Tired of mowing the lawn? New Zealand researchers say they have a device that could make your neighbors green with envy. It's a lawnmower operated via the Internet. "The next step is an automatic vacuum cleaner." The story isn't very good, but the meme is. Cnet and CNN have both picked this up. Now, I've been talking about this for years. Simple innovations that free people's time up have tremendous impacts on the economy. There are lawn mowers available on the market. There are vacuums in the lab. The biggest barrier to making this stuff really work is the limitations of battery power. I don't think this kind of thing will be widespread until you see lots of portable fuel cells, which may not be too long from now. Robot Grass Cutter Cuts Through Tedium of Mowing | 
