1. Roboticists should learn from cartoons. 

"A companion robot is something you'll want to have because it does valuable work for you–but only if it also has an engaging character and personality, entertaining you through the way it interacts. Otherwise it will be no more interesting than a washing machine... We need look no further than the entertainment industry–TV, movies, animation and video games–to see how lifelike a synthetic creature can be. Think of Pikachu in Pokémon, or Bugs Bunny. A robot with their character traits would be pretty engaging. My perfect service robot would have the chipperness of Kermit the Frog, for instance."

2. Where the Apple command icon (⌘) came from. 

"One theory is that the floral-like symbol is a cloverleaf, while another is that it represents a road intersection, much like a highway junction. The most likely answer, however, came from a fan who sent [icon creator Susan] Kare a photo of a landmark in Sweden: the ruins of a castle in Borgholm. The fortress, as seen from above, looks just like the Point of Interest symbol."

3. Singapore's zany engineering startup, Hope Technik.

"Hope Technik, which now has 50 employees (over half are engineers), defies categorization. It designs and makes drones for clients, yet also does simple exterior design work on police cars and fire fighting vehicles for the government. It pushes the limits on robotics and concluded a space plane project with Airbus... It’s prototyping an exoskeleton (no photos allowed) that could have military, logistical, and healthcare uses. It could lift heavy objects and teach stroke patients how to walk again. The company has also sold a few dozen Alert devices that detect falls in a home and notifies a loved one – useful for elderly folks living alone."

4. A libertarian utopia in New Hampshire would have to use Bitcoin, of course.

"I discovered that this isolated group has fully adopted Bitcoin, and that it’s extremely enthusiastic about other 'freedom-enhancing' technologies such as 3D-printers and encryption. Everyone I met in the Project owned Bitcoin and was willing to accept it for goods and services. Of the couple thousand people living there, at least seven own 3D-printers. Though the idea originally was to get a critical mass to influence the political process, many in the movement now feel that the freedoms they want may be better realized through technology that routes around the government rather than engaging it directly."

5. People who are hard to lipread. 

"People with thin lips; people who mumble; people who speak from the back of their throats; people with dead-fish, unexpressive faces; people who talk too fast; people who laugh a lot; tired people who slur their words; children with high, babyish voices; men with moustaches or beards; people with any sort of accent."

Today's 1957 American English Usage Tip

broadcast, v. In radio & television, -ed is permissible & perhaps preferable in the past tense, but unpopular and seldom used in US; p.p. always broadcast. Cf. FORECAST.

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