Signs that the world is progressing:

Disney re-animates theme park with no human in sight
Some of Disney's Imagineers in Disneyland have created free-roaming, free-thinking versions of Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. They scoot around the park on their own, talking and interacting with people, commenting on everything from the colour of their shirt to the sucker they're sucking. C'est cool.

The world generated 161 billion gigabytes - 161 exabytes - of digital information last year. This counts copied info, though. Overall, it's really 40 exabytes of new info. Still, though. That's ridonculous. That's 12 stacks of books that each reach from the Earth to the sun. Or three million times the information in all the books ever written. The previous best estimate was five terabytes in 2003. Estimates are that the world had 185 exabytes of storage available last year and will have 601 exabytes in 2010. But the amount of stuff generated is expected to jump from 161 exabytes last year to 988 exabytes (closing in on one zettabyte) in 2010. We's in trouble.

On a related note, the AP put a ban on foolish Paris Hilton stories. That should be the reason for a bunch of those bytes right there.

A condom applicator is thought of as the Most Beautiful Object in South Africa. I heard of some spray-on condom thing recently, too. I think it was German. I'll search for it some other time.

Any other signs of progress?