The Pileus system loads a humble umbrella with a lead sinker’s worth of gear to take photos, upload them to flickr, and browse them on the inside surface of the umbrella. On a rainy day I’m loading beach pictures.

The tides that whip in and out of the mouth of San Francisco Bay are something fierce, and may in the next few decades become a source of electrical power for San Franciscans.

HP has introduced a line of cameras with slimming features — the camera has a special filter for removing weight. So much for, “the camera never lies.”

If you’re into gadgets, student industrial design projects are a kind of boiled down essence of the future. They’ll rarely lead to real products, but they sure are fun to look at. In that spirit, have a look at I.D. magazine’s student design awards.

As a wage slave, I’m not immune to concern about the potential threat to my livelihood presented by skilled but inexpensive workers in emerging economies like India and China. The Economist points out that I need not be so concerned: emerging economies mean emerging middle classes and an unprecedented increase in global demand, which is a kind of global argument that rising tides lift all boats. So long as those rising tides are metaphorical and not literal, I’m on board with the idea.