Fed Chair Bernanke (first time I wrote that) has been a prolific economic author. For the economic policy wonks out there, the following can be considered Bernanke's Greatest Hits:

The Big Picture: The Best Writings of Ben S. Bernanke

On Friday, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform Chair Tom Davis (R-Virginia) wrote a top U.S. Patent & Trademark Office official with a plea to modernize the U.S. patent system.

"While litigation and settlement negotiations between (BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion and NTP) are central to the (patent infringement) controversy, " Rep.Davis wrote to USPTO Under Secretary for Intellectual Property Jon Dudas, "the patent-approval and reexamination process at the Patent and Trademark office have been significant factors in whether service continues uninterrupted to BlackBerry customers."

Rep. Davis closed his letter asking Dudas to forward him his assessment of the current state of patent examination and re-examination procedures, what negative impact any shortcomings have for technological innovation, as well as what forms might be needed.

It took a risk to their CrackBerries, but the right people are finally starting to ask the right questions about the Patent Office.

Congressman to Patent Office: level with us - BBHub

A hacker, entrepreneur, and all around mischief maker, Melvin wanted something he could give to peers and prospective clients that spoke of this nature.

A lockpick concept was chosen very early on, and the post production results were excellent. The picks can quite easily be removed from the card and are entirely functional as lockpicks.

Metal business card -- lockpick set

This fanatsic piece of fan art was uploaded at a small company and then promptly removed after the word got out. It is a a brilliant video to one of the oddest covers ever recorded by Captain Kirk. And he recorded a bunch.

William Shatner - Lucy in the Skies with Diamonds

By now you have all heard about Nyxem.E (aka Blackworm, Mywife.E etc) and that its payload that will delete certain files will activate on Friday the 3rd of February. Well, as part of our tracking of this worm we check on the webcounter the worm visits when infecting a machine. Imagine my surprise when I yesterday recieved an e-mail from our ISP saying that we might be infected with Nyxem.E!

Turns out that the ISP our UK office is using (Easynet), is monitoring all traffic going to the webcounter. Whenever an IP within their address space goes there, an e-mail is sent out to the technical contact informing them that they have a machine that potentially could be infected. The e-mail also included links to information on how to remove the worm.

That email could have potentially been hilarious had it recommended competitors' products to them.

F-Secure : News from the Lab - January of 2006

The fingernail-sized memory chip is etched with 1 billion transistors that are only 45 nanometers wide -- about 1,000 times smaller than a red blood cell, said Mark Bohr, a leading Intel engineer.

Intel says late 2007. AMD with IBM is slated for 2008.

Intel makes first chip at tiny new scale - Yahoo! News

Microsoft is going to offer Live customers the ability to easily suck and play with a range of data services. The major question for me is in light of that is the question of ad-supported business models. Are we going to see an ad-stripping arms race between Google and Microsoft. I mean, if Google includes an ad in a feed, or vice versa, how will the services handle that in terms of presentation? I see lawsuits in our web 2.0 futures. Whose Real Estate is it anyway... not the end users that's for sure... This could be Fair Play/Plays for Sure all over again.

James Governor's MonkChips: On Microsoft Live futures and Craiglist competitors

Here's something I never would have imagined as possible just a few years ago: Apple now has a larger market capitalization than Dell -- 72.13B versus 71.97B. Neither company is cheap -- Apple's P/E is 55, while Dell's is 24.

The Big Picture: Apple now bigger than Dell

Here's yet another new, curious, web-based venture: WisdomArk. I hear that they've just received $6.3 million in Series A venture capital funding from El Dorado Ventures, Venrock Associates, and Benhamou Global Ventures....

Oh, and an earlier version of their web site (courtesy of Google's cache) says the following:

WisdomArk is opening its MemoryArk Beta service to a select few people willing to explore an experience of self-discovery and expression in connection with friends and family.

MemoryArk is being created to help you capture, organize and share the formative life-events, personal experiences, and beliefs that shape who you are, and will keep these for generations to come.

MemoryArk aids the recollection of a loved-one's lifetime of experiences, simplifies the collection of images and music that reflect their personal history, and helps users discover and articulate the beliefs and values which guide their lives.

One aspect that intrigues me is precisely how they are going to be able to support the preservation of information. Simply putting information on servers at a start-up company doesn't seem like a reliable form of very long-term archival storage. Do they have a deal with Iron Mountain or some other archiving business that can give consumers an iron-clad assurance that their information is truly being preserved, far beyond the lifetime of a simple VC-funded startup?

*sigh*

Entrepreneurial Engineering: WisdomArk

But these perceptions are wrong. In fact, the reality is reversed. It's Gates who's making a dent in the universe, and Jobs who's taking on the role of single-minded capitalist, seemingly oblivious to the broader needs of society.

Wired News: Jobs vs. Gates: Who's the Star?