Wanna help shape the Web?

Mozilla, the people who make that cool Firefox browser, is calling for help in visualizing what the next generation of Web applications will look like.
Of course, Mozilla is an open source project, meaning that computer engineers and programming types have been able to chime in from the word go. What makes this different, though, is that the organization is specifically calling for people less embedded in the programming world. They want to hear about what people want to use, rather than what they want people to use. Some of the ideas so far sound pretty dreamy; the ability to share files with other users within the browser, for example, and IM built into the browser as well.
Here's a much more detailed analysis from PC World.

Steampunk as a cultural movement

Could a growing literary genre become a design movement?
According to SF writer Cory Doctorow, posting here at the news blog Boing Boing, that answer is yes. It's happened before, and is happening again with steampunk (in grossly oversimplified terms, a kind of cross between science fiction and Victorian-era tech).
Doctorow's post includes a link to a podcast panel discussion of the aesthetic that took place at ReaderCon, an annual science fiction convention in Massachusetts.