“I dabble in modernity,” says legendary author Margaret Atwood on CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. Judging by her twitter following and her active participation in the development of new digital technologies, we think Atwood is being more than a little modest.

Here’s Jian Ghomeshi, host of CBC Radio’s Q, talking about relationships in what he calls today’s “culture of acceleration.”

Technology writer Dan Lyons, on the problem of “get-rich-quick” entrepreneurs, in ReadWrite.

Here’s The Atlantic’s James Fallows, documenting his recent trip through one of China’s Foxconn factories. His feature story in this month’s issue examines the possible return of American manufacturing from a decade of Chinese dominance.

Curt Carlson is the President and CEO of SRI International, and the noted innovation speaker’s company—you know, the ones who invented the iPhone’s Siri—have a few upcoming innovations that will change the way we live. Again.

Here’s four of SRI’s exciting new projects, from Fast Company magazine:

BRIGHT

Helping users focus on focus
Comprised of a touch screen, HD displays, cameras, and sensors, this system monitors user behavior to foster productivity. By tracking your eyes as you work, Bright can assess the time you spend looking at specific files or emails. In time, it will be able to gauge their importance and act as a prioritizing filter. Its eye-tracking tech can already detect when you’re looking at an image but not actually seeing it, making it valuable for, say, air-traffic controllers.
Timetable: Five years for full system.

FAST

Cancer-catching laser tech
A laser and fiber-optic system originally invented by Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center, FAST (fiber-optic array scanning technology) can quickly scan your bloodstream for circulating tumor cells. The system—basically a biopsy, but from drops of blood—is presently tuned for breast and lung cancer, and could obviate debilitating, one-size-fits-all chemotherapy treatments by letting doctors prescribe targeted therapies. If all goes as planned, trials will begin by the end of 2012.
Timetable: At least three years.

LOLA

If Siri balanced your budget
Spanish bank BBVA-Compass worked with SRI for five years to create a Siri-like virtual assistant that carries out banking tasks. The web app can handle chores such as moving cash between accounts or setting up bill payments. Lola will be test-driven until early 2013 by bank staffers and their families before its release to BBVA customers. (From there, the software may be licensed to other banks.) Minor hurdle for a Spanish bank’s utility: Lola speaks only English right now.
Timetable: Within a year.

ROBOTICS

Providing a helping hand
SRI wants to mainstream the use of consumer robots with low-cost (under $1,000) robotic hands that can wield human tools. A robot holding a flashlight or pushing a button may not seem sexy, but some of the value of bots comes from their ability to operate in hazardous environments. A commercial venture called Redwood Robotics is licensing some of the technology from SRI and plans to market robots, albeit in a stripped-down manner: It’ll hawk the hardware; it’s up to consumers to program as needed.
Timetable: Within five years.

Open technology speaker David Eaves argues that the Internet brings us together and also tears us apart—and that’s a good thing. In his recent Vancouver Sun opinion article he says that the communities which form online can act as both positive and negative agents of socialization.

“We are in the midst of an exciting era for community building,” he says, “we just need to focus our attention on ensuring that those who are in desperate need of community have access to the tools that help foster them.

Virginia Heffernan, author of Magic and Loss: The Pleasures of the Internet, moderates the “Is This Thing On?” panel at Sundance 2012. From the program: “Today’s always-on culture makes our definition of authentic quite elastic, like light being warped near a black hole. Where does privacy end and performance begin in a post-cinéma-vérité, perpetually plugged-in world?”

Rob Walker’s latest piece for Fast Company profiles MakerBot—a company on the cutting edge of the soon-to-explode 3-D printing industry. Currently, most 3-D printing is done by “tech-oriented artists and superimaginative hackers, engaged in experimental projects, and, really, goof-offs,” says Walker. In the decades to come, however, industry leaders like MakerBot are looking to turn this experimental technology into consumer products that might just change the way we live:

MakerBot Industries is no art project. A young startup in Brooklyn, New York, it has emerged as the leading brand in the nascent consumer-oriented 3-D-printing realm and has recently closed a $10 million round of venture-capital funding. More than 6,000 MakerBot 3-D printers have been sold.That may not sound like a lot, but bear in mind that most sell in the form of a kit—the company’s current flagship model is the $1,300 Thing-O-Matic—that is ordered directly from MakerBot and requires 12 hours or more to assemble. Now that’s customer dedication. In less than three years, MakerBot has gone from three tinkering guys to 50-plus employees and counting. “If I had 20 people outside the door who were perfect candidates, I’d hire them all,” says cofounder and chief executive officer Bre Pettis.

Because of mobile technologies, says neuroscience speaker Jonah Lehrer, we are now less likely to daydream. Why have a stray thought when you can check your iPhone? This is worrisome because daydreams, it turns out, often lead to increased creativity and aha moments.