Technology

PCsat, $50K "bargain basement" satellite made from off the shelf parts

Leave messages in empty space for fellow geeks (/.)

Translucent concrete

You can deduce what people are typing and reading from their modem lights (PDF) [/.]

Dead Man's Switch encrypts your files if you don't tell it not to, sending your last words to friends and family [amygdala -> boingboing]

Science & Technology Academy Awards (I wish they got TV coverage)

Capturing CRT images from wall reflections

Feeling a fetus

VW concept car goes 100 km on 1 liter of fuel (By my calculations, you could nearly go cross-country on a mid-sized tank. It's a one-cylinder diesel engine, teardrop shaped, seats one.)

"Metal Storm" weapon fires 1,000,000 rounds per minute

Play MP3s/CDs on your radio (by generating your own FM signal) [gnat] (Folks say it kills batteries quickly & the audio quality is substandard.)

If you try to spin a CD-ROM at 52x, it will explode [/.] "The result was a pile of shimmering plastic chips."

Slippery slime "mobility denial system" to control crowds [/.]

Count your keystrokes [./]

Jets affect the weather (The post-9/11 ground stop gave scientists a chance to test their theories)

Solid state lighting

Huge six legged walking machines for forest work (video) [boingboing -> gnat]

Vacuum tube motherboard (for audiophiles) [verp]

How to spend $140K on your computer display; multi-monitor displays: ten 3840 x 200 monitors with .1245mm pixels.

The Solotrek personal flying machine

Watch the little guy push your browser around [rael]

DNA motors

Map of data surveillance projects [rre] (less interesting for surveillance than for PDF information compression)