- Google’s forthcoming voice assistant, code-named “Majel,” is being positioned as a step toward a Star Trek-style natural-language interface for Android devices.  
- The Thiel Foundation’s new “20 Under 20” fellowship round was discussed; participants noted the $100 k grant is modest and that the age cutoff (under 20) excludes most active community members.  
- kanzure suggested the Personal Genome Project and Cancer Commons as potential data sources for someone seeking genomic or oncological datasets.  
- A blog post detailing the automated crawling and analysis of 155,200 Android Market applications was shared, highlighting open techniques for large-scale mobile-app data mining.  
- Tongue-in-cheek discussion referenced using SKDB (an open-source hardware knowledge base) to “make” a nuclear-pulse rocket, illustrating ongoing interest in open, modular propulsion design tools.