U3 Smartdrives, USB flash drives that conform to the U3 standard, are due to arrive in October. This standard will make developing and deploying portable applications that run stand-alone on USB drives a snap. Full article here.

Nature has an article about a brain-computer-interface hat that "can read your thoughts". You can "stroll down a virtual street" by just thinking about walking. I have to admit, if I could do something in the virtual world just by thinking about it, I doubt that it would be walking down a street.

Here's a great selection of unfortunate domain name choices. Be careful what you register. Did you mean ExpertsExchange.com or ExpertSexChange.com?

Wired has a good story about ZigBee ,"a specification for building large networks of low-power radio transmitters". Expect consumer products by the end of the year. Because of the low-power consumption, batteries will run for years. Applications include h

MDI (Moteur Developpment International) claims that they have developed a car that uses "bi-energy" (compressed air + fuel) that has an effective driving range of 2000 km with "zero pollution in cities and considerably reduced pollution outside urban areas". They are promoting it to be used as a CAT vehicle.

There's a nice roundup of do-it-yourself robot building here. Lots of links and resources for the budding robotocist.

DVD Jon has done it again. This time, he's hacked encryption coding Microsoft's Media Player NSC files. Now you can watch Media Player files on VLC (VideoLAN Client). The Register has a story.

Linspire, everyone's favorite WalMart distro, can be downloaded for free until September 6. They claim they are doing it to remove any confusion with Andrew Betts' Freespire, which is now called Squiggle. Actually, this confused me even more. Accor

Everything USB reports that Mazda has developed a concept car that abandons the traditional cylinder key in favor of a USB key. It can also store driving directions and, of course, songs. This seems so obvious, I can't believe nobody has already done this.