Over at Eindhoven University of Technology, students of the Master course, LEGO Beyond Toys, came up with various amazing third party products that greatly increases the capabilities of the NXT.
Water Pump
GPS Sensor
Wireless Sensor Bridge
Optical Mouse Sensor
Magnetic Grabber
Check out the details @ http://www.bartneck.de/2009/02/16/results-lego-beyond-toys-2/
It was reported on the news that that a Singapore team made a major breakthrough for the microchip.
Taken from The Straits Times, 9 February 2009, Prime pg4
The chip, unveiled at the International Solid-State Circuit conference in San Francisco yesterday, can make such a leap over current chip technology because of its design, said Associate Professor Yeo Kiat [...]