You’re essentially looking over my shoulder as I write, think, create, invent, and — in general — ponder the world around us.  Feel free to peruse my writings and chime in as you’re so inspired.  I encourage spirited debate.

This is a specially crafted multi-pronged conduit.  Everything I type feeds parallel simultaneous streams to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and my e-mail broadcast system.  It’s a global tightrope without a net.  Oh, my.

No topic is off limits. If you’re looking for a site that is “politically correct,” you’ve come to the wrong place.  Hit the back button on your browser now.

Lots and lots of new features are coming online.  They’re all in various stages of development.  You’ll soon see innovative things I’m working on — such as a live, streaming, two-way “TV channel” of sorts where you’ll be able to interact with me (audio, video, text) in real time as I type here in front of my computer.

This is my platform to push the boundaries of technology in every dimension.

Hang on tight.  We may achieve orbit.  Or we may sail off a cliff.  But the ride will be exhilarating.

– Eric

You saw it on the news. You read about it in the press. But now you can learn the inside story of the team that launched the world’s first civilian rocket into space.

As many of you know, I was one of the team leaders of this historic mission.  On May 17, 2004, after years of agonizing rocket crashes and catastrophes — some quite spectacular — we accomplished our remarkable goal.

I stuffed the book with 90 full-color photos to bring the adventure to life in vivid detail.  It’s 244 pages long in a wonderfully oversized 6×9 format.  (Paperback size wouldn’t do justice to the glorious color images.)  Check out the covers here.

You can order the book from Amazon by clicking here.

I encourage you to check out my book’s companion Web site at www.TheNewRaceToSpace.com.  You’ll see lots of interesting videos and other neat stories. And, as a bonus, you can save $2.00 if you use the Web site’s special ordering link and enter Discount Code NDE55XNW.

Until now, your options for flat-panel TVs really boiled down to LCD, LED, or plasma.  But if you’re in the market for a large flat-panel TV, and you want to future-proof your selection, you may want to switch your sights to OLED — organic light-emitting diode technology.

OLEDs provide amazing clarity, contrast, and color saturation.  In the not-to-distant future, they’ll be the technology behind the paper-thin TVs you’ll be able to affix to your wall like wall paper.  In the meantime, manufacturers are ready to roll out more-traditional flat-screen TVs made of OLEDs — such as the stunning 55-inch TV by LG Electronics.

The soon-to-be-unveiled LG Electronics 55-inch OLED flat-screen TV is just 4mm thick  (just a little more than an eighth of an inch).  And the entire TV weighs just 16.5 pounds.

The LG Electronics 55-inch OLED TV is scheduled to be revealed at the International Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas on January 10th.  For more information, visit this link:  http://fxn.ws/tgDLlb

Image courtesy LG Electronics

How would you like to raise up to $2 million for your startup business?  And do it by letting investors “point-n-click” the cash your way via the Web?  It may soon be nearly that simple, thanks to the “Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act” (more commonly known as the “Crowdfunding Act”) that passed the House in an overwhelming (and bi-partisan!) 407 to 17 vote.  President Obama is another driving force behind the legislation, which is designed to dramatically streamline fund-raising for entrepreneurs.

After the bill passes the Senate (and all indications are that it will), and President Obama signs the legislation into law, entrepreneurs will be able to turn on a grassroots method to raise capital — equity sales online — with greatly reduced SEC restrictions.  The freer flow of money would be rocket fuel for startups, which are an essential engine for a robust economy and job creation.

“Crowdfunding” — a way for masses of people (“the crowd”) to feed ventures with capital via the Web — has blossomed in recent years thanks to sites like Kickstarter.com.  But SEC “red tape” (primarily the Securities Act of 1933) has prohibited these sites from directly offering investment shares in the enterprises.  The new Crowdfunding Act will remove this barrier.  No longer will equity sales be restricted to accredited investors.  And the power of public-supported funding will be unleashed.

Entrepreneurial endeavors will be able to sell up to $2 million in ownership shares to an unlimited number of investors.  And individuals will be able to invest up to $10,000 or up to 10% of his or her annual income, whichever is less.

If a company seeks the maximum $2 million in funding, it must supply “the crowd” with audited financial statements.  A company can choose to bypass the audited-financial-statement requirement — but then the maximum capital it can raise is $1 million.  (That’s nothing to sneeze at!)

