Zing is going to have to work real hard to give me a usable interface for browsing and buying music on a small screen (there’s a reason the iPod’s designed to work with a desktop computer). Still, I must admit the concept of a Wi-Fi enabled music player done right triggers in me a Pavlovian gadget lust effect.

I’ve been waiting for my cranial hardware implants ever since I read Neuromancer. And slowly, the scienctists are inching their way toward being able to furnish me with them – they are now growing cultures of mammalian brain tissue on silicon chips, so that the two can interface. At the moment the technology is being used to study the hippocampus and its functions, but I’m sure they’ll get busy with the datajacks soon.

A company in the United Kingdom is investigating the feasability of paving disused train lines with recycled tire rubber, opening up new lanes for driving. Me, I’m more of a Rails To Trails kind of guy.

The USAF brass are dreaming about space war again. Having (mostly) rejected the idea of just destroying enemy satellites, the new plan is to hijack their steering systems, using a “parasitic attitude control system,” or PACS. This little gremlin will attach itself to the target, and either run it out of fuel (rendering it useless), thrash it around until bits drop off, realign it for use by friendly forces or move it for safe destruction or capture.

Space exploration requires resources. But not only that, the resources need to be accessible. The NASA engineers believe that orbital ‘filling stations’ that can refuel spacecraft with liquid hydrogen and oxygen are required if interplanetary missions are to become truly viable. I wonder if there’ll be a franchise deal available – the first burger joint in space is sure to follow.