In June 2011, Julian Assange received an unusual visitor: the chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, arrived from America at Ellingham Hall, the country house in Norfolk, England where Assange was living under house arrest.

One of the clearest, classic triumphs of technology over tyranny I see is the invention of the man-portable crossbow. With it, an untrained peasant could now reliably and lethally engage a target out to fifty meters - even if that target were a mount

This is a fun, almost novice-level construction project for anyone who has a 2-meter ham radio walkie talkie (e.g., the $26 Baofeng UV-5) and would like more effective range without having to buy an amplifier.

Surveillance tech Star Trek would love

It's a two-color device: black and white. The screen has no touch functions. The battery probably lasts for days. It answers every complaint about smartphones without bothering to address them.

Cell coverage can be fickle. You might get great reception at home but spotty coverage at work or at the gym even though other carriers work fine. And even if your carrier has your entire city pretty well covered, all bets are off when you travel.

SONAR FOR YOUR HANDS

Controversial machine is 100,000,000x faster at certain problems

Pictures coming in from many parts of the globe...On the streets of Phoenix, AZ; Philadelphia area; Dublin, Ireland... the force for good is alive and well