When the President signs the legislation into law, it will be a great day for all entrepreneurs.  Just as important for America, the ensuing new businesses will provide a shot of adrenaline for the economy and help rev up the job-creation engine.  Everyone will win.

I come across all sorts of gizmos and gadgets.  One that struck me as truly brilliant is the “iCADE” iPad arcade cabinet.  Just pop in an iPad and — presto! — you’ve transformed it into a classic arcade (see picture) capable of playing dozens of your Atari favorites, like Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Centipede, Missile Command, Battlezone, Super Breakout, and (one of my personal favorites) Tempest.  (I spent way too many hours playing Tempest in the arcade at UConn.  But I digress…)

I found the iCADE on sale at ThinkGeek for $69.99 (about 30 bucks less than other online stores).  Here’s the link:  http://bit.ly/s56vbe

And, yes, I bought one.  Couldn’t resist.

NOTE:  To complete the iPad-to-iCADE metamorphosis, you’ll also need to download the games from the Apple App Store.  Some are free (like Missile Command), some are 99 cents, and you can download the full collection of 100 Atari games for $14.99.  Enjoy!

NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has discovered an Earth-like planet with balmy 70-degree temperatures: “Kepler-22b”.  The plant is 2.4 times the diameter of Earth, and orbits its sun in 290 days.

But we won’t be visiting anytime soon, as the planet is 600 light years away.  How far is 600 light years?  Well, consider that light travels 186,287 miles each second.  Now multiply 186,287 miles times the number of seconds in 600 years.  Whew!

Scientists have pointed the 42 dish antennas that comprise California’s Allen Telescope Array on Kepler-22b to see if it can detect any radio waves — to perhaps catch a Keplerian broadcast of “Dancing with the Stars” (sorry — couldn’t resist that).

Something to think about:  If scientists on Kepler-22b were scanning Earth for radio or TV broadcasts, they wouldn’t hear anything.  Radio waves travel at the speed of light.  So, they’d be examining Earth as it was 600 years ago — and radio was invented here less than 150 years ago.

For additional details about this planetary discovery, including a video of the mission managers discussing their find, check out the following article in the San Jose Mercury News:  http://bit.ly/smOSZF

Artist’s conception courtesy of NASA / Ames/ JPL-Caltech

I’m not big on politics.  But I am on technology.  And I’ve spotted an emerging technology platform that has a legitimate potential to profoundly impact the U.S. presidential election less than a year from now.

It’s called Americans Elect www.AmericansElect.com.  Its goal:  Allow the public to select its own President / Vice President candidate ticket — and put the pair on the election ballot in all 50 states.

What distinguishes this endeavor from a symbolic gesture is that Americans Elect is collecting signatures nationwide to place the selected candidates on the ballot in all 50 states.  So, in theory, the Americans Elect ticket could become President and Vice President of the United States.

As stated by Americans Elect:  “We’re using the Internet to break the gridlock in Washington, open up the political process and give every single voter — Democrat, Republican or independent — the power to nominate a presidential ticket in 2012. Your voice matters. You decide the issues. You choose the candidates. And in a secure, online convention next June, you will make history by putting the Americans Elect ticket on the ballot in every state.”

Could this actually happen?  Given the volatile political climate, and now the technology infrastructure, it’s not impossible.  Check out the Web site www.AmericansElect.com and keep an eye on things.  And if Americans Elect blossoms into a real political force, remember where you heard it first.

I recently came across a Bushnell BackTrack Point-5 ultra-portable GPS at an L.L. Bean store.  It was on sale for $79.  I couldn’t resist finding out what such a low-priced GPS unit could do.  The unit also features a digital compass, altimeter, thermometer, and clock.

I was pleasantly surprised.  This little unit performed like a champ.   Within about 20 seconds of popping in two AAA batteries, the unit had already “locked” onto GPS satellites.  With a press of a button, the unit stored my location.  It gave me a choice of five location icons, as the device will allow up to five “waypoints” to be kept in memory.

My wife and I then went for a few-mile hike in an area with plenty  of hills, trees, and thick brush.   The  BackTrack Point-5 made our return trip simple.

With its small size and attached carabineer, you can just clip it onto your belt or backpack — and off you go.  For easy hikes, it may be all you need.  For more complex journeys, it would make a great backup.

If you’re looking for a “stocking stuffer” for the person who appreciates  unique gadgets, this should certainly be a pleaser.

