Brian Gongol
Harvard and Google team up for a "genome" of the English language
That's (in essence) what Google's Book Search has been all about: Aggregating the vast amounts of content that exists in printed form from the pre-Internet era and making it accessible via the Internet, which in turn makes it ready to be sorted and searched for research like this. They're using the research tool to look into questions of how the language evolves over time and what political and cultural changes do to influence the language.
New babies show up on electronic billboards in Sioux City
A hospital is going to put up pictures of newborns on a digital billboard in town. Clever marketing.
Using discounts to encourage charity
The cartoonist who created the very clever "Bo Nanas" strip is offering a holiday discount on the book, and is turning the profits over to charity. That's how capitalism is supposed to work -- giving individuals tools with which to do good in the ways they want.
