IBM announces the development of a method to hardwire encryption into a microprocessor. The system encrypts data at all stages, including onboard RAM – the only place it would be un-encrypted would be at the user’s screen. So good news for people worried about sensitive data being lifted from stolen kit, but bad news for the anti-DRM lobby – this system would make copyright enforcement a lot easier.

Researchers at Dartmouth in conjunction with a bunch of other institutions have developed a semi-autonomous, solar-powered robot that’s intended for use in Antarctica. The eventual goal is to create a mesh of self-powered robotic monitoring stations. What I dig the most about this thing is that it looks like a robot is meant to look: ugly as sin and utilitarian as hell. It looks like a cardboard and tinfoil prop from a Dr. Who pretender. Check out Regine’s write up for more details than are available from the project site.

iAlertU is like a car alarm for your MacBook Pro. No, I mean it’s exactly like a car alarm for your MacBook Pro. Check out the video to see what I mean.

Rana Dasgupta asks and eloquently answers the question why is the industrialized West suddently so fascinated with third world megacities? I must admit that there is something immensely fascinating and very futurismic about the exuberantly chaotic and creative centers in places like Mumbai or Rio de Janeiro.

Seymour Hersh lays out the Bush administration’s plans for Iran, as described by his sources, in the New Yorker. From everything I’ve read I believe that the current leaders in Iran (unlike Saddam Hussein four years ago) are a genuine threat to the United States, and I fear that a military approach may be the only way to prevent a mushroom cloud from rising over an American city. What form that military approach takes, and when it’s undertaken, will make all the difference in the result. Hersh does a good job of laying out the risks of a number of approaches to containing Iran.