It will soon be possible to send driving directions directly from your computer to your car’s navigation system.

Listen to this podcast with Sir James Dyson about innovation and the role of failure. He tried over 5,000 variations to get the vacuum right. Dyson also rejected what both the retailers and consumer focus groups said:  customers don’t want to see the dirt in a clear container.

Powerbeam, a Silicon Valley startup, has developed technology which allows energy to be transmitted to laptop computers, and other devices, via a laser beam. A laser can transmit more energy than other methods, and the technology has built-in security measures.  The vision, of course, is to build out the laser and power detection infrastructure, so you can wirelessly power your devices, without cords and batteries.

San Jose Mercury News article here.

VentureBeat post here. 

Bearfire Resort, a 650,000 sq ft skip slope to be located in Dallas/Fort Worth area in Texas, will use an artificial ski surface technology called Snowflex. The project is expected to be completed in 2008 at a cost of $375 million.

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Can you imagine a train like this to travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles in one hour without the hassles of dealing with an airport?

It’s a slow news week so far this week, so I’d like to share my enthusiasm for the Helio Ocean, a smartphone in the vein of the Sidekick III, but with much more functionality and 3g network access. It’s a very slick design, with a dual slide Qwerty keypad, which makes it more messaging and email friendly than the iPhone, and a nine-key keypad for phone dialing. Its proprietary software includes an easy to use UI, with an email inbox for numerous email and messaging accounts, GPS photo and friend tagging, a multimedia emporium, and a browser. Helio is losing a ton of money, but the Ocean holds the promise to revive the Company’s prospects. The Ocean will be available for $295 this Spring. Check out the video!

[UPDATE: check out this extensive 2 part article about the Ocean’s design in Technology Review.]

[UPDATE - 5/13/07: I checked out the Ocean at the Helio store in Palo Alto today.  They had sold through their inventory and had a waiting list for the next arriving shipment on Tuesday.  It has a very solid, quality feel, but is a bit thick and heavy.  I did not have a chance to try out all the cool proprietary software.  So, I’m still impressed, but not quite enough to break my current mobile phone contract.]