Much like its namesake in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York imploded after the dot-com boom and bust, with Darwinism getting rid of the worst ideas. Slowly, though, over the last decade, New York has been building a real tech center, where software, media, and ad-related startups are thriving, a venture capital community is growing and serial entrepreneurs are as commonplace as they are in Silicon Valley.

MRAM, promises to change everything about how our computing devices work. It’s as fast as classical static RAM at the core of today’s microprocessors, but it doesn’t wear out, and it also holds data permanently, even when the power is off, like today’s flash memory. It could enable true “instant-on” information devices and speed up many types of computation.

A dial on Tom Bassett-Dilley's iPhone-like "smart meter" showed the architect's modest Oak Park home was using 1 cent per hour in electricity. "Watch this," he said. He switched on the toaster. The dial shot up to 14 cents an hour.

Last week’s ruling ordering an immediate halt in federal funding for stem cell research has thrown academic research circles into a state of confusion. This has caught the attention of the VC community, as the venture-backed biotech world is largely dependent on technology developed in academic institutions.

Device makers in a post-iPhone world are focused on fingertips, with touch at the core of the newest wave of computer design, known as natural user interface. Unlike past interfaces centered on the keyboard and mouse, natural user interface uses ingrained human movements that do not have to be learned.

Pennsylvania State University and a slew of partners plan to implement and develop the very latest in eco-friendly technologies at the Navy Yard's South Philadelphia site, with the help of $159 million in federal and state grants announced last week.