"Many weird and wonderful new gadgets, gizmos and inventions were revealed in 2005. Autonomous cars, robotic assistants and nano-circuitry provided a bright view of the future, while cellphone viruses, virtual crime sprees and 'non-lethal' crowd control weapons hinted at technological troubles... View full entry

Slashdot: "The animation system got a complete rewrite by Ton Roosendaal, as well as other major improvements like flive UV unwrapping LSCM, and a Modifier stack system." So glad. View full entry

"Google Earth has received attention of an unexpected sort. Officials of several nations have expressed alarm over its detailed display of government buildings, military installations and other important sites within their borders." NYT. View full entry

A San Francisco-based architect and engineer duo have formed Medergy, a new corporation hoping "to demonstrate how an existing but little-used process called 'steam reformation' can detoxify contaminated and hazardous medical waste on-site." ENR. View full entry

Google has announced Google Earth for Mac OSX. Some are anxious to get a copy. Of course being pure as the driven snow I've not been using the leaked beta version but if you can find it - it is fantastic!url View full entry

From Apple:"Many architecture firms are known for concentrating on niche markets. Not Jackson & Ryan Architects. This Houston-based firm specializes in not specializing. From museums to churches, from private homes to hotels, they've built their reputation on innovation, flexibility and... View full entry

Check out BlackJapan, all-black attire for your Firefox web browser. View full entry

The building blocks of today's connected world population was begun in Victorian England with the laying of submarine telegraph cables across the globe. These cables provided a direct, physical link between countries, colonies and continents forming what was, in many ways, the world's first... View full entry

"A leading defense contractor has successfully demonstrated a system that lets foot soldiers command unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, to see real-time overhead images on their handheld computers while fighting in urban battle zones." Wired. View full entry

The first Google Space, a cybercafe and test lab, opened at Heathrow Airport, London. See pictures | Read more | via Ludwig and Slashdot || Ready for more Google Rule?: London HQ | Face recognition | new tools: Firefox extension can check multiple gmail accounts from one browser window via &... View full entry

That's about half of what you need to know. (via) View full entry

Hakia is building the Web's first "meaning-based" search engine, one that will bring answers and meaningful results to questions on any topic. To achieve this goal, Hakia uses a proprietary semantic system instead of a conventional index. Meaning-based search will appeal to all Web searchers... View full entry

Get lost in Andrew Childs's world. It is superbad. View full entry

In NW England, "the river Mersey is now to be subjected to tests which environmentalists hope will make it the first river in Britain to generate electricity from its tides." It will use an intriguing "tidal power fence." Independent. Also: BLDGBLOG. View full entry

for all you fans of digital fabrication, mass-customization, and other numerically-controlled 'revolutions' that spawn structural unemployment, you'll be glad to hear that GM is cutting, once again, more jobs and plants from its numerically controlled operations. nytimes View full entry