Wenn Python nun eine vollwertige Sprache auf Symbian wird und Nokia es schafft offene, transparente und schnelle Distributionswege anzubieten, die dem Entwickler einen möglichen Revenue ermöglichen… dann… ja dann… könnte da tatsächlich noch mal draus werden…

Python für Symbian gibt es zwar schon seit fünf Jahren. Erst mit der soeben freigegebenen Version 2.0 rückt es jedoch in die erste Liga auf. Nokia hat das SDK mit Zertifikaten und Berechtigungen versehen, mit denen Entwickler ihre Anwendungen tauglich für den hauseigenen Ovi-Shop für mobile Software machen können.

In Zukunft sollen die weltweit 8000 Mitarbeiter des Schweizer Medienhauses Ringier einen Großteil ihrer Arbeit mit Google-Produkten erledigen. Damit löst die Firma acht verschiedene Groupware-Systeme in zehn Ländern ab, sagte der Technikchef Samuel Hügli in einem dpa-Gespräch. Die Technik wurde zuvor ein Jahr lang mit 350 Arbeitsplätzen in China und Vietnam ausprobiert.

New ways of powering robots are being designed, one of which involves the use of swimming bacteria to propel miniature gears. The shape of the gears influence the bacteria and make them move in a type of rotary motion, which can generate enough energy to power small robots. Changing the oxygen level within the area where the bacteria are kept, or the suspension fluid, can be used to control the speed of the gears. This is because the bacteria depend on oxygen to survive, and the more of it is available, the faster they are going to move.

Creating robots which have the ability to grow and evolve has been one of the most intriguing aspects of AI research in recent years, as the process of learning new things on one’s own is a definite sign of intelligence. Scientists at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne, Switzerland, have been working on miniature prototypes which display exactly those qualities. Their robots have been able to work together and share information when navigating through a maze, and have even mastered their skills in a type of predator-prey relationship—the implications of which, I think, speak for themselves.

The much anticipated announcement of Apple’s iPad tablet was met with a resounding…”ho hum” or worse from much of the technology crowd. The biggest criticisms were its lack of key features (no Adobe Flash, lack of USB ports, where’s the camera?, etc.). Apple iPad as a technology innovation disappointment.

But with Apple, and Steve Jobs, that’s not really the point now, is it?

The last ancestor we shared with worms, which roamed the seas around 600 million years ago, may already have had a sophisticated brain that released hormones into the blood and was connected to various sensory organs. The evidence comes not from a newly found fossil but from the study of microRNAs -- small RNA molecules that regulate gene expression -- in animals alive today.

Scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown how transplanted stem cells can connect with and rescue threatened neurons and brain tissue. The results point the way to new possible treatments for brain damage and neurodegenerative diseases.

Video Clipped from BBC Visions of the Future The Quantum Revolution, with Dr. Michio Kaku discussing Nanotechnology.