Cuil is pronounced "cool" and what makes it potentially cool is the participation of former Google search architect Anna Patterson and her husband, Stanford professor Tom Costello, as well as other prominent search tech folk. (Where have we seen that minimalist home page before, eh?)

Needless to say, there's no indication as to where this particular bit of technology is headed next, but it seems safe to assume that it'll become a fixture of trade shows for years to come.

Amazing! You have to see these!

Genuinely strange, creepy, even funny. Pic, from a Nat Geo assignment, was never published in the magazine. Featured now online as 1 of top photos of 2007. Pic enlarges; also part of gallery with other good pics. (Think SpongeBob meets Aliens...or a "character" kind of simultaneously creepy & funny.)