The problems with human employees are the obvious ones – they need to eat, sleep and take various other bio-breaks, and their rights to do so are unfortunately protected by law. Well, if you’re paying by the hour, why not get real value for money? Japanese businesses can now rent robotic receptionists at an hourly rate which, at $445 for sixty minutes, isn’t going to scale to well for a while yet. But give it few years, factor in employee insurance and benefits, and the pink slips will start flying …

Heartened by their early success with the first Genesis inflatable habitat (which is still operating now, five months later), Bigelow Aerospace are busily preparing its experiment-laden successor for launch around springtime next year. But they are also looking forward further, projecting the launch of a prototype capsule capable of housing three crew with full life support by the end of the decade. If that’s not just big talk, the nation-states have a challenge on their hands.

Good news for the average consumer netizen – Google have announced an expansion of functionality to the Booksearch service, largely aimed at making the interface a little more friendly and the displayed pages more enjoyable to read. However, there may be a small section of the population who are somewhat more alarmed by the increased ease with which the text of books can be searched – namely authors who have plagiarised in the course of their work.

Thanks to an explosion of mainstream media coverage, Second Life has been experiencing a population boom in sympathy with its raised profile. The question is, what sort of effect is that having on the virtual world? Steve Rubel (whose employer Edelman PR has its finger in a lot of SL pies) would have us believe that there is still vast marketing potential to be scooped up by savvy investors. However, Warren Ellis (whose interest is far more street-level-cultural) paints a very different picture – one of rampant discontent from the paying residents towards the freeloading n00bs and corporate interests. I’m guessing they’ll both be right, and that SL as it is now will be a distant memory in a year or so.

Space exploration advocates often encounter scepticism in many forms from the man on the street. See how many old favourites you recognise – Darnell Clayton at Colony Worlds has compiled a list of Ten Reasons Not To Build A Space Elevator, and I’m pretty sure his tongue must be sore from being jammed so firmly in his cheek…