In his keynote speech at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) on Tuesday, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett announced a contest to award four $100,000 checks for innovation.

The competition focuses on four areas: education, health care, economic development and environment. The contest, called the Inspire Empower Challenge, is a great idea. There's nothing like a little dough to get people thinking big things.

As my colleague Andy Patrizio reports from the scene in San Francisco, Intel has discussed a few innovative ideas of its own this week, from new solid state drives to closing the gap between humans and machines. Micro-robots in 2050? Long wait, but interesting.

In its August 18 issue, BusinessWeek shows how companies are testing out innovative technologies at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

This year's innovations include motion sensors to guard against false starts in track and field, GPS systems to locate rowers and an energy-efficient MRI machine at the Olympic hospital, according to BW.

Meanwhile the Xinhua News Agency reports that China used some of the same technology to build its spaceships to construct the cauldron holding the torch. The Chinese tested its stability in a wind tunnel.

With YouTube showing Olympic coverage online, swimsuits that allow you to kick faster and microfiber volleyballs giving players a firmer grip, athletes at the first Athens Games would be lost in this world.

There's been a lot of buzz this week about the bionic eye. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University have developed an electronic camera (left) the shape of an eye. This could be heaven for for the visually impaired and those of us looking for a sharper view of the world.

According to a University of Illinois release, not until now could an artificial eye be developed to act as a camera.

We may soon opt to replace our eyes with single-crystalline silicon detectors.

It's been reported that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., would appoint a technology czar to keep the government current with tech.

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., hasn't announced anything similar, but perhaps both candidates should stir up more talk of tech and innovation on the campaign trail?

Isn't that what change is? Innovation?

As we close in on the Beijing Summer Olympics this Friday, it's worth noting the innovative technology that will be present at the Games.

EE Times has put together a cool slide show exhibiting innovations of note, such as the 440,000 LEDs of a giant Water Cube, driverless trains and the RFID technology embedded in tickets.

Panasonic says its giant Astrovision LCD scoreboards can be seen clearly in direct sunlight. Even the athletes' swimsuits are high-tech, EE Times reports.

According to the site, China will drop iodide pellets into the clouds to keep the rain away. Should we do that in New York?