Upon logging into their Gmail accounts today, many users will find a splash page prompting them to try out Google's newest toy: Buzz.

What's the Buzz?

Whispers about Google Buzz have been floating around for a few days, and Google officially announced its existence and roll-out plans yesterday. But this certainly isn't Google's first foray into social networking - their social site Orkut has been around for a number of years, and is especially popular in Brazil. And Google Wave, a collaboration and communication product that is still in its infancy, hasn't really taken hold. All of this calls into question Google's direction in the social networking arena.

Mention "manned spaceflight" and the iconic images of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the Moon probably come to mind.

The recently-announced United States budget for fiscal year 2011, proposed by President Barack Obama, includes the elimination of all funding for a key program that was expected to be the future flagship program for NASA.

The Constellation program, which came into being thanks to former President Bush's initiative titled "Vision for Space Exploration," will no longer receive funding. Constellation was the first step in many towards sending humans back to the Moon and, eventually, to Mars.

Apple's new "magical" product, the iPad, has certainly surprised some people. In the same breath it should be said that there are many who are not impressed. Namely, Nintendo's president likened it to nothing more than a larger iPod Touch.

One of the killer features of the iPad is its price. If I had seen a specification list for the iPad prior to launch, I probably would have anticipated the price to be at least $300 more than the price point selected by Apple. However, Apple's choice of price tells a lot about where they might see the iPad going, and what it is expected to compete with.

Back in 2006 I did a quick presentation on the future of American spaceflight. This was a relatively new topic for the time, since it had only been two years since President Bush had announced new space policy titled "Vision for Space Exploration," aimed at restoring public support (and financial resources) for future spaceflight. Only a year earlier, in 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over the skies of Texas during atmospheric reentry.