HEAD’S UP:   I already thought it was a super deal for $79.  But I’ve also spotted it for just $68 at Walmart (online only) and $67 on Amazon.

Check out a minute-and-a-half video and product details at this link.

Image courtesy Bushnell

As I reported in an earlier post, NASA’s Curiosity rover is about twice as long and about five times heavier than the most recent Opportunity and Spirit rovers.  But what’s really unique is that it’s powered by a radioisotope power system instead of solar panels.  The result:  Curiosity should be able to operate continuously through sandstorms and Martian winters for years.

If you’d like to read more about NASA’s Curiosity rover and its innovative power plant, check out a CNET article at this link:  http://cnet.co/rs8Xlz

Image courtesy of NASA

Chime.in, a just-launched social-media site, claims it will pay all content posters 50% of the advertising revenue generated on their profile pages.  This in stark contrast to Facebook, which has built a $65 billion empire by leveraging members’ content to attract advertisers and amass revenue.

To provide a first-hand report, I created Chime.in account (very simple to do), and explored the site.  Although the site is still in beta, I must say the user interface is well thought out.  Since the site has just turned on, you probably have a good shot to get your personal name as your user name.  Hey, it’s free.  Go for it.  www.Chime.in

The following is a snippet of a Huffington Post article about Chime.In:

“While Facebook has earned billions of dollars selling ads next to the content uploaded by their 800 million members, users haven’t seen a dime from their posts.

Share with Chime.in and Chime.in will share with you. The site, which allows individuals to post photos, links, videos and text in two thousand character ‘chimes,’ will give users 50 percent of the revenue it earns from selling advertising on their profile pages.

‘This is a firing shot in social media,’ [Bill Gross, the founder] told The Huffington Post. ‘Finally, the interests of the content creators are aligned with the interests of the publisher because they get something for their hard work.”

For the complete article, visit http://huff.to/ogyFGi

Image courtesy The Huffington Post and Getty Images.

I came across this inspiring two-minute video on YouTube about entrepreneurs.  They formed the fabric of our country — and could (and should) be our engine to the future.  Start your day off with this video.  It will lift your spirits.  Then take that rush of adrenaline and dose free spirit — and go for it.  Change the world.

Facebook creative director, Ji Lee, spilled the beans about Facebook’s upcoming Facebook Music service when he tweeted:  “The ‘Listen with your friend’ feature in ticker is blowing my mind. Listen to what your friends are listening. LIVE.”

The “ticker” Lee referred to is the live scrolling updates of your friends, as implemented in the recent interface update of Facebook.

The graphic associated with this post is a snippet of a screenshot by quick-fingered Twitter users — before Lee and Facebook removed Lee’s tweet from public view.

What the Facebook Music feature will look like, and how it will actually function, is still a secret.  Keep an eye on both the ticker and the general Facebook user interface over the next couple of days.

The America Invents Act is the most significant overhaul of U.S. patent law since 1952.  Through this Act, American inventors can hope to see a breakthrough in the logjam of patent applications that hold up applications for years at a time.  (At last count, there are over 700,000 backlogged patent applications — slowing countless product and business innovaions from seeing the light of day.)

The bill also gets the U.S. on the same patent footing as the rest of the world, by changing our system from a “first-to-invent” standard to a “first-to-file” standard.  This one change, alone, is designed to eliminate the myriad of court cases that try to resolve which inventor came up with an idea first.

Additional information can be read at the following AP report: http://bit.ly/pWOQR0

Photo courtesy of the AP.

Facebook users have long wished they could organize their friends into groups — as some posts that may be appropriate for one segment of your social network (like your close friends) might be shocking for others (like your grandmother).  Starting this week, you can now do just that with Facebook’s new “smart lists” feature.

Facebook’s system makes an initial guess at parceling your contacts into separate groups, based on proximity, family relationship, business name, or school association.  You can override and edit Facebook’s guesses, to get your groups just the way you want them.

Facebook has been working on this feature for some time.  But Google’s recent roll out of Google+ and its “circles” concept seems to have spurred Facebook to speed things to completion.

Image courtesy of USA TODAY

According to the Associated Press, “IBM’s supercomputer system, best known for trouncing the world’s best ‘Jeopardy!’ players on TV, is being tapped by one of the nation’s largest health insurers to help diagnose medical problems and authorize treatments.  WellPoint Inc., which has 34.2 million members, will integrate Watson’s lightning speed and deep health care database into its existing patient information, helping it choose among treatment options and medicines.”

