What’s up with Belgian journalism? I don’t read French or German very well, so I can’t report on its quality or relevence, but they’re either thoroughly ashamed of it or so proud of it that they want to keep it all for themselves. Not content with taking big nasty Google to court for sending them more internet traffic for no extra fee, the little nation’s major media group has sent a stern letter to Microsoft asking to be removed from MSN news searches as well. The issues surrounding aggregation of copyrighted content are complex, of course, but this smacks of a rearguard action, and King Canute still ended up with wet feet.

A Welsh outfit named Swanturbines are flogging at a renewable energy meme that’s been ‘in development’ since long before I was born – tidal power. They’ve got a new super-simple turbine design that they believe will be easier to maintain, as well as more effective at harnessing the abundant energy contained in the UK’s mercurial coastal weather. Inevitably, and just like all the other designs before it, this will get nowhere unless someone decides to throw a lot of money at it – and seeing as the British government are still very sweet on nuclear, that’s going to have to come from the private sector. Paging Mr. Branson; you are needed at the beach.

Bombs and ballistics? So last millenium. The discerning superpower-around-town needs to be out in front with the top grade sexy weaponry. That means futuristic stuff like lasers, but they’re still a bit on the bulky side for the boots on the ground to tote around, so mounting them on aircraft is the way to go. Luckily, Boeing are doing preliminary testing on just such a set-up, which will feature ‘scalable’ levels of destruction – in other words, the operator can select from ‘burn’, ‘vaporise’ and all settings in between. Versatility never goes out of fashion, after all.

Touch-based interfaces are still a little thin on the ground, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t working on new ways to engage the sense that gets little attention from technology. Take, for example, this ‘augmented spatial awareness’ system being developed in Japan that acts as a set of electronic whiskers to detect motion in the vicinity of your head. The designers cite uses such as helping the blind and making driving safer, and more power to them for that, but I’m thinking that the first commercial use will be in the gaming or entertainment industries.