• A 2010 blog post on synthetic-biology ethics and the DIYbio movement framed ongoing community debates about safety, openness, and public perception.  
• Cornell’s Fab@Home team demonstrated an XML-based “machine parameter description language” (additive-manufacturing G-code analogue) plus edible 3-D printed cookies and meat, though the file format had not yet been released.  
• NASA and aerospace contractors are adopting electron-beam free-form fabrication (EBF3) for rocket-tank stiffeners and may integrate solid free-form–fabricated parts into the next-generation Joint Strike Fighter to reduce cost and weight.  
• A <$300 micro-stereolithography rig built from an off-the-shelf DLP projector achieves 1 µm feature resolution, illustrating ultra-low-cost, high-precision additive manufacturing.  
• Open-source VLSI design was discussed: the “Magic” layout tool is actively used, but the near-absence of publicly shared ASIC designs limits community growth beyond academia.  
• Steve Mann’s latest eyetap rig—half a Myvu display, 45° front-surface mirror, rear-facing camera—streams daily POV video via glogger.mobi, highlighting ongoing wearable-computing experimentation.  
• Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for ADHD was noted (PubMed PMID 20521875) with a $400-per-session clinical price, underscoring interest in non-invasive cognitive enhancement.  
• DARPA BAA-10-86 “Adaptive Vehicle Make” is being pursued; participants are co-editing a live Google Doc to track DFARS, ITAR, and public-release requirements while debating open-source forge options (gitorious, ikiwiki/git, piny, quirky.com) for a component repository.  
• katsmeow is scraping Digi-Key parametric data (14,857 MOSFET entries added) and can export richer datasets than Octopart, enabling custom sorts such as watts per dollar.  
• Henry Markram’s Blue Brain project is reportedly under-funded, has lost access to IBM’s Blue Gene supercomputer, and participants question Kurzweil’s claim that “hundreds of thousands” of scientists are reverse-engineering the brain, noting only ~7 active, underfunded groups.