Targeting point-of-sale devices with malicious software is standard practice, as the wave of retail hackings over the last few years have shown.

FORBES: Hancock Fabrics Hackers Switch Stores' PIN Pads

The San Francisco social entrepreneurs aim to create an industry certification standard for environmentally friendly surfboards to give surfers, from pros to weekend wave warriors, a scientifically sound green choice.

FORBES: Surfing's Toxic Secret

This new wave of impromptu-activity apps will have to compete against the gold standard of location-based services: Foursquare, which is a free smartphone app that tells friends where you're hanging out.

BBC: Four new impromptu-activity apps

Standard seismic exploration typically involves setting off an explosion, then measuring the passage of its shock wave through the ground.

FORBES: Wireless