cuisine she'd discovered on the road.

"There was no way to search for a specific dish," she said. "I couldn't get out of my head the idea that it'd be awesome to turn on my phone and discover good food."

Foodspotting became one of the buzzy startups that emerged from the fray at South by Southwest (SXSW) in 2010. A year later, the app now has more than 700,000 iPhone users.

Read the rest of "Hit iPhone app finds the foods you crave" on CNN Money

If you've been following tech news this week, you probably came across the term "Honeycomb," Google's unofficial name for its new Google Android operating system.

Honeycomb - technically Android version 3.0 - is significant because it's designed for tablet computers, not just smartphones.

But on a lighter note, what's up with that name?

As it turns out, all Android operating systems are named after desserts. And, just in case that wasn't nerdy enough for you, Google put these sugary names in alphabetical order.

Here's the edible Android timeline: Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread and finally - at least for now - Honeycomb.

On this week's Tech Check podcast, our team of writers places bets on the next Android OS name. My guess: Icee.

Read - Why does Google name its Android products after desserts?

A 3D food printer sounds like something out of Star Trek, but it's not out of this world. It's up and running at the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan - and in five years, it could be in your home.

As part of a project at Cornell University, a group of scientists and students built a 3D printer and began testing it out with food. The device attaches to a computer, which works as the "brain" behind the technology.

It doesn't look like a traditional printer; it's more like an industrial fabrication machine. Users load up the printer's syringes with raw food - anything with a liquid consistency, like soft chocolate, will work. The ingredient-filled syringes will then "print" icing on a cupcake. Or it'll print something more novel (i.e., terrifying) - like domes of turkey on a cutting board.

Read This 3D printer makes edible food and see it in action

Welcome to the dawn of mobile currency.

For years, tech companies have demoed flashy prototypes of systems that let customers use their mobile phones in place of cash or credit cards. This year, those systems are heading out of the labs and into the real world.

"There's a lot of money at stake if it's done right," says Omar Green, director of strategic mobile initiatives at Intuit (INTU).

Starting Wednesday at Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) stores throughout the U.S., the cashier can now scan your phone to deduct payment for your latté from the balance on your pre-loaded Starbucks card. Splitting the dinner bill with a friend? Download Bump, and you can beam over the cash from your PayPal account.

Read the rest of "Your mobile phone is becoming your wallet" on CNNMoney.

Dear Gadgetphiles,

If you Tweet from any of your cooking appliances, Team Eatocracy will personally come to your home and pour some manner of liquid all over your circuit breakers.

Love,

All sane people, everywhere

p.s. See full CES coverage

p.p.s. Follow @eatocracy on Twitter