I have mixed feelings about this development.  We all remember how the HAL 9000 turned against the astronauts in 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Sure, that was science fiction.  But so were artificial satellites when they were envisioned a decade before Sputnik by the master science-fiction writers Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein.  Computers are marvelous tools.  But good ol’ fashion intuition, by a seasoned physician, is (with current technology) impossible to replicate.

For the full AP article, visit http://bit.ly/n621oi

Photo courtesy AP and IBM

According to a news report from the BBC, the world’s smallest electric motor “could have applications in both nanotechnology and in medicine….

“The butyl methyl sulphide molecule was placed on a clean copper surface, where its single sulfur atom acted as a pivot….  As well as forming a part of the tiniest machines the world has ever seen, such minute mechanics could be useful in medicine — for example, in the controlled delivery of drugs to targeted locations.

“The next thing to do is to…couple it to other molecules, lining them up next to one another so they’re like miniature cog-wheels.”

To read the complete BBC report, visit http://bbc.in/qZKTg4

Amazon’s Android-based Kindle tablet is about to send shock waves through the tablet PC marketplace.  The device is still so top secret, no photos have yet leaked out (but you can bet they will over the next few days).  Here’s what we do know:

*  Full-color 7″ screen
*  Two-finger multi-touch screen interface
*  Runs a specially customized version of Android 2.2
*  $250 — about half the cost of Apple’s base iPad

Amazon has a huge, loyal customer base and almost unlimited content. Its release of what will be an impressive full-color tablet PC, running the popular Android operating system, will be a game changer.  No, it won’t knock Apple off its roll with the iPad.  But it will make a serious dent.  As for the other tablet makers?  They’re in deep doo-doo.

Volkswagen’s annual car-design competition has a particularly bold entry by designer, Zhang Yuan.  Her design — called the Volkswagen Aqua — runs on hydrogen fuel cells that drive powerful fans for lift and propulsion.  The vehicle is designed to continually transition between land and water (snow and ice, too), so you could literally travel anywhere over any terrain.  Anticipated top speed is 62 MPH.

Check out a recent article at Discovery.com here:  http://bit.ly/jQXfGz

Fuel cells are becoming more and more viable as a zero-emission power source.  For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell.

Image courtesy Zhan Yuan / Volkwagen

As reported in the European Respiratory Journal, dogs can be trained to sniff the breath of patients and confirm cases of lung cancer.

The four dogs in the study were two German shepherds, a Labrador retriever, and an Australian shepherd.  The dogs’ overall accuracy was 71%.

For additional details, take a look at the following excellent report in today’s Daily Mail: http://bit.ly/q0ChrB

The Los Angeles Times reports that MIT scientists have created a drug that “…takes advantage of a molecule called double-stranded RNA, which is produced by many, many viruses when they infect mammalian cells. Uninfected, our cells usually don’t make this double-stranded RNA, and to some extent our cells have evolved to recognize this structure and respond. Just not potently enough. The drug created by the MIT team can enter mammalian cells and is engineered to induce the cells to commit suicide if — and only if — they contain double-stranded RNA.”

The scientists’ preliminary studies were effective against 15 virus types, including Dengue fever and H1N1.  It will be interesting to see if the next phase of research can replicate this significant level of success.

For the full LA Times article, visit http://lat.ms/q077Jb

I received lots of e-mails regarding my 3D human-organ “printer” articles.  On the lighter side of 3D printing are the amazing new “factory in a box” devices available to the public.  Make model cars, cutlery, drink bottles, chess set pieces, a lunch box, toy soldiers — let your imagination run wild — with just a push of a button.

MakerBot’s “Thing-O-Matic” is one of the leading gadgets in this new marketplace.  For $1,225, you can manufacture with plastic almost any hand-sized object you can imagine.  Just plug the Thing-O-Matic into your PC’s USB port and (using supplied software) it squirts out molten plastic, layer by layer, until your creation is completed.

Check out an excellent article from the UK’s DailyMail here http://bit.ly/fCQvkY.

