Well, not quite a Minority Report, but nevertheless a brain scan to detect if you recall memories of a crime is being used in India to convict people.

Hard to believe that the integrated circuit turned a measly 50 years old last Friday.

The crew over at oobject.com have a collection of images of classic car user interfaces, or as we like to call them: dashboards. It's a great way to see how a very common and well-understood task can be accomplished in so many different ways.

Another institution--and I'm not using that word lightly--has become the latest casualty of the mortgage collapse. My feelings are summed up best by this quote:

“A hundred guys flew this firm into a mountain,” said a broker who works for Merrill in California and asked to remain anonymous because he did not have permission to speak with reporters. “It’s really sad. Now we’re going to be a bank like every one else.”

Where are those $100 million bonuses now? How sad for the employees and investors. One hopes that the management can take some responsibility for this disaster. I'm not holding my breath, however.

Is the sky falling? Maybe not, but major indicies in Asia are down 3-4% in early trading on the news of major US banks in consolidation or insolvency. Japan and China are online in a few minutes.