Music

A lot has been said about how music is over-priced yet the artists only get a small cut; this is a case of under-pricing. This guy gives his music away for free. His name is General Fuzz and he makes, in his words, "lush melodic instrumental electronica". It's quality, listen-toable stuff with the occasional guest artist on sax or violin. I started with the album "Messy's Place", which includes the brilliant "unconscious alliance". If you only download one track, this is it. You can donate, but he also accepts nonfincancial support - spreading the word via blogs etc. Consider it done, Mr Fuzz.

Nanodiamond

Could I resist reading a story with that title? No.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University are making electronics out of diamonds rather than silicon. The "nano" part is due to the very thin layer that is used; the process is inexpensive because of this, and also due to the use of industrial diamonds (or what should be called "reasonably-priced" diamond). Why do this when silicon seems to be adequate? Well, silicon has problems with high-energy particle interference, e.g when in space or in a nuclear reactor. These new-style transistors get around that by using an old-style concept: vacuum tubes. Yes, if they can cheaply pack these in a vacuum, we will have Super-efficient Nanodiamond Space Transistors. And who doesn't want one of those?