“Scientists for the first time have used gene therapy to successfully destroy cancer tumors in patients with advanced disease — a goal that has taken 20 years to achieve.  Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania engineered patients’ own pathogen-fighting T-cells to target a molecule found on the surface of leukemia cells.  The results provide ‘a tumor-attack roadmap for the treatment of other cancers,’ including those of the lung and ovaries as well as myeloma and melanoma, researchers said.”

For the complete article, visit http://reut.rs/p3tGN9

Photo courtesy of Reuters

Amazon just launched a new service called Kindle “Cloud Reader” that carries on the company’s “buy once, read everywhere” philosophy.   You can read books directly from your Web browser.  And you can pick up where you left off, just like with any other Kindle application.

It looks like the service currently only supports Chrome and Safari browsers.   So, if you’re a fan of say Firefox (like me), you’ll need to download a version of either browser .  But, hey, they’re free — so no big deal.  Check out additional details at https://read.amazon.com.

One of my readers asked me to research something he spotted a couple of years ago: a mouse suspended in mid air without any perceivable support mechanisms.

Yes, it did occur. It was a rather unique NASA experiment. The trick? Scientists used a superconducting magnet to levitate the water inside of a mouse. Here’s an article from LiveScience: http://bit.ly/kb330d

If NASA could develop the system on a larger scale, it’s possible that the same technique could be used with humans to simulate the effects of microgravity. (We’re 60 – 70% water, so the technique should, in theory, work.)

If that fizzles for NASA, fear not: Perhaps the gadget could become part of the next Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas.

CNET just published a nice tribute to the birth of the Web, an event that happened 20 years ago — August 6, 1991.  Check out CNET’s tribute at http://cnet.co/r2IyJD

The accompanying  illustration is from Tim Berners-Lee’s original proposal for a Web-based computer network using hyperlinks and a computer network.  (Content credit: CNET and W3C)

As you’re strolling memory lane, other notable items from 1991 include the start of the first Gulf War, the end of Apartheid in South Africa, Lech Walensa elected President of Poland, and Freddie Mercury, the wonderfully talented lead singer of Queen, passing away from AIDS.

A couple of weeks ago I described how living organs for transplant procedures are being created with stem cells.  Well, the breakthroughs on the bioengineering front continue to happen fast and furious.

Just recently, researches have successfully “printed” a living blood vessel using a fluid containing a brew of blood-vessel cells and muscle cells.  This is an ingenious application of 3D printers — remarkable devices that can create three-dimensional objects by applying multiple layers of a liquid construction material.  (For more info, visit this Wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing.)

Printed blood vessels could have tremendous applications in surgery.  For instance, a patient awaiting bypass surgery could have blood vessels printed in the days leading up to the procedure — with the vessels made from a small sampling of his or her own cells.  The ultimate vision is to print complete organs — even new hearts — as an alternative to transplants.

Given the pace of this technology’s development, I believe were only talking a handful of years before we see it saving lives in major hospitals.  Very exciting.

SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation), a leading private aerospace firm founded by Elon Musk (co-founder of PayPal), intends to fly its Dragon capsule via the company’s Falcon launch vehicle to the ISS on November 30th.  It would be huge news if they can pull off this feat, especially with the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet.

According to Garrett Reisman, a veteran NASA astronaut and now an employee of SpaceX:  “The next flight of the Dragon we’re going to go all the way and berth it to the space station, drop cargo off and bring stuff back.”

Stay tuned for more information. 

Dragon capsule image courtesy SpaceX

In 2007 President Bush signed into law an energy bill that requires light bulbs to be 30 percent more efficient by 2012.  Sounds like a good idea, right?  Today’s old-fashioned “Edison” bulbs turn only 10% of electricity into light — with the other 90% turned into heat.  But now some “brilliant” lawmakers want to overturn the 2007 law, and they’ve introduced legislation to do so.

Their rationale?  People should have the right to choose how they want to light their homes and businesses, regardless of bulb type or efficiency.  Now, I’m all for a free society and minimal government impact on our lives.  But the reality is that America has five percent of the world’s population, but consumes a whopping 25% of the world’s energy.  Expressed another way:  On average, each one of us consumes five times more energy than an individual in any other country on the planet.  And lighting is one of the heftiest contributors.

Edison bulbs have been around since 1879.  As we all learned in school, Thomas Edison found a way to create light by sending a current through a metal filament, causing it to glow. But this ancient technology, as mentioned above, is a terribly inefficient light source; for most homes, it’s the second-largest energy expense.

