Strange Golf Toy, and the God Particle

I don't play golf. But I got a phone call yesterday from a software developer I once worked with, a voice-recognition wiz who created a very compact little program called Voice Lookup for Pocket PCs. (When I say I worked with him, I mean that I wrote the user's guide for him, not that I had anything to do with developing the software.) He's been working on this software for years, making about as much money as the average beginning fiction writer (of for that matter, the average veteran fiction writer, which is to say, not much). But a new product is about to appear, featuring his "talk to the chip" software—a golf cap that contains embedded GPS equipment, microphone, speakers, and voice-recognition capability.

A golf cap with GPS, you say? Yes, and its purpose isn't to keep you from getting lost on the links; it's to put a little advisor in your ear, which can tell you exactly how far you are from the hole, or from the water hazard! I'm not making this up! You can read about it at http://www.skykapllc.com. (Click Products to get the low-down.)

Meanwhile, in other news, scientists may at last be on the trail of the "God particle"—also known as the Higgs boson. You can read about that at the New Scientist.