Phlat: the new phat?

1) Constant Readers will recall I wrote a post a while ago about the imminent death knell for the incandescent lamp. Another hurdle seems to have been crossed: LEDs are starting to become practical for use as rear-projection light sources to replace halogens. I give you the Luminus Technologies Phlatlight. "Phlat" is not just 'hood-speak, it's a contraction of "Photon Lattice". Wizzy tech/consumer article here.

2) Another thing with "flatness" in its name: There's an open-online-content textbook company starting up. Flat World Knowledge LLC. They hope to sell hard copies at a profit. Me, I want the fast feedback for corrigenda that this sort of thing could, and morally ought to, provide. Man, I hate spending $70 on a textbook and then finding out the author can't be bothered to publish fixes. Such as a certain de Anza College professor who wrote one of the the most popular college-course networking fundamentals texts extant. Ahem.

3) Then there's the new info about the Antikythera Machine, most of the works of which were probably cut from a single sheet of metal 2 mm thick. Permit me to direct you to this Winds of Change post where you'll find links in the original entry and in the follow-on comments. Show Joe Katzman some love, why don't you?