Today’s energy-efficient light-bulb alternatives come in all shapes, sizes, and types.

The now-popular “curly” fluorescent light bulbs (a.k.a., compact fluorescent lights, CFLs) are much more energy efficient (20% or more).  But some people don’t like the slight turn-on delay.  And, contrary to recent media reports, they don’t contain life-threatening levels of mercury.  Yes, they contain some mercury — but only about one hundredth (1/100) of the mercury as the medical thermometers we grew up with.

My personal preference is the LED light bulb, based on the same LED technology used in everything from flashlights to TV displays.  They are considerably more expensive — $20 to $40 per bulb.  But, because they are up to 80% efficient (vs. an Edison bulb’s 10% or a CFL’s 20%), they pay back quickly in energy savings — and can save hundreds of dollars per year in operating costs.  And forget about replacing them.  Under typical usage, a single LED bulb can last up to 25 years.

Watch for the costs of LED bulbs to plummet over the next year or two, as demand and production increase.

Companies are springing up, all across America, to manufacture both CFLs and LEDs.  These companies are creating jobs and fostering innovation.  Now if only the light bulb would go on in the heads of our politicians.

The Space Shuttle program may be over, but NASA is looking to spread its wings in other high-flying missions.

For instance, NASA has a presidential mandate to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 — a mind-boggling challenge on multiple dimensions.  As a recent Washington Post article describes:  “You can’t land on an asteroid because you’d bounce off — it has virtually no gravity. Reaching it might require a NASA spacecraft to harpoon it. Heck, astronauts couldn’t even walk on it because they’d float away.”

Check out the very interesting piece by the Washington Post, describing the many technological hurdles of a manned mission to an asteroid, at this link:  http://wapo.st/oNK3Wr

Image courtesy NASA / JPL

Many patients don’t survive the waiting list for a donor organ.  I know, first hand, as I lost a long-time friend while he was waiting for a compatible donor heart.

This logjam is beginning to open with the medical community’s announcement that a patient received a trachea (“windpipe”) that was created with the patient’s own stem cells.  (Stem cells are a versatile type of cell that can transform into many types of cells. http://1.usa.gov/ubcAp)

The trachea was constructed with an artificial “skeleton” of a spongy material which was then immersed in a solution of stem cells.  The cells grew into the sponge material, creating a living organ in less than two weeks.  The resulting trachea was then implanted into the patient (who was suffering from tracheal cancer).  The patient’s body accepted new-formed organ as if it was the original trachea.

In theory, the same process could be used to create other, more complex organs:  liver, pancreas, heart, etc.  We’re still quite a ways from this level of organ development.  But the medical door is now open a crack.  Further progress is just a matter of time.

For more information and additional photos, take a look at a recent article at CNN http://bit.ly/qAibNI.

Image courtesy Harvard Bioscience

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced $41.5 million in grant money for the re-invention of the toilet — the porcelain appliance that’s been a staple of homes and living quarters since the 1700s.  The Foundation stated that current toilet technology is too costly for families in third-world communities, and requires water and sewer connections that many developing societies do not have.  So they’re reaching out to inventors and creative thinkers, everywhere, for a new solution.

If you have some clever ideas swirling in your head, take a look at the  “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge” information PDF at http://bit.ly/p4qVZs

You can also read a great overview article at http://bit.ly/ottbCy

Image courtesy of CNN

ZDNet just released a great review on the five top tablet PCs. If you’ve been considering a tablet for yourself, or looking for one for son or daughter as a back-to-school tool, then this is the review for you.

Product insights, photos, and accessories — including nifty keyboards that turn a tablet into a full-fledged computer workstation — are all provided in this tablet review. Check it out at http://zd.net/o8ZsIt

CNET’s Car Tech blog reviewed the top eco-friendly cars across six fundamental criteria:  Cost, Range, Annual Fuel Cost, Seating, and Cargo Capacity.  Included in the review were the 2011 Nissan Leaf, 2011 Chevy Volt, 2011 Toyota Prius, and the 2011 Jetta TDI Sportwagen.

The “winner” of the CNET review was the Toyota Prius, due to its low base cost, driving range, and passenger compartment volume.

For the full review, visit http://cnet.co/oB8MhM

Look out, Mars.  Here comes one bad-ass dune buggy.  If all goes as planned, the Mars Sciences Laboratory (MSL) — nicknamed “Curiosity” — will blast off to Mars early this winter.  It’s about the size of a Mini Cooper — five times larger than the previous rovers Spirit and Opportunity — and can travel faster, farther, and over rougher terrain than its Mars-vehicle cousins.

Curiosity is an audacious technical marvel in search of past or present life on Mars.  It uses a state-of-the-art radioactive power system to generate electricity and heat.  It’s jam-packed with a multi-million-dollar laboratory of scientific instruments.  And its ingenious landing system is right out of a science-fiction novel:  A “sky crane” will literally lower Curiosity from an above-flying descent stage to the Martian surface.

The launch window is November 25th through December 18th.  Pencil in August 2012 for a wild ride down to the Martian surface.

Rendering courtesy NASA / JPL-Caltech

On June 30th, the NHTSA provided exceptions to allow the “Transition” — the flying car by Terrafugia — to be driven on any road or flown from any regional airport.  With a push of a button, the wings extent or fold up.  For more info, visit www.terrafugia.com.

(1)  Visit http://www.facebook.com/videocalling and click on the Get Started button.  (2) Click on a person to call from your chat list.  (3) Follow the pop-up window prompt to set up video calling.  (4) Video-call the person you selected.  It’s that easy.  Enjoy video-calling your Facebook friends!

Even though tomorrow’s launch of the Space Shuttle marks the end of this venerable space-launch system, NASA still has a few innovations up its sleeve — including a bag designed to turn astronaut urine into a “sugary drink.”

In the 1960s, the rage was “Tang” in space.  Today it’s a sports drink that I’ve dubbed “Sweet Pee.”  (If that name becomes a hit, remember where you heard it first.)

Image courtesy Wired Magazine

The editors at PCWorld were fortunate to be included in Google’s “field trial” — and they put Google+ through its paces.  Check out their very comprehensive review of Google+ at http://bit.ly/lfznOe

Look out, Facebook.  The 500-pound gorilla just entered the room.  Read the just-published “Is Google+ social media done right?” review by Joe Wilcox and Betanews.  Includes videos of key  Google+ features.  Also read about the central Google+ functions:

+Circles — online places users create to socialize and interact with different groups of people,  not everyone.

+Hangouts — multi-person video calling.

+Mobile — group messaging, location services, and photo and video uploads and sharing.

+Sparks — social sharing service.

Check out the full review here:   http://bit.ly/kuEUfs.

If I was a bigwig at Facebook, I’d be worried.  At first glance, Google+ looks very impressive.

Image courtesy of The Globe and Mail.

Google is set to roll out its own social media service, designed to compete with Facebook.  Initial reports are that it will look and function similar to Facebook, with real-time updates (including posted photos) from your circle of friends.  Google hopes to avoid a repeat of the social media debacle that occurred last year when they launched Google Buzz.

The date for the public launch of Google+ has not been announced.  The service is already being used by Google’s own staff.  So it is reasonable to assume that a phased public roll out could occur as early as the next few weeks.

The pace of research and discoveries in the field of medicine, in cancer research particularly, is nothing less than stunning.  Some of the greatest strides are in the field of “personalized medicine,” where diseases are treated at the genetic level — with treatments optimized for each individual patient.

Scientists have discovered that any particular type of cancer is actually a defined group of related cancers.  For instance, prostate cancer is actually comprised of a family of 24 cancers.  And there are eight primary variants of breast cancer.  Knowing the specific cancer variant, in any particular patient, gives doctors an inside track to targeting the cancer with the optimum treatment.

But that’s just the first step.  The most-recent breakthroughs are in the knowledge of each individual’s genetic code.

Just a few years ago, it would have cost millions of dollars to map the entire genome (genetic blueprint) of a single person.  But that price tag has plummeted to $5,000 — thanks to innovative technology companies like Complete Genomics.

Combining precise knowledge of a person’s genome with specific knowledge of a cancer variant is a powerful one-two punch.  It has the real potential to enable ultra-tailored, ultra-effective cancer treatments.  We’re not there yet.  But the convergence of technologies is happening right before our eyes.  Stay tuned.

For additional reference, visit these links:

Wiki genome information:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genome

Genomics and the treatment of prostate cancer:  http://bit.ly/lRLPtI

Interesting article on Complete Genomics:  http://bit.ly/k8ZW4K

Graphic courtesy of MIT / Technology Review

InfomationWeek published a wonderful visual tour of IBM’s unique place in the technology and computer revolution.  As the author of the article wrote:

“IBM took on massive projects ranging from implementing the Social Security Act of 1935, to developing Cold-War-era aircraft tracking systems and atomic research labs, to building guidance systems for the early space program. IBM has plenty of inventions to its credit along the way, from electric tabulators and typewriters, to dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and hard disk drives, to the barcodes and magnetic-stripe cards now ubiquitous in retail transactions.”

Take a stroll down “memory” lane.  The museum-quality pictures (and  the accompanying story) are extraordinary.   Visit http://bit.ly/jQjxdU.

Google’s popular “voice search” tool for mobile devices is now being rolled out to the desktop.  That’s one of the announcements Google execs made today at an event in San Francisco.  If you’re running the Chrome browser, you’ll now see a little microphone icon which, when clicked, will allow you to speak the item you are searching for.  (Chrome is an excellent & fast browser, BTW.)

Google also unveiled a “search by image” feature inspired by its mobile Google Goggles app.  Insert an image and Google will try to provide a search result that it feels is associated with that image.

For more information on this breaking news, check out the following article at SearchEngineLand.com:  http://selnd.com/mg13Jp

As reported in PhysOrg.com, researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine in Massachusetts have succeeded in creating a “living laser” out of human cells.

According to the report, “It sounds like something out of a comic book or a science fiction movie — a living laser — but that is exactly what two investigators [at the Center] have developed.”

The researchers used a human cell and genetically re-engineered it to emit light using the same principle in which some types of jellyfish emit light.

Scientists hope that these biological lasers could someday be used in “photodynamic therapies.”  That is, treating diseases such as cancer by applying light — from inside the body — to activate photosensitive drugs to destroy cancer cells.

To read the complete PhysOrg.com article, visit http://bit.ly/mRzGqR

The researchers at CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics, have  reported that they were successful in creating and harnessing antimatter for 1,000 seconds (or 16 minutes and 40 seconds).  The previous “record” was just 172 milliseconds — or about two-tenths of a second.  Being able to study antimatter for significant lengths of time may open the door to breakthroughs that could be beneficial to each and every one of us…such as new sources of energy.  Time will tell.

For more information, visit the following article in Scientific American:  http://bit.ly/jYvgjp

Global telecom company, Ericsson, recently predicted that by the year 2020 there will be about 50 billion mobile Internet connections, worldwide.

And the world’s population is predicted to be approximately 7.7 billion in 2020.

So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist (inside joke) to predict that each person on the planet will, on average, be connected to the Internet by well over six mobile devices.

We’re not just talking about pockets full of smartphones.

The quantum jump, according to Ericsson and many others, will be the explosive growth of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.  That is, portable electronic devices, automobiles, traffic-control systems, dozens of home appliances, and more, all connected through the Internet…and large-scale wireless connectivity.  Many of the devices will be interacting with each other, at thousands of times a second, without you even knowing it.

Think of it a massive data-communications environment, invisible to the naked eye, and as ubiquitous as the air we breathe.  And continually interacting with our daily life.

Welcome to the autonomous, interconnected world.  It’s just around the corner.

Computer illustration of Internet connectivity by the The Opte Project

(Forbes) University of Maine researchers have developed a golf ball made from the shells of lobster. Since they are biodegradable, that means ship-based driving ranges can be revived. The practice was banned by international treaty in 1988 because the plastic bad for sea life, from turtles on down the food chain.  For the complete article, visit http://onforb.es/euLHZI

Smartphones, laptops, and tablets will soon be as thin and flexible as a piece of paper.  This is not science fiction.  It’s already happening.

According to Gizmag.com: “Researchers from the Human Media Lab at Canada’s Queen’s University have created a fully-functioning floppy smartphone [that they call a] Paperphone.  The Paperphone can do things like making and receiving calls, storing e-books, and playing music. [It] conforms to the shape of its user’s pocket or purse, and can even be operated through bending actions.”

“This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper,” said its creator, Roel Vertegaal, who is also the director of the Human Media Lab. “You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen.”

In just a few short years (perhaps sooner) computers like the MacBook Air will seem like boat anchors…the iPad will feel like a cast-iron frying pan…and you’ll be able to carry your smartphone like a dollar bill in your wallet.  It’s all right around the corner.