Gilster:For the past month, I've been looking at a sleek, exotic object: SpaceNavigator. The work of 3DConnexion (a subsidiary of Logitech), the SpaceNavigator could be considered a three-dimensional mouse.

Gilster:With its release scheduled Friday, Apple's iPhone is emerging as the gadget du jour.

Gilster:We hand down judgments all too quickly in the digital age. Let a new product be announced and bloggers have proclaimed it a hit or a miss within the day.

Gilster:Three themes will shape the development of the Internet in the next few years. You need to be aware of them because they will affect how we use networked personal computers at home and work.

Gilster:Computer security used to be relatively simple. It was more a matter of talking people into using available software and then keeping it up to date. The latest generation of online malice, though, is harder to track.

Gilster:Like plant and animal extinctions, language loss is irreparable. So I'm glad the BBC, working with songwriter and activist Bob Geldof, is assembling Web materials and a television show aimed at documenting every modern-day culture.

Gilster:I'm fascinated by how people work. The interaction between ourselves and our tools says something about where technology is going, and just as important, about the human factors that shape its course.

Gilster:Twitter is an ingenious Internet idea looking for an audience. Of course, that could be said for many a startup, whose founders often sense connections the rest of us miss and hope to find a way to make them marketable.

Gilster:Jimmy Wales, the man responsible for the Wikipedia collaborative encyclopedia, is talking about building a better search engine.

Gilster:Is Google going head-to-head with Microsoft? You would think so listening to the buzz that followed Google's latest announcement.

Gilster:What's the best way to scour large amounts of information sources to get an up-to-the-minute result?

Computers:Back in the 60s, the old "Outer Limits" TV show had an episode whose plot seems eerily relevant today.

Computers:Steve Jobs' announcement of the iPhone pretty much knocked the pins out from under the Consumer Electronics Show this year.

Gilster:If you don't think technology affects behavior, try hanging out in a parking lot for 10